The Big Heist

by Anthony M. DeStefano

  In his opening statement, McDonald told the jurors that Werner was on trial for both the December 1978 Lufthansa robbery and the October 1976 theft of the smaller foreign currency shipment. Stripped of all the legal noise, the charges were simply that Werner played a role in both crimes, said McDonald. When he had his turn to talk to the jurors, Laifer said in his opening that it really was Gruenewald who planned the big $6 million heist with the seedy characters he met at The Owl bar. Bill Fischetti was a miserable character who was fornicating with Werner’s wife behind his back and then did so openly. Is that the kind of person Louis Werner would be in league with? Laifer asked the jurors to ponder that question when the testimony started.

  By the time he took the witness stand, Gruenewald was living under the protection of the federal government. Before the jury, he wore a light blue three-piece suit, and he spoke with a trace of a German accent. McDonald first started questioning him about the $20,000 in currency taken after it arrived on the flight from Quito in October 1976. This was the theft that investigators believed was the thing that wetted Werner’s appetite for more. Gruenewald wasn’t involved in the actual pilfering of the cash bag but had been approached by his close friend Werner to help him hide the money and then exchange it for dollars.

  For the jury, Gruenewald recalled that right after the currency theft Werner brought him a box filled with the money and asked him to hide it, which he did in a garbage dump. It was the next morning, said Gruenewald, that he retrieved the money and drove to a gas station where he met Werner. Both men put the cash into shopping bags, tore up the box into small pieces and then drove around Long Island to dispose of the pieces at various shopping malls. Then, said Gruenewald, he took the money back to his home in Levittown and buried it temporarily in his backyard.

  Gruenewald told the jury he was a reluctant holder of the cash and that he breathed a sigh of relief when Werner took it back. The risk of losing one’s job and spending time in prison if his involvement ever came to light was simply not worth the $5,000 he had been paid, said Gruenewald.

  It was Bill Fischetti, the man who wound up having sex with Werner’s wife, who offered to help. Fischetti agreed to take the stolen cash into Manhattan where he was able to get the various foreign currencies into greenbacks. For his troubles, Fischetti told the jurors that he took a ten percent cut and gave the rest of the money to Werner.

  There was also circumstantial evidence that played against Werner, notably the fact that he was the man in charge of personally securing valuable cargo like the currency and never told his supervisor that something as important as the cash had come in on the flight from Quito. But what was more suspicious was the lie Werner had told investigators who questioned him after the loss was discovered. Werner had said he didn’t go home the evening of the theft but instead went to Gruenewald’s house to collect some money he had been owed. While it was true that Werner had gone to his co-worker’s home, it was Gruenewald who explained to investigators that Werner actually showed up with the $22,000.

  The stolen currency charges were really just a sideshow for the testimony about the big December 11th heist. McDonald built the case by showing the various links in the conspiracy. Through the testimony of Bill Weremeychik, the jurors heard how Gruenewald had approached him and some friends at The Owl bar with the idea that there were millions of dollars that could be had at the Lufthansa cargo area. Weremeychik said he wasn’t really sure about Gruenewald and his big ideas.

  “I didn’t believe him again, and then maybe a day or two later, he showed me some load manifests declaring valuables on these things, and he said this was all gold and diamonds,” said Weremeychik. “Then I knew he wasn’t kidding around.”

  Testifying under a grant of immunity, that he wouldn’t be prosecuted for conspiracy if he told the truth, Weremeychik described how Gruenewald explained how the robbers could enter the cargo building, neutralize any guards, round up the night-shift workers, and take a crucial set of keys from the night supervisor. Once down at the valuables room, the crew of thieves would turn off “some kind of switch,” said Weremeychik.

  “My friend Joe brought up a question, how would we get in?” Weremeychik testified. “He explained to us that after turning off that switch with these guys from the supervisor, there would be like two dials, he referred to them as two clocks. With these keys, they would have to be turned to a certain position, maybe—I don’t know—maybe 12 o’clock positions or maybe 3 o’clock position. He would never tell us this.”

  Gruenewald didn’t want to let Weremeychik know all the inside details about the security system at the cargo building as a way of making sure that no one pulled off the robbery without him and Werner. In any case, Weremeychik’s group took too much time to figure out what to do and one night at The Owl, Gruenewald basically stopped working with Weremeychik.

  “I said, ‘How are you doing,’ and he said, ‘I’m not doing good at all.’ He waved his hands in disgust at me,” said Weremeychik.

  Gruenewald said that Weremeychik couldn’t pull off the heist and dismissively told him and the rest of the crew at The Owl that they “are nothing but children.”

  When Gruenewald was questioned about the heist, he said that he and Werner talked about the idea of a big rip-off from the cargo building as far back as early 1978 and by August of that year had a plan but needed people to help make it happen. Then, Gruenewald essentially backed up Weremeychik’s testimony and said he met a fellow named “Brian” at The Owl bar who seemed interested in the robbery.

  “After this happened, I told Lou Werner about it. He was aware of it,” testified Gruenewald. “The next time I met Brian, I told him that we would go along with it, and he said he has at least four other people which could accomplish this.”

  “Did you tell this to Lou Werner?” asked McDonald.

  “Definitely,” Gruenewald answered.

  Werner never met with Weremeychik or anyone who was part of this potential robbery crew, explained Gruenewald.

  “He wanted to be completely out of the picture,” said Gruenewald. “The only thing he wanted from this heist, he would like to have $200,000 in order to be settled for life.”

  To aid the plan, Werner said he would provide the robbers with information about the alarm and security system, said Gruenewald. McDonald then had him walk over in the courtroom to a mock-up model of the Lufthansa cargo building and had Gruenewald explain how the robbery was to take place according to the plan he had worked on with Weremeychik and his friends. A gang of six would be needed, along with one large van. After the night cargo crew would be corralled and neutralized, the cargo supervisor would be tricked into coming upstairs with the false story about a telephone call he needed to take from Germany. Then, said Gruenewald, the supervisor would be forced to go back down to the valuables room and made to unsecure the alarm system. The plan, as Gruenewald explained to the jury, would have taken about forty-five to fifty minutes to execute if everything went okay.

  “What did you expect to be obtaining from the valuables room?” McDonald asked.

  “We figured roughly between three and eight million dollars. As high as eight and as low as three because it was shortly before Christmas and everybody ships everything to the United States at that time . . . we expected gold jewelry, plus diamonds, palladium,” answered Gruenewald.

  It would have been a major heist no matter what was in the cargo room. As it turned out, the plan as explained to the jury was remarkably similar to what actually occurred during the early morning hours of December 11, 1978. The major difference was that neither Gruenewald nor Weremeychik were involved. For while Werner was enthusiastic about the plan, he wasn’t happy with the pace of things. Gruenewald said Werner owed his bookie $6,000. Then, in late November 1978, Gruenewald said he dropped the whole idea. After some defense objections to the testimony, Judge Costantino wouldn’t let Gruenewald say what led him to forget about the plan.

  Despite so much time spent in preparation
for the heist, Gruenewald said he was surprised to learn on the morning of December 11 that Lufthansa had been robbed. He immediately thought Werner had been behind it. At the cargo building, Gruenewald said he asked Werner if he did it. Werner answered “no” and then told Gruenewald that he would visit him at his house later that night.

  Gruenewald testified that he wasn’t certain which night Werner showed up but when he did he admitted that he was involved in the robbery. What Gruenewald remembered Werner saying during their meeting was very incriminating.

  “He told me that he couldn’t wait any longer due to the debt of $6,000, and this bookie was asking questions about his money,” said Gruenewald. “He said he had gotten his own group through a connecting man.”

  “I asked him how much money, and he said he would get five percent of the heist,” continued Gruenewald. “He figured at this time about $250,000, which it later on became $300,000.”

  Gruenewald was naturally angry. He and his group from The Owl had been promised thirty percent of the haul, and now Gruenewald felt he was double-crossed. Werner promised to give him $25,000, then agreed to $65,000 plus $50,000 if Gruenewald lost his job. Right before Christmas, Werner got a payment of $30,000, of which he paid $5,000 to his co-worker, Gruenewald testified.

  Werner had been expecting to get his cut right after the robbery. But according to Gruenewald, Werner said the robbers said they needed to “wash” the cash, an odd explanation since the money was in the form of bills that were untraceable. After a few weeks of delay, Werner got additional payments totaling $80,000 and expected to get a grand total of $220,000 by April 2, Gruenewald explained. Naturally, with his arrest on February 19, Werner got no more cash.

  Gruenewald’s testimony was important for the government’s case because it implicated Werner in the planning of the heist and the division of some of the spoils. Still, there was no link between Werner and anyone close to the Burke crowd. Two other witnesses, Bill Fischetti and Frank Menna, would pull Werner closer to the actual group of robbers.

  Although he was afraid that Fischetti would talk to the FBI, Werner never thought that he would be much of a credible witness because he had slept with his wife. The word was that whatever relationship Fischetti had with Beverly Werner she ended up despising him. But gambler Frank Menna didn’t have that kind of baggage. He had been Werner’s bookmaker for a few years and seemed to be a guy he would trust. What eventually happened was that Fischetti would serve as the intermediary between Werner and another bookmaker named “Martin.”

  “Did you know what Martin’s last name was?” asked McDonald.

  “I was under the impression is was Krugman,” replied Menna.

  Turning to the period in November 1978, McDonald asked if Werner, during a meeting at Falcaro’s Bowling Alley, said anything about his job at Lufthansa.

  “Well, he commented about the money that passed through his hands and how much money would be laying around the valuables area or the room,” said Menna. “He commented on the fact if he had the right people he might be able to do something with it.”

  Menna went on to explain that the next time he saw Krugman he mentioned Werner’s remark about the valuable area to which Krugman said, “Well, if he is for real and he needs help, I might be able to accommodate him.”

  After learning of Krugman’s offer to help, Werner seemed eager to have a meeting, said Menna, adding that a meeting was set up and that everyone came away impressed with what Werner had to say.

  In one damaging bit of testimony, Menna said that Werner had offered to give him a share of the robbery proceeds but that he declined because he didn’t want to be involved. Menna then recalled for the jury that last time he saw Werner. It was about six weeks after the heist and a distressed Werner had visited him at home and told him about being subpoenaed in the federal probe.

  Fischetti’s testimony was also damaging for Werner. It seemed both had discussed a robbery plan that Werner and Gruenewald had devised earlier in 1978. Fischetti had been offered by Werner some of the potential cash haul as an investment for his taxi business. But then in the fall of that year, Werner said the earlier idea had been scuttled. Werner said he was planning something bigger that would rock the boat with “the big heist.” Not only did Werner talk about the need for the crime to take place with at least five men on a weekend when the cargo facility was lightly staffed, but he confided that he would have to tell the gang about the security in detail so they didn’t trip the alarm, Fischetti told the jury.

  If Fischetti had hoped to get a cut of the robbery proceeds as an investment in his cab business, he would be disappointed. He and Werner had a falling out over some indiscrete remarks Fischetti had made.

  “He said I had a big mouth and I told his wife about it [the plan] and his wife got back to him and I couldn’t keep a secret,” said Fischetti.

  Then, the morning of December 11, after the heist had occurred, Fischetti said Werner called him at about 9:30 in the morning and said, “See, big mouth,” and then hung up the telephone, Fischetti testified.

  While Werner had berated Fischetti for being indiscrete, he had done damage of his own. Later in the month, Werner called again and continued to brag about how much money he had made on the heist, enough to pay off his debts and set himself financially for the rest of his life.

  “I had to shut him up,” recalled Fischetti. “I didn’t know the phone conversation was taped or anything like that.”

  On January 29, as the FBI started tightening the noose, Werner asked to meet Fischetti at a bar near the Long Island railroad station in the town of Merrick. Their conversation was not an amicable one.

  “It got pretty heavy,” remembered Fischetti. “He starting telling me I better not say anything. If I keep my mouth shut everything will be okay and not to worry . . . If I said anything, probably something could happen to me.”

  Werner also said his wife Beverly had been opening her mouth and “she may fall from a ten story window,” said Fischetti.

  Werner then threatened Fischetti by saying, “I will drag your name right through the mud. I will tell everything about you and my wife.”

  Werner’s threats continued into February, testified Fischetti, with the offer of $10,000 if he kept quiet. The sum and substance of Fischetti’s testimony put Werner right in the middle of the planning of the heist. It also showed Werner’s consciousness of guilt and his futile efforts to obstruct the FBI investigation by threatening witnesses.

  McDonald had at least four major witnesses who implicated Werner in the heist—Fischetti, Gruenewald, Menna, and Weremeychik. There was another witness, Werner’s girlfriend Janet Barbieri, who had given damaging testimony to the federal grand jury, but when it came time to testify at the trial delivered some theatrics. At one point it seemed she was going to become totally unhinged on the witness stand and maybe even have a heart attack.

  The thirty-six-year-old Barbieri had known Werner about two years and initially had told the federal grand jury that he had told her he had been part of the Lufthansa heist. But on the witness stand, Barbieri collapsed three times and resisted testifying so strongly that McDonald had her arrested as a material witness for the prosecution. Doctors who examined her said Barbieri was suffering from anxiety neurosis. She testified at some point lying on a court spectator bench attended to by a psychiatrist. Her pulse went as high as 110, but one physician said she had not had a heart attack.

  McDonald had his hands full with Barbieri who backtracked on her grand jury testimony and said Werner had never told her he was involved in the robbery. At that point, McDonald pulled out her previous grand jury testimony and read portions back to her, including a portion in which she had testified that Werner had reacted to a newspaper article about the heist by saying to her, “You know, I’m involved in this.”

  In the grand jury, Barbieri testified that she was angry with Werner when he told her about being involved. In fact, when asked if he acknowledged involvement she said at th
at time he did. But when asked before the trial jury if she had given those answers to the grand jurors, Barbieri waffled.

  “I can’t say yes and I can’t say no,” she said.

  When defense attorney Stephen Laifer finally got a chance to cross-examine Barbieri, he asked her directly if Werner had anything to do with the robbery and she answered, “No.”

  “Are you sure of that?” asked Laifer.

  “I am positive,” replied Barbieri.

  The theatrical appearance of Barbieri on the stand was probably a wash in that the jury likely didn’t know what to make of her. But her testimony to the grand jury raised a question of whether she had then sculpted her trial testimony to keep Werner out of trouble. If she had a bias it was obviously for Werner.

  Still, McDonald had a scored a number of solid points with the jury through the testimony of his other witnesses. In his summation, McDonald reminded the jury how Fischetti had been told so much by Werner after the heist, including the fact that he admitted delaying the armored-car guards so that the big shipment of cash would have to remain in the Lufthansa cargo area over the weekend. Laifer responded in his summation by saying the witnesses had helped make a case that was a “foundation of mud.”

  Well, the case McDonald made turned out to be rock solid as far as the jury was concerned. On May 16, 1979, after a ten-day trial and less than one day of deliberation by the jury, Werner was convicted of carrying out both the $6 million Lufthansa heist and the foreign-exchange theft in 1976 that netted him $22,000. Werner may have thought he was set for life with the Lufthansa money, but now life as he knew it was over.