Robbers steal $5 million in airplane heist

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - A gang of thieves stole $5 million in cash from a Lufthansa cargo jet.  No, this is not a story about the 1978 heist at JFK.  This happened this week in Brazil.

The jet was set to depart from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Switzerland on Monday but was forced to be grounded after the gang of thieves entered the airport's freight terminal in a pickup truck on Sunday night.

According to officials, the truck resembled a security vehicle typically seen around the airport.  The men tied up security agents on the runway, locked them up in their vehicles, and then took off with the cash.  The whole operation took less than 10 minutes.

No one was hurt but there have been no arrests.

The brazen heist has some recalling the 1978 Lufthansa heist, in which a group stole $5 million from a vault at JFK airport. The incident was portrayed in the 1990 hit Academy Award-winning film, “Goodfellas.”

Nearly 40 years later, several people were arrested in connection with that case  Aging mobster Vincent Asaro was acquitted on charges he helped plan the heist.