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History Daily

The Lufthansa Heist - Original

History Daily

Airship | Noiser | Wondery

History

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

December 11, 1978. A group of masked men rob a Lufthansa cargo building, making off with millions in cash and jewelry.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:04.0

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0:06.0

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0:10.0

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts after 3 a.m. at JFK,

0:28.0

1978, a little after 3 a.m. at JFK International Airport. Uftona employee Carrie Whelan is on his way back from a late night delivery.

0:37.0

He drives his car past warehouses for different airlines

0:40.0

until he reaches his destination,

0:42.0

Cargo Building 261, where Lufthansa stores its most valuable items.

0:47.0

Carrie is one of just a handful of employees that work the night shift here,

0:51.0

making sure that everything runs smoothly. And it's been a

0:54.8

quiet night so far. But as Carrie approaches the back of the building, he sees something

0:59.7

strange. There's a black van idling there, with two men sitting in the front seat.

1:05.0

Kerry doesn't recognize the van or the men and sensing something is a miss he drives toward the unfamiliar vehicle.

1:12.0

As he approaches the van on foot, he drives toward the unfamiliar vehicle.

1:12.9

As he approaches the van on foot, two men spot him.

1:16.5

They jump out of the car, shouting at Cary to get into the van.

1:20.2

Cary tries to run and call for help but the strangers are quicker.

1:24.0

One of them hits him across the face with a pistol knocking Carrie to the ground.

1:28.0

Before he can register what's happening, the men grab Carrie and toss him into the back of their van. A few moments later the van door shoots open again and the men throw in another Luftanza employee, one who had come outside to investigate all the noise. But neither Carrie nor his coworker kept in the

1:45.1

van for long. After a few moments the two strangers dragged them out again and toward

1:50.1

the cargo building itself. The willered and afraid,

1:53.7

Carrie and his coworker have no choice but to follow orders.

...

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