JFK Airport, 1978
The loot wasn't even supposed to be there: $6 million in untraceable U.S. bills, $1 million in jewels and God knows how much foreign currency. But when a busy foreman at New York City's JFK Airport decided to hold the Manhattan-bound, German-sent cargo over the weekend, a team of masked gunmen ambushed the so-called valuable room at 3:05 a.m. on Dec. 11, 1978, handcuffing each employee and using a stolen Ford van to make off with the stash. The robbers, described as middle-aged white men with Brooklyn accents, were never found, though police did discover the getaway car in Brooklyn a few weeks later. An empty envelope addressed to "John F. Kennedy Airport" had been carefully place inside, almost like an invitation. Police believed it was an inside job masterminded by mobster "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, who was immortalized by Robert De Niro in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas.