Lufthansa Heist
DeSimone was alleged to have taken part in the December 1978 Lufthansa heist from JFK International Airport, the largest robbery in U.S. history at the time. The loot is reputed to have been almost $6,000,000, of which only a fraction was recovered. DeSimone was spotted because he had very well-polished shoes, too well polished for an airport employee. He was the one who suggested recruiting his ex-cell mate Angelo Sepe for the heist.
DeSimone then murdered Parnell "Stacks" Edwards. DeSimone was a good friend of Stacks and was disappointed to hear that he had failed to get rid of the truck used in the Lufthansa Heist in New Jersey, where the evidence would be destroyed. When DeSimone was told by a ranking mafioso that he could become a made man because of this hit, he agreed. Once he found out where Stacks was hiding, he visited Stacks and shot him six times in the chest and head with a silenced pistol. In Wiseguy, Hill mentioned that DeSimone had killed "around" four people in prison, bringing his body count to approximately 11. Hill commented that DeSimone would sometimes kill someone just because he wanted to try out a new firearm and wouldn't hesitate to use someone as human target practice.
Hill stated that he and Jimmy Burke didn't know how many people DeSimone had killed.
Read more about this topic: Thomas DeSimone, Biography