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The mob didn't just rule the streets—they OWNED them. In this shocking expose, we reveal the 5 most AUDACIOUS mafia heists ever pulled off. From the infamous Lufthansa job that inspired Goodfellas to a prison escape so brazen it defied belief.
You won't believe how a single dirty DISH brought down a $200M heist, or why a mob boss decided to ROB HIS OWN GUYS. Plus, see how one crew held an ENTIRE LUXURY HOTEL hostage in tuxedos and walked away with $27M in jewels—while tipping the staff on their way out!
These aren't just robberies—they're masterclasses in criminal audacity that will leave your jaw on the floor. The Pierre Hotel, the Bonded Vault, the Lufthansa score...crimes so incredible they had to be real.
⏰ TIMESTAMPS ⏰
0:00 Intro
1:23 #5 United California Bank Robbery
4:58 #4 The Bonded Vault Heist
8:32 #3 The Pierre Hotel Heist
12:45 #2 Marco Raduano's Prison Escape
16:21 #1 The Lufthansa Heist
20:14 Conclusion
#MafiaHeists #TrueCrime #OrganizedCrime #Lufthansa #GoodFellas #CriminalMasterminds #BankRobbery #MobBoss #CrimeDocumentary #Heist
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0:00
There was a time when the mob didn't
0:02
just rule the streets, they owned them.
0:05
And in that time, a few crews with
0:08
unbelievable nerve pulled off some of
0:10
the most daring heists in history. They
0:13
didn't just steal money. They baffled
0:16
law enforcement, stunned the public, and
0:19
became legends. We're talking about
0:21
crimes so big they inspired blockbuster
0:24
movies. From the infamous Lufanza job to
0:28
the brazen takeover of the ultra
0:30
exclusive Pierre Hotel, these weren't
0:34
just robberies, they were statements. So
0:37
today we're counting down the top five
0:39
most audacious mafia heists of all time.
0:43
Section one, number five, the United
0:47
bank robbery, 1972.
0:49
Kicking off our list, we're on the sunny
0:52
coast of Southern California.
0:54
It might seem a world away from the
0:56
gritty streets of New York, but it
0:58
wasn't beyond the reach of organized
1:01
crime. In 1972,
1:04
a crew of pros pulled off a heist so
1:07
huge it became the biggest in US history
1:11
at the time. The score, a mindblowing
1:15
$30 million in cash and valuables. In
1:18
today's money, that's well over $200
1:21
million. This wasn't some local stickup
1:24
crew. These guys were specialists, a
1:27
tight-knit gang out of Youngstown, Ohio,
1:31
led by a criminal mastermind named Emil
1:34
Dinsio. Dinsio wasn't about violence or
1:37
kicking in doors. He was a craftsman of
1:40
crime. His crew treated bank vaults less
1:43
like obstacles and more like puzzles
1:46
just waiting to be solved. They had a
1:49
reputation back east for meticulous
1:51
planning and getting away clean. Their
1:54
target was the United Bank in Lagona
1:58
Niguel, a wealthy town that practically
2:01
guaranteed a massive score. But here's
2:04
where the story gets really interesting.
2:08
For decades, rumors have swirled that
2:11
the real target wasn't just random loot,
2:14
but a secret multi-million dollar slush
2:17
fund belonging to then President Richard
2:19
Nixon.
2:21
Dirty money supposedly tied to
2:23
Teamsters's B boss Jimmy Hoffer. Whether
2:26
they were chasing a president's secrets
2:28
or just cold hard cash, the plan was
2:31
unbelievably bold. On the night of March
2:34
24th, 1972,
2:36
they made their move. They'd rented a
2:39
townhouse nearby as a headquarters. They
2:42
didn't bother with the front door. They
2:44
went in through the roof. Dinsio's
2:47
brother, an explosives expert, used
2:50
dynamite to blast a hole straight
2:52
through the bank's reinforced concrete
2:55
vault. It was a loud, messy entry, but
2:59
done with surgical precision under the
3:01
cover of night. Once inside, they faced
3:05
the alarm system. Their solution was
3:08
bizarrely brilliant. They clogged the
3:10
sensors with expandable foam, the same
3:13
kind used to fix surfboards. For the
3:17
next two nights, the Dinsio crew worked
3:20
completely undisturbed, prying open 436
3:25
safe deposit boxes one by one. This
3:29
wasn't a smash and grab. It was a quiet,
3:32
systematic marathon of theft. When the
3:35
bank opened Monday morning, it was
3:38
chaos. The vault was gutted, the fortune
3:41
was gone, and the crew had vanished. The
3:44
getaway was flawless at first, but a
3:48
little bit of sloppiness brought the
3:50
whole thing crashing down. A few months
3:53
later, while trying a similar job back
3:55
in Ohio, the FBI started connecting the
3:59
dots. They found that the crew had all
4:02
flown to California together on one
4:05
flight using their real names. Then they
4:08
found the rented townhouse.
4:11
An initial search turned up nothing, but
4:14
when they checked again, they found the
4:17
smoking gun. Fingerprints left all over
4:20
the unwashed dishes in the dishwasher.
4:23
The media went into a frenzy. By the end
4:27
of the year, the whole crew was found
4:30
guilty. But even though the law caught
4:33
up with the men, most of the loot was
4:36
never seen again. The United Bank Heist
4:40
proves that you can have the most
4:42
brilliant plan in the world, but it can
4:44
all be undone by one simple human
4:48
mistake. Forgetting to do the dishes.
4:52
Section two, number the four, the Bonded
4:55
Vault Heist, 1975.
4:58
So, what happens when a mob boss decides
5:01
to rob his own guys? Our number four
5:04
spot takes us to Providence, Rhode
5:06
Island, the heart of the Patriarch of
5:09
Crime family's turf. This wasn't just a
5:12
heist. It was a brutal message. The
5:15
target was the Bonded Vault Company, and
5:18
the score was an estimated $30 million,
5:21
worth around $160 million today. The
5:25
Bonded Vault wasn't your typical bank.
5:28
It was hidden inside an ordinaryl
5:31
looking fur storage building, but it was
5:33
the unofficial bank for the entire New
5:36
England mafia. Mobsters and their
5:39
associates stashed everything there.
5:42
Cash, jewels, you name it, all off the
5:45
books, far from the prying eyes of the
5:48
IRS. The real security wasn't an alarm
5:51
system. It was the terrifying reputation
5:54
of the man who ran New England, Raymond
5:58
LS Patriarcha.
6:00
And here's the ultimate irony.
6:02
Patriarcha himself was the one who
6:05
allegedly green lit the heist from his
6:08
prison cell. He felt his underlings
6:11
weren't kicking up his proper share. So
6:14
to teach them a lesson in loyalty and
6:16
refill his own pockets, he decided to
6:19
rob them all blind. He put together a
6:22
crew of eight men to hit his own bank.
6:26
The plan was incredibly simple, relying
6:29
completely on inside knowledge and the
6:31
boss's blessing. On August 14th, 1975,
6:36
one of the crew, Robert Dusso, walked in
6:40
dressed in a suit, posing as a customer.
6:44
He pulled a gun and within minutes the
6:47
employees were rounded up with
6:49
pillowcases over their heads. The rest
6:51
of the crew swarmed in with drills and
6:54
crowbars. With no real security to
6:57
bypass, they had free reign. They tore
7:00
into 146 oversized safe deposit boxes,
7:05
pulling out mountains of cash, jewelry,
7:09
and gold. While official reports were
7:11
low, the real value was estimated to be
7:14
one of the biggest in US history. All
7:18
stolen from within the same criminal
7:20
enterprise. After clearing out the
7:22
vault, they stuffed the hostages in a
7:25
bathroom and vanished. For a moment, it
7:29
seemed like the perfect crime, but it
7:31
didn't take long for greed and stupidity
7:34
to blow it all up. Robert Dusso took his
7:38
share, flew to Vegas, and went on a
7:40
massive gambling spree. He burned
7:43
through his cash, and started making
7:46
nervous phone calls to his partners for
7:48
more. Meanwhile, an informant, likely
7:51
hoping to get back on the boss's good
7:53
side, gave up the crew's names to the
7:55
police. Seeing the walls closing in, Dau
8:00
decided to cooperate and testify against
8:02
the others. The trial was one of the
8:05
longest and most expensive in Rhode
8:08
Island's history. Several crew members
8:10
were convicted, but the mastermind
8:13
Raymond Patriarcha was never charged. He
8:17
denied everything, even swearing to the
8:20
FBI that he knew nothing about it. The
8:23
Bonded Vault Heist is a legendary tale
8:26
of mob betrayal. A cold move by a boss
8:30
who proved that in his world there's no
8:32
honor even among thieves. Section three,
8:36
number three. The Pierre Hotel heist,
8:40
1972.
8:41
Our number three spot goes to a heist
8:44
that felt less like a robbery and more
8:46
like a Broadway show. We're in the heart
8:49
of Manhattan at one of the most
8:52
exclusive addresses on Earth, the Pierre
8:55
Hotel. In 1972,
8:58
a crew didn't just rob this place, they
9:01
captured it. For two and a half hours,
9:04
these gentleman thieves held the hotel
9:07
and its wealthy guests hostage, pulling
9:10
off what's still considered the biggest
9:12
hotel robbery in history. The
9:15
masterminds were Samuel Nalo and Robert
9:17
Bobby Comfort, two professional jewel
9:20
thieves who were almost celebrities in
9:23
their own right. They were so charming
9:25
that after a previous heist, the victim,
9:28
Sophia Luren, reportedly refused to
9:31
identify them. For their masterpiece,
9:35
they targeted the Pierre, a symbol of
9:38
old money power on Fifth Avenue. The
9:42
plan even got the blessing of the Luc
9:45
Crime family, who kicked in a few of
9:48
their own experts for the job. The
9:51
planning was incredible. The crew rented
9:54
a room for weeks, studying staff
9:57
routines, security patterns, and timing
10:00
their getaway route over and over. They
10:03
picked their date with chilling
10:06
precision, January 2nd. The hotel would
10:09
be quiet after New Year's, and more
10:12
importantly, the vault's safe deposit
10:15
boxes would be stuffed with all the
10:17
incredible jewels worn by rich guests
10:20
the night before. In the early morning
10:23
hours, the show began. The crew pulled
10:26
up in a black limo, dressed in tuxedos,
10:30
wigs, and fake mustaches. They sweet
10:33
talked their way inside, then moved with
10:36
terrifying calm. They held the guards at
10:40
gunpoint and quietly rounded up any
10:43
employees or guests who happened to
10:45
wander by. The robbers were bizarrely
10:48
polite, calling their 19 hostages sir
10:51
and miss and never raising their voices.
10:55
They were so organized, one guy's only
10:58
job was to answer the hotel phones to
11:02
keep anyone from getting suspicious.
11:05
They forced an auditor to hand over the
11:08
index cards that matched the safe
11:10
deposit boxes to their owners. They
11:13
didn't just rob randomly. They targeted
11:16
the names they recognized. The titans of
11:18
industry and high society. For over 2
11:22
hours, they worked, prying open box
11:25
after box. When they walked out, they
11:28
had stolen what was officially reported
11:30
as $3 million, but was actually closer
11:34
to $27 million. In today's money, that's
11:38
nearly $200 million. Their getaway was
11:41
just as cool. They secured the hostages
11:45
and then in a final surreal twist. Bobby
11:48
Comfort handed out $20 tips to the
11:51
captive hotel staff for their trouble.
11:54
Though he skipped the security guards,
11:57
saying they had cop mentalities. Then
12:00
they just slipped out into the New York
12:02
morning and disappeared. The police had
12:05
a nightmare on their hands. The hostages
12:08
were too intimidated to talk.
12:10
Eventually, the FBI, who had already
12:14
been watching the crew, made arrests,
12:16
but only a fraction of the loot, was
12:18
ever found. The case is still
12:21
technically unsolved. The Pierre Hotel
12:24
heist was a masterpiece of audacity, a
12:27
crime that proved with enough planning
12:29
and ice cold nerve, even the most
12:32
powerful symbols of wealth could be
12:34
brought to their knees. Section four,
12:37
number two, Marco Radano's Prison
12:41
Escape, 2023.
12:44
For our number two spot, we're jumping
12:47
forward to the modern era of high-tech
12:49
surveillance.
12:51
This story isn't about stealing money,
12:54
but something way more valuable,
12:57
freedom. This is the insane story of
13:00
Marco Radano, an Italian mafia boss
13:04
whose 2023 prison escape was so old
13:08
school it felt like it was ripped
13:10
straight out of a movie script. Marco
13:13
Radano wasn't some small-time gangster
13:16
known as Paloni. He was the head of a
13:20
notoriously brutal clan of the Italian
13:22
mafia. Europole considered him one of
13:25
their most wanted men, and he was
13:28
serving a 24-year sentence in Badu
13:31
Earos, a maximum security prison in
13:34
Sardinia that was supposed to be
13:36
escaperoof.
13:38
But Raduano saw weakness where everyone
13:40
else saw a fortress. He took advantage
13:44
of staff shortages and unmonitored
13:46
security cameras and likely with some
13:49
inside help planned his exit perfectly.
13:52
He memorized guard schedules and found a
13:55
critical 2-hour window where no one
13:58
would notice he was gone. His escape
14:00
method was shockingly simple. On
14:03
February 24th, 2023,
14:06
Raduano used a key he'd somehow gotten
14:09
his hands on to get into a prison
14:12
courtyard. From there, he threw a rope
14:16
made of knotted bed sheets over the high
14:18
exterior wall. Security cameras caught
14:22
the incredible moment. A 40-year-old
14:25
mafia boss shimmying down the wall,
14:28
dropping to the grass below and
14:31
sprinting into the night. He had a
14:33
2-hour head start before anyone even
14:36
knew he was missing. The escape sent an
14:39
earthquake through Italy. It was a huge
14:42
embarrassment for the justice system and
14:45
a chilling reminder of the mafia's
14:47
power. A massive manhunt was launched.
14:51
But Raduano was a ghost. He used one of
14:55
the oldest tricks in the book to defeat
14:58
a modern fortress. For nearly a year, he
15:01
was one of the most wanted men in
15:03
Europe, but he always stayed one step
15:05
ahead. His freedom, however, didn't
15:08
last. Almost exactly a year after his
15:12
escape in February 2024,
15:15
the international manhunt finally paid
15:18
off. He wasn't found hiding in some
15:21
remote criminal stronghold. He was
15:23
arrested while having a fancy dinner
15:26
with a woman at a restaurant in Corsica,
15:28
France, living under a fake name. While
15:32
his time on the run was short-lived,
15:34
Marco Raduano's bed sheet escape from a
15:37
max security prison is already the stuff
15:40
of mafia legend. It was an act of pure
15:43
audacity that proved that sometimes the
15:46
old ways are still the most effective.
15:49
These stories are just a glimpse into a
15:52
world of incredible nerve and high
15:54
stakes crime. If you find this stuff as
15:57
fascinating as we do, make sure you hit
15:59
that subscribe button and ring the bell
16:02
so you don't miss our next deep dive
16:05
into the criminal underworld. Let us
16:07
know in the comments which of these
16:09
heists do you think was the most
16:11
audacious section 5, number one, the
16:15
Lufanza heist, 1978.
16:18
And now we've arrived at number one, the
16:21
one that has it all. A staggering score,
16:25
a legendary crew, a direct link to one
16:29
of the greatest gangster films ever
16:31
made, and a bloody aftermath that's even
16:35
more famous than the crime itself. This
16:38
is the Lufanza heist. On December 11th,
16:42
1978, at JFK Airport in New York, a crew
16:46
of mob associates pulled off what was at
16:49
the time the largest cash robbery in
16:52
American history. They got away with
16:54
nearly $6 million in untraceed cash and
16:58
jewels worth nearly $30 million today.
17:01
The heist itself was a masterpiece, over
17:05
and done in just 64 minutes without a
17:08
single shot fired. But it's what
17:10
happened after that cemented its legend
17:13
in blood. The plan didn't come from a
17:16
mob boss, but from two airport insiders
17:19
with a massive gambling debt. They knew
17:22
about huge untraceable cash shipments
17:25
being flown in from Germany. They took
17:27
the idea to their bookie who brought it
17:30
to the man who would put it all
17:32
together, Jimmy the Gent Burke. Burke
17:36
was a feared and respected associate of
17:38
the Luis crime family. Immortalized in
17:42
the film Good Fellas, he was the
17:44
mastermind. He handpicked a team of
17:47
seasoned criminals, including the
17:49
dangerously unpredictable Tommy
17:51
Desimone. To pull off the robbery, the
17:55
inside info was perfect, giving them
17:57
maps, security protocols, and the exact
18:01
timing of the shipment. At 3:00 a.m., a
18:05
black van pulled up to the Luft Hanza
18:07
cargo terminal. Six men in ski masks
18:11
stormed the building, rounding up the
18:14
night shift employees. They were pros,
18:17
hering the staff into a lunchroom while
18:20
they got to work. Using keys and codes
18:23
from their inside man, they forced a
18:25
supervisor to open the main vault
18:28
without tripping a single alarm. They
18:31
loaded 72 heavy cartons of cash and a
18:34
box of jewels into the van. At 4:21
18:38
a.m., they drove off, warning the
18:41
terrified employees not to call the cops
18:44
for 15 minutes. They met Burke at a
18:47
garage in Brooklyn, swapped the loot
18:50
into clean cars, and disappeared into
18:53
the night. It was the perfect crime for
18:57
about 2 days. The first mistake came
19:00
from Parnell Stax Edwards, the guy whose
19:03
only job was to get rid of the getaway
19:06
van. Instead of taking it to a junkyard,
19:10
he got high and left it in a no parking
19:12
zone right outside his girlfriend's
19:15
apartment. The police found it almost
19:18
immediately.
19:19
This one stupid mistake sent Jimmy Burke
19:23
into a spiral of paranoia. He realized
19:26
his crew of loose-lipped criminals was a
19:29
massive liability. He decided the only
19:32
way to cut all ties to the heist was to
19:35
eliminate every single one of them. What
19:38
followed was a horrifying wave of
19:41
murder. Staxs was the first to go, shot
19:45
by Tommy Desimone on Burke's orders.
19:48
Then one by one, nearly everyone
19:51
connected to the job started to die or
19:54
disappear. The bookie who brought Burke
19:57
the score got impatient for his cut and
20:00
vanished, believed to have been murdered
20:03
and dismembered. Over the next few
20:05
months, a trail of bodies turned up all
20:09
over New York. Burke's bloody house
20:11
cleaning was so thorough that almost no
20:14
one who was there that night lived to
20:16
spend the money. In the end, almost none
20:20
of the cash or jewels were ever seen
20:23
again. And despite being the clear
20:25
mastermind, Jimmy Burke was never
20:28
convicted for the Luftanza heist, though
20:31
he later died in prison for an unrelated
20:34
murder. The Luft Hanza heist is more
20:37
than just a robbery. It's a chilling
20:39
cautionary tale about greed and
20:42
paranoia.
20:44
It is without a doubt the most audacious
20:47
and infamous mafia heist of all time.
20:50
Conclusion: From brazen takeovers of
20:53
luxury hotels to meticulous vault jobs
20:56
and a prison break that seems like
20:58
fiction, the golden age of the mob
21:00
produced crimes that were as ingenious
21:02
as they were ruthless. These crews
21:05
didn't just steal money. They crafted
21:08
legends, leaving behind stories of
21:10
incredible audacity and often brutal
21:14
consequences. The world has changed, and
21:17
a heist on this scale is nearly
21:19
impossible today. But the tales of these
21:22
five jobs endure, a testament to a time
21:25
when a handful of daring criminals could
21:28
challenge the system and for a fleeting
21:30
moment, get away with it. Which of these
21:33
crews do you think had the most
21:35
brilliant plan? Let us know your
21:38
thoughts below. Thanks for watching.