454 - Together We're Fine

Summary

Episode 454 - "Together We're Fine" Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
• Host/Author: Exactly Right Media – the original true crime comedy network
• Description: A true crime comedy podcast where Karen and Georgia delve into compelling true crimes and share hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since its inception in January 2016, the podcast has explored a wide range of cases, from infamous serial killers to mysterious cold cases and significant historical events.

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1. Introduction and Context

The episode titled "Together We're Fine" opens with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark setting a somber yet determined tone, addressing the current societal and political climate. They express feelings of helplessness and frustration while emphasizing the importance of community and collective action.

Notable Quote:

Karen Kilgariff (00:02): "Do you need a ride? Each week on our podcast do you Need a Ride? We drive around with some of the most hilarious people in comedy."

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2. Sarah Everard Case

The primary focus of this episode is the tragic and senseless murder of Sarah Everard, a case that ignited nationwide outrage in the UK over women's safety in public spaces.

Background of Sarah Everard: Sarah Everard was a 33-year-old marketing professional living a fulfilling life with a supportive network of friends and family. Despite facing challenges like a job layoff and a breakup in 2020, she had rebuilt her life by 2021, securing a new job and planning future travels with her boyfriend, Josh.

Disappearance and Investigation: On March 3, 2021, Sarah left her friend's house in Clapham, South London, around 9 PM. She called her boyfriend Josh at 9:13 PM, and shortly after, she vanished. The police launched an intensive investigation, utilizing approximately 1,800 hours of CCTV footage and canvassing the area for eyewitnesses.

Discovery of the Suspect: Wayne Cousins, a 48-year-old police officer from Deal, Kent, became the prime suspect after police traced a white rental car linked to the crime through license plate recognition technology. Despite multiple red flags during his background checks—such as significant personal debt and previous misconduct—Cousins had successfully secured a position in the Metropolitan Police.

Arrest and Confession: Cousins initially provided a convoluted story involving coercion by an Eastern European gang but failed to convince the investigators. A thorough search revealed incriminating evidence, including blood and semen matching Sarah's DNA in his vehicle. Faced with overwhelming evidence, Cousins pleaded guilty to kidnapping, rape, and murder, receiving a whole life sentence in September 2021.

Impact and Social Reaction: Sarah Everard's murder sparked widespread protests and a significant social media movement addressing the pervasive issue of violence against women. The case highlighted systemic failures in protecting women and managing sexual violence, leading to calls for legal and societal reforms.

Notable Quotes:

Georgia Hardstark (08:00): "My God."

Karen Kilgariff (05:31): "We're gonna sally forth."

Sarah's Father, Jeremy: "Mr. Cousins, please, will you look at me? The impact of what you have done will never end."

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3. Lufthansa Heist

Transitioning from contemporary crime, Karen and Georgia delve into one of America's most notorious mob-related crimes: the Lufthansa Heist.

Overview of the Heist: On December 11, 1978, six armed men executed a meticulously planned robbery at JFK Airport's Lufthansa cargo terminal in Queens, New York. Utilizing insider information from Lewis Werner, a supervising shipping clerk, they stole approximately $5.8 million in untraceable currency and $800,000 in jewelry.

Planning and Execution: The heist was orchestrated by Martin Krugman, a wig salesman indebted to mob figures Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke of the Lucchese crime family. The thieves exploited hotel CCTV systems, insider knowledge of shipment schedules, and intricate coordination to bypass security and execute the heist during a staff coffee break.

Aftermath and Investigation: Despite the grand scale of the robbery, only Lewis Werner was convicted, receiving a 15-year sentence. The remaining crew members, including Tommy DeSimone and Louis Gafora, were systematically eliminated to maintain the mob's code of silence. The stolen money and jewelry remain undiscovered, cementing the heist's legacy as one of the largest in American history.

Cultural Impact: The Lufthansa Heist inspired iconic films like "Goodfellas" and books detailing the intricate world of organized crime. The episode highlights the thin line between fact and fiction, showcasing how real-life events shape and are shaped by popular culture.

Notable Quotes:

Georgia Hardstark (50:46): "It's a known thing, but nobody knows how much."

Karen Kilgariff (52:21): "It's like the last great heist. Holy shit."

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4. Reflections and Conclusion

Karen and Georgia reflect on the themes of power, corruption, and the fragility of trust within institutions meant to protect the public. They emphasize the importance of community solidarity and resilience in the face of systemic failures and personal tragedies.

Notable Quote:

Georgia Hardstark (37:27): "The holidays are a whirlwind of events and family gatherings, and with Quince's luxe."

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5. Production Credits

• Researcher: Maren McClassian
• Producer: Alejandra Keck
• Managing Producer: Hannah Kyle Creighton
• Editor: Aristotle Acevedo
• Mixing: Liana Scolacci

Note: Listeners are encouraged to email their hometown stories to [e-mail] and follow the show on social media for updates and more content.

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Final Thoughts: Episode 454 of "My Favorite Murder" intertwines a contemporary case with a historical mob heist, offering listeners a deep dive into the complexities of crime, investigation, and societal impact. Through compelling storytelling and thoughtful analysis, Karen and Georgia shed light on the enduring issues surrounding violence, institutional trust, and the quest for justice.

Transcript

[Karen Kilgareff]

This is exactly right. Hey, it's Karen Kilgarev. Hey. And I'm Chris Fairbanks. And we have one burning question for you. Do you need a ride? Each week on our podcast do youo Need a Ride? We drive around with some of the most hilarious people in comedy. Listen and laugh with us as we run errands, grab some drive through and.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Of course, sit in traffic. It's la, so there's so much fun traffic.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So check out do youo Need a Ride Wherever you get yout podcasts new episodes every Monday. We did it first. My favorite love.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hello and welcome to My favorite murder.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That is Georgia Hardstar.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That is still Karen Kilgareff.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Still. Even though there's been a fascist takeover in this country.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Guys, remember when we recorded on a Monday and we were like, don't let us down, everyone. And like, tell us in the future if we had nothing to be worried about.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Remember? Anyway, here we are. Here we are in this fucking position again.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Excuse my language.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, it's perfectly appropriate. I kind of don't. I kind of don't know what to do. Like, I kind of am like, oh. And just like go on with the show. Normal, like.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, we do. In the way that this is what we know how much it helped the first fucking time we did this. For who?

[Georgia Hardstark]

For us or for the listeners?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, it's about them.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We're here in the service industry.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We are trying to give. Trying to make a difference.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I feel like I didn't do enough last time. No, this time.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, yeah, that's. I think that's how everyone feels. That's the given, right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. But I don't think we could have changed that much anyway.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's hard to say. Yeah, but yes, I totally know that feeling.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, it comes with the like.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Helplessness and the frustration and look, we got a little bit of time, but then everybody needs to fucking take the gloves off and get ready. Cause that's what it's about.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's 1938 and you guys, we need to get it together now. Yeah, it's 1938.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I'm sorry to say it, but there's a lot of people saying some great shit on TikTok. That is really helping me.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's great.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And it's just basically like, let's start planning, read these books, do these things. I think that people. The point that I find that people are making over and over is we've done this already, so we kind of know what's coming. Doom and gloom you get to do it for a little while, Block out some time, doom and gloom it up, and then start making plans. Then start reaching out and making community activate. Yeah. Our newsletter this week is actually really good. I don't think I've ever bragged about the newsletter.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's amazing. Allison Agosti, thank you for being our incredible. She's our incredible copywriter.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yep.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And she put it together in a way that's very. Like, how do you put a newsletter out for a podcast this fucking week?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Hey, girls.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Hey, everyone.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Hey. Some promotions.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Check out the merch store.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And instead it's like, hey, guys, here's some links that you might want to go to. So very impressive. When I read it, I kind of cried a little. I was like, thank you. Yeah, thank you. Because that's what we got to do.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We'll do it. You and I will. Well, what's the word?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Donate $10,000 to the ACLU.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Absolutely. Yes.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Okay, great.

[Georgia Hardstark]

What's the word, though?

[Karen Kilgareff]

When we all unite.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. But the defy something. Defy.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, I know what you're talking about. Starts with a Galvanize ourselves. Galvanize. Yay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

We're gonna do it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

This is a talking moment. It's a talking podcast, and we're not good at it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Together, we're fine. Together. We're one person.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's right. That's the way it looks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know what I mean?

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's the way it works.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I have half of the word and you have the other half. Like, what the fuck is the problem?

[Karen Kilgareff]

I. Those Fucking Nick Terry MFM Animateds come up on my TikTok feed now.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They do.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And I'm like, am I one of those people that has drank my own bathwater? Because these are delightful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They are.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And they're very fun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They are.

[Karen Kilgareff]

They're really good. Nick Terry will never be able to thank you enough for joining this family and making the funniest thing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. MFM animated. If you were not watching and following. My dad's watching and following. He's always telling me about how much he loves them. Hey, Marty, I think you voted wrong, but I'm not gonna ask you.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Hey.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Cause I still need to love you.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, it's tough. I mean, there are people that are like, they're going through parent breakups. They're going through family breakups. Like, dire.

[Georgia Hardstark]

See my mom tomorrow. I'm really nervous about it, but yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, here's the thing. You're good at fighting with Janet.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm so good at it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's not like you're gonna lose that improv. You've done it. You know the words to that song. I called my dad because I wasn't sure. I was just like, I'm gonna call my dad just to check in on him. But then I was like, I kinda can't deal with it if my dad's bummed. Cause you know, it's Jim.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And of course he was Jim. And I said, dad, what the hell? What are we gonna do? And he goes, I don't. What the hell? I don't know. We're gonna sally forth.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sally.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We're gonna sally forth. That's Jim's plan.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I have not heard that term in decades. Yeah, Sally forth.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I mean, I did send Nora a text where I was just kind of like, hey, look, I know this is scary, but your great grandmother came here to this country when she was 17 with her two sisters. She didn't know anybody.

[Georgia Hardstark]

To escape.

[Karen Kilgareff]

To escape the Black and Tans.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And they built a family. And that's what you're made of. And that's what we're made of. And that's how we do it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's the stock you're made of.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Here we go.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Good for you.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And that's the stock that all of the fucking immigrants in America are made of. So instead of trying to get rid of them, how about we all look to them because they have been through some real fucking shit.

[Georgia Hardstark]

More shit than the non fucking immigrants in a lot of fucking cases. Like, what the fuck? Why are we. We're all human fucking beings. Like, that's the class and the race that we should be thinking about. Not this really fucking narrow, specific, weird, incestuous fucking.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Or divide. It's dividing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, it's their.

[Karen Kilgareff]

The intention is to divide us all. The intention is to divide.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sally Forrest. It's a great roller derby name.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Does it exist?

[Karen Kilgareff]

It must.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It has to.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It must.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Does she? Listen, can you, Sally Forrest, if you're a roller derby queen and fucking shout us out Marfa, Texas or whatever, will you let us know?

[Karen Kilgareff]

There used to be a. A comic strip called Sally Forth.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh.

[Karen Kilgareff]

But it was kind of like it was one of those ones that wasn't necessarily funny or not funny. I would always read it and go, what are we doing here? Is it a drama? But maybe I need to relook at that and see.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, speaking of fucking Sally Forthing. So On Wednesday the 6th this past week, our episode of MFM Rewind came out. Our new weekly show where we comment on and play original old Episodes.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's a recap.

[Georgia Hardstark]

A recap. Thank you.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah, yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And this one, you covered Mary Vincent in it the day after the election. And so that was like, oh, no. But it actually, we got a lot of comments about that being powerful. And I have one from Instagram I want to read. Read it from Katie Mayfield. It says, I get chills every time I hear Mary Vincent's story. And I can't help but think how serendipitous it is to re. Listen to Karen telling this story today. As I process the election results and think of an administration which to hack away at our freedoms and our democracy, the despair I feel today cannot compare to what Mary Vincent must have felt at the bottom of that ravine. And yet she packed those wounds and climbed out.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Hell, yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And she's built a beautiful life. Mary, you are triumphant. Thank you for showing us what's possible.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Incredible. Someone just wrote that as a comment.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, Who?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Say the name again.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Her name's Katie K A T I Mayfield.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Incredible work, Katie. Thank you. Uh. Oh, now we're crying on video. Shut. Look, listen, these are some times we gotta, you know, focus on what we can focus on one next step after next step and focus on Mary Vincent.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, what are you gonna do? Talk about the networks?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, we have a network.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Highlight some other podcasts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. If you need some, like, comic relief or some true crime relief, we have those options. I don't know, go for it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's true. Over on do you need a ride?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Ye.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Which is my other podcast. Do you know that I love podcasting?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Truly.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's really one of my favorite things. And actually, this episode, Chris and I drive around with comedian, writer, and organizer Jenny Yang. She literally runs errands, but is a truly delightful episode. I didn't know her before we did that episode. I'd heard of her, but I'd never met her, and it was really fun.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's awesome. And then on Ghosted by Roz Hernandez. A wonderful show. Raz is joined by Sasha Colby, an iconic performer and winner of season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We have to give credit to the fact that we do live in a timeline where RuPaul's Drag Race and the stars from that show dominate entertainment. Yeah, I fucking live for it. It is the best. We live in a drag queen world, and I fucking am very grateful for that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Danielle and Millie have another epic double feature. Listen to this double feature on I saw what you did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Parasite from 20 and Triangle of Sadness from 2022.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That movie. Oh, Vincent and I were just sitting on the couch going, what the fuck?

[Karen Kilgareff]

For real?

[Georgia Hardstark]

What the fuck? The whole time.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It is so incredible. And that ending, like, when that ending happened, I was like, you've done it. You've done the perfect ending. This is unbelievable.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God, what's this? Face's cameo in that as the ship captain was.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Was it Woody Harrelson?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. Chef's kiss.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So good.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And then over on Buried Bones, K and Paul discussed the 1914 murder of Otto Kohler by one of his two mistresses.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Also, we just, you know, we'll take the time, as the world is crumpling, to sell you T shirts. We have no shame, but it's only because the holidays are coming and we have our first ever jewelry collaboration. So a listener and fine jewelry designer named Nina Palacio at Seval Collective in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, created a beautiful Stay sexy and don't get murdered necklace. They're very limited. Please head to myfavoritemurder.com today if you want to see if you want to buy one.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I love when we do collabs with listeners. There's nothing better than that.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Also, I just went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for vacation to see to visit our Great Lakes office and see Bradford Blowski in the legal department. And I wonder if I went to Seval and looked around and just didn't know that we had collaborated with them. Shit, I'm going to look them up online. With holiday travel just around the corner, there's no better time to dive into something new on Audible.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

I think the Audible app is my maybe longest app that I've ever had. It's never not been on my phone since, like, you could download it. I just finished a beautiful audiobook about four sisters and like, going through life as Sisters and how hard it is. It's called Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors and it's so beautiful and heartbreaking and devastating and uplifting and I cannot recommend it enough.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That sounds amazing. There's more to imagine when you listen.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

That's, that's audible.com murder or text murder To 500. 500 to try audible free for 30 days.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

You know, it's kind of funny. I never really realize how off I can be, how I'm like maybe eating more junk food or just kind of not paying attention. And then when like we got some seed synbiotics and all of a sudden you feel your system kind of set into place and start a little cleaner and a little better and you're like, oh, this is making a huge difference. Like it's, it's the kind of thing where you don't realize why you feel off until you take seed and then you're like, oh, yeah, I feel much better, definitely.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

That's 25% off your first month of Seed's DS01 daily [e-mail] murder. Code 25MURDER. Goodbye.

[Georgia Hardstark]

All right, you want, you go first.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I want to tell you a story.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay, tell me a story.

[Karen Kilgareff]

You're not going to like this. So you might remember this. Today's story begins on March 3, 2021 in the Clapham area of South London, around 9 o'clock at night.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

You know what I'm about to say?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

33 year old Sarah Everard is walking home after spending A couple hours at her friend's house. She's headed back to her apartment in a nearby neighborhood called Brixton. It's like a 50 minute walk from Clapham. It's kind of a long walk, but it's still relatively early at night. But it's also that confusing part of the pandemic where the restrictions seem to be evolving by the day. People are actively kind of trying to figure out how to navigate public spaces. So Sarah's wearing her mask. She's taken a route that she's familiar with. It's well lit, it's populated, it doesn't require close interactions with other people. So, of course, like all women seem to have to all the time, she has chosen the safest option available to her to just move around in public. Not long after setting out, Sarah calls her boyfriend, Josh. They chat for about 15 minutes, they say goodnight and then Sarah disappears. This is the story of a tragic, senseless crime that ignites a nationwide firestorm of anger over the lack of women's safety in public spaces and the failure of the systems that are supposed to protect it. This is the murder of Sarah Everard. So sources used in today's research are articles and reports from various British news outlets, including BBC, Sky News and the Guardian. And the rest of the sources are listed in our show notes. So, like many of us, Sarah Everard struggled through 2020. The pandemic sent her employer into a tailspin, so she wound up getting laid off. And at the same time, she and her then boyfriend broke up. But by 2021, things are leveling out. She's gotten a new job in marketing. She has a new boyfriend named Josh. They're very happy together. They're actually planning to travel to Ibiza with some friends in a few months. Her life is filled with people who adore her. Her close friend Rose says, quote, she has always been an exceptional friend, dropping everything to be there to support her friends whenever they need her. Her cousin Tom adds, quote, sarah's absolutely amazing. She' and she's fantastic. So sensible, so well loved by her family, by her friends, by everyone. And her sister Katie describes her as, quote, the very best person with so many people who love and cherish her. Sarah's colleagues are surprised when on March 4, she does not show up for work and she does not call, which is, of course, entirely out of character for her. But what's even stranger than that is that no one can reach her. Her loved ones immediately sense something is very wr. So that day, Josh reports her missing to the Police. Sarah's parents travel down from her hometown of York to London to figure out what's happening. And meanwhile, her friends and family start distributing flyers and sharing posts on social media, just immediately doing everything they can to spread the word that their friend has disappeared. So the police immediately launch an investigation, and they begin to piece together Sarah's route from the night before, using footage from cctv, from security cameras, public buses and doorbell cameras. So before long, they have around 1800 hours of footage to comb through. So they're also going door to door to ask residents if they remember seeing anyone fitting Sarah's description. And before long, police have pieced together this timeline. Sarah left her friend's house around 9pm Thirteen minutes later, at 9:13, she calls her boyfriend, Josh. They speak until around 9:27. And while she's on the phone, Sarah is captured by two different CCTV cameras as she walks. At 9.34pm, less than 10 minutes after she gets off the phone, Sarah is spotted again, this time by a camera on a city bus as it passes by. And now she's not alone. It's hard to make out the details. So Sarah and another person kind of just look like blobs in this grainy footage, but the other person looks larger and taller than her. And in this footage, Sarah and the stranger seem to be facing one another. They're standing by a white car that's pulled over with the its hazards on, and the stranger is holding something up as if they're presenting it to her. A few minutes later, at 9.38pm, another bus passes by. The camera on this one captures that same white car, but now Sarah and the person are no longer standing there. Instead, the car's two front doors are open. About a minute later, the white car is seen driving away. So as investigators piece Sarah's evening together, they also put out a call to any Londoners who might have seen her interacting with this stranger. And two witnesses, who are a couple, come forward claiming to have seen Sarah being handcuffed on the street. They figured she was being arrested by an undercover cop, so this is a solid lead. But because it's a missing person's case, time is of the essence, of course, so people have to figure out who that second person is, and fast. Fortunately, the buses that captured footage of Sarah are also outfitted with technology that automatically reads the license plates of passing vehicles.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So it doesn't take long for police to suss out where the white car came from. It's a rental car from Dover, England, which is, like, about 80 miles southeast of London. When police follow up with the rental car agency, they learn that this white car was rented on the night of March 3, and that the customer who rented it rented it under his real name, which made it very easy for police to find him. And he is now the prime suspect in Sarah Everard's disappearance. This person's name is Wayne Cousins and he's a police officer. Wayne cousins is 48 years old and he lives with his wife and children in a town called deal, which is 80 miles from the center of London in the county of Kent. And that's just north of Dover where that car was rented. Cousins has spent the last several years working in law enforcement. He's bounced from department to department while undergoing the requisite background checks to varying results. Back in the 2000s, for example, cousins starts out as essentially a volunteer officer called a special Constable with the Kent police. Then in 2008, he applies for a formal position with the same department. But the routine background check comes back with an odd red flag. Cousins has a lot of personal debt, so this is considered a risk factor because of bribery and corruption. So he doesn't get the job, but he is still allowed to continue his volunteer post. Two years later, in 2010, he applies for a full time role with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, or the cnc, which is a specialized police force tasked with protecting nuclear sites across England.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Whoa.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. So he's vetted once again by an entirely different team and his debt issues are flagged for a second time. Yet he's still hired for this position. Of course, having dead is not uncommon and it's not particularly nefarious, but there will be many more very big red flags. For example, while employed with the cnc, Cousins reportedly has a habit of making the women around him so uncomfortable that his colleagues give him the nickname the Rapist.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm sorry, that's. If you're called that once. That's not a nickname you get to be called multiple times and keep your fucking job.

[Karen Kilgareff]

No. Well, it feels like a behind his back nickname, but then it is that kind of thing of like, when do you get bad vibes to the point where you have to talk about it to somebody?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. I mean, that's extreme.

[Karen Kilgareff]

In 2015, Cousins has reported to the police after he's seen driving around Dover naked from the waist down in his own car.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Investigators have Cousins plate information in a photograph which are captured by a passing bus. In that incident, he's investigated for indecent exposure. But the person doing that investigating is a Police sergeant who is friends with Cousin's brother. So no charges were ever filed.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgareff]

The tiniest amount of due diligence could have ended Cousin's policing career. But instead, in 2017, he applies for a position with the Metropolitan Police, the Met, as they call it, serving the Greater London metropolitan area. And Cousins manages to pass yet another round of vetting and gets that job. But now that he's been identified in this footage with Sarah Everard, Couzens is finally starting to sweat. At first, when investigators question him about Sarah's disappearance, he remains silent. And then he suddenly just completely changes course. He claims that he's in serious trouble with an Eastern European gang, and he racked after visiting a gang affiliated sex worker. But he doesn't have the money to pay them back. So he claims that these gangsters ordered him to kidnap a woman so that they could eventually sex traffic her.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgareff]

He claims that if he failed to do so, this gang would come after his family, and that's the reason that he kidnapped Sarah. The story only gets more convoluted and confusing from there. He admits following this gang's instructions and ultimately handing Sarah over to them. But. But he tells police he doesn't have any identifying or contact information that could be used to track these men down. Unsurprisingly, the police do not buy this story in any way. And so when Cousins realizes he isn't fooling anyone, he stops trying, and he simply repeats no comment to every question that they ask him. Meanwhile, investigators are digging deeper into Cousins life, and what they find is damning. They search his house and his car, and they find plastic handcuffs, a handcuff key, plastic gloves, Velcro straps. Blood and semen stains are found in the backseat of his car. And when that blood is tested, it's a match for Sarah's DNA. And the semen matches Cousins.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus. Okay.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So investigators learned that in 2019, Cousins purchased a small piece of land in a secluded part of Kent called Hodswood, around 50 miles from London. Cousin's cell phone pings in the area the night Sarah goes missing. And so officers start combing those woods. Then, on March 10, a full week after Sarah is last seen in London, her remains are found in Hode's Wood. Her body's been badly burned and placed in bags and put into a nearby pond. Her phone is also eventually found by police in a River roughly 30 miles away. So investigators try to theorize what happened on the night of March 3rd when she went missing. And this is what they the kind of time Frame and the story they come up with, which is that earlier in the day, Cousins rents a car in Dover, 10 miles from his home in Deal. He drives his car to London. He sees Sarah walking alone. It's believed that he then stops Sarah pretending to be an undercover. He seems to have put a lot of thought into this kind of scheme. He actually specifically rented a car that looks like an undercover cop car.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Karen Kilgareff]

In the footage, Sarah appears deferential, her head's down, as if she's being confronted by an authority figure. Cousins is also seen presenting something to Sarah. People are assuming it's his badge.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Cause he's a cop.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Karen Kilgareff]

As far as what Cousins might have been telling Sarah, the most prominent theory is that he was citing Covid rules to her, possibly name, checking actual ordinances or maybe making them up. But he likely convinced her that she'd done something wrong and he was now placing her under arrest.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. That's so terrifying.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. In any case, Sarah gets into Cousin's rental car and almost certainly assumes she's going to be taken to a nearby police station, but Instead, she's driven 50 miles out of town. Cousins ditches his rental car and then forces Sarah into his own vehicle that he has left in a specific spot earlier that day. So he's planned this to the point where he's changing cars.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

He then drives her to the property in Hodswood, rapes and strangles her to death. Hours later, at 8:15am, cousin stops at a coffee shop and then returns to the rental car. At 8:30, he then drives out of town to throw Sarah's phone into the river. Around 2pm, he's captured on CCTV footage buying two huge bags, the kind that they use to carry debris on construction sites, and they're the same ones that her remains will be found in later. So, to give himself time to dispose of Sarah's body, Cousins calls out of work. He cites exhaustion and emotional stress. And then he calls his wife and lies, telling her that he is at work.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He's got a wife and kids.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's so disturbing.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So disturbing. Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So around 11am the next day, March 5, he's spotted buying gasoline. And that afternoon, residents near Hodswood report seeing a large orange and yellow flame.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So then, on March 7, just days after he murders Sarah, Cousins inexplicably brings his wife and children to Hodswood. What?

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's psychotic.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's. It is kind of like right in the definition. So, two days later, on March 9, cousins, who's probably sensing the walls closing in on him, wipes his phone of all data. He is arrested hours later. So this is an enormous amount of evidence against Cousins, both physical and circumstantial. It's so overwhelming that In June of 2021, he actually pleads guilty to Sarah's kidnapping and rape, and then a few weeks later, he admits to murdering her. Because Cousins pleads guilty to these charges, he is never brought to trial, meaning that Sarah's family doesn't have to experience the media blitz and the traumatic testimony that often accompanies these horrible cases. But Sarah's loved ones will have a chance to confront him during his sentencing hearing. And that takes place in September of 2021. As Sarah's loved ones share victim impact statements, they repeatedly ask Cousins to look them in the eyes. But like a true coward, he can't.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

These statements are heartbreaking and they drive home the senselessness and the brutality of Sarah's murder, along with the pain felt by all of them, all of her family and loved ones who miss her so dearly. Her father, Jeremy, says, quote, Mr. Cousins, please, will you look at me? The impact of what you have done will never end. The horrendous murder of my daughter Sarah is in my mind all the time and will be for the rest of my life. She was saving to buy a house and looking forward to marriage and children. We were looking forward to having grandchildren. We loved being a part of Sarah's world and we expected her to have a full and happy life. The closest we can get to her now is to visit her grave every day.

[Georgia Hardstark]

My God.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Cousins is ultimately handed a whole life sentence, which is very rare. It's reserved for the UK's most violent offenders, and it means that he'll spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of prayer. So, of course, this sentencing does nothing to ease the pain of Sarah's loved ones or to restore the faith the British public would have had in their systems, especially British women. People are completely outraged that a man like Wayne Cousins was able to rise to a position of power and then abuse it in such a horrific way. And there were so many instances where Cousins should have lost his job. Talked about some of them already, but there are more. In fact, just days before Sarah's murder, Cousins exposed himself to two different women that were working at the drive through at McDonald's in Kent. These were two separate instances.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Fuck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So this is a sexual predator who can no longer control himself just driving around town.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And doesn't have to worry about it because he's not going to get reprimanded in any way.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Seems like he never has been.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

His license plate was clearly captured by the restaurant CCTV footage and was passed along to the Metropolitan Police. Again, his employer at the time. They did not investigate further. After Sarah's death. The Met promises to do better.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, my God. Tell me someone got fucking in trouble for not their initial response.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Hold on. Their initial response makes things worse. One of the largest demonstrations held after Sarah's death takes place at Clapham Common, a park near where she was last seen. Thousands of people gather for a peaceful vigil to honor Sarah's memory and duly raise awareness about violence against women. But the police, citing Covid restrictions, forcefully break up the event. Images of women being restrained and arrested are circulated throughout the media, adding to the fury and frustration of what the people are already feeling.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So an enormous social media movement begins online with British women sharing their own stories of being violated in public spaces. The same month that Sarah's killed, a report is released by UN Women, which is the arm of the UN that deals with gender equality and women's empowerment. And it finds that more than 70% of British women have been sexually harassed in public. Sarah Everard's case is horrific, heartbreaking and perhaps the most notorious murder of a British woman in a public space that's happened in recent years. But this case is not the only one. There's another one from 2020 involving the murders of 27 year old Nicole Smallman and her 46 year old sister Biba Henry, who were killed by a man they did not know in a London park in a random attack. That crime in and of itself is terrible, but it reached a horrifying level of notoriety after the two responding police officers took selfies with the women's bodies, circulated them in a WhatsApp group and described them as, quote, dead birds.

[Georgia Hardstark]

My God, there's no bottom. No.

[Karen Kilgareff]

There's also the case of 28 year old Sabina Nessa. In September of 2021, Sabina, who is a beloved school teacher, was murdered by a stranger, a male stranger, in a sexually motivated attack. She was on her way to meet up with a friend and she was passing through a London park. And both of these cases happened to women of color, which is why most people say these deaths did not receive as much media attention as Sarah's.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right.

[Karen Kilgareff]

But they're all shocking, senseless murders that are being perpetrated or handled so callously by the police that it really shows how much danger women are in on a Regular basis. Yeah. It's a difficult truce, but it really shows how much women need to come together, need to join together, need to transgress and confront the racial issues and the class issues and actually come together to fight this violence.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, what do you do when, like, your very own life is not taken seriously by the people who are paid, via taxes to protect it?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Paid in this city, billions of dollars.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. Like, what do you even fucking. Where do you even start? You just have to rely on each other to try to be loud.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

To be as loud as possible.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. Yeah. We'll end this with Sarah's mother Susan's impact statement. I yearn for her. I remember all the lovely things about her. She was caring, she was funny. She was clever. But she was good at practical things, too. She was a beautiful dancer. She was a wonderful daughter. She was always there to listen, to advise, or simply to share with the minutia of the day. And she was also a strongly principled young woman who knew right from wrong and who lived by those values. She was a good person. She had a purpose to her life. What I do know is that Sarah will never be forgotten and is remembered with boundless love. And that's the story of the tragic murder of Sarah Everard.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Wow. That's a big one to tackle. Good job.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Thank you. Maren McClassion is our researcher. Alejandra Keck is our producer, who also helped pick that story. And what's crazy is because the day after the election, I called Maren. It was like, 8 in the morning. I was like, hey, what do you think if we just read out, like, Project 2025, and we just go over all the plans of what's about to happen and what's about to happen to women? And Mary. Yeah, sounds cool. And just, like, just starts getting into it immediately. And then I get to work, and Alejandra's like, hey, yeah, so you actually have a really good story. I think you should do the story you have. And I'm like, okay. Okay, sounds good. Cause I was like, I'm just making shit up. It feels like something big needs to be done.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, that is. And that is it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, that's just. It is. That's what this podcast is.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We don't sometimes realize that. And, yeah, you know, we've definitely done it wrong. We started out rough. We started out basically doing this podcast the way we were taught to ingest this kind of media by the media. But we got taught by our listeners, we got taught by victims and people on the outside of like, actually, here's how you should be doing this. And it actually matters to tell these stories.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Definitely.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And like, women need to hear these stories. Young women need to hear these stories. Yeah, it's important.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

You know, I have been walking around the office almost every day this week in the same Quince sweater that I love so much. I think it's called the boyfriend sweater, but it is like the second it gets cold in la, it is so fun to bust out sweaters because it's been like nine months and you haven't. You've basically been wearing the same outfit. But these Quint sweaters are so cozy and soft. They look really good. They land at the perfect length. Like they're very stylish and really well made. But then they're not breaking the bank. Like, there's no guilt when you buy two or three Quint sweaters because you know, you're just like setting yourself up perfectly for fall and winter.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. Go on.

[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

And the best part, Pretty Litter ships free right to your door so you'll never run out. I have three cats, and two of them ladies are getting a little older, and we take them regularly to the vet to get checkups. But those little in between things that can happen can be scary and can get bad before you realize that things are bad. And so the fact that you can monitor their health through the litter, through their urine, I mean, the peace of mind that gives me as a cat owner is huge.

[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

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[Karen Kilgareff]

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[Georgia Hardstark]

Goodbye. Well, this story just couldn't be further from your story.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Which is. Okay. That's how we do this now.

[Karen Kilgareff]

True. Are we going to get the Benz? It's so extremely different.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes. You know why?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Why?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because we're. We're hanging out with a mafia now.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, classic Mafia, classic. You know, all of it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Can you sing the opening theme song to the Sopranos while you start the Love Boat?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, no, that's a different one. This story is like what the movie Goodfellas was based off of.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, yes. Henry Hill.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yes.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Nice.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So I'm gonna tell you the story of the Lufthansa heist. And I've seen Goodfellas, but I've. I forgot that that's what this is about.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I did, too.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. So the movie Goodfellas is based off the book by Nicholas Palaegi. But what I know better and know and love so much more and, like, has a special place in my heart is a different movie that was lightly based off of this story. And that story was written by Pilegi's wife, whose name was Nora Ephron. Oh, and she wrote the fucking 1990 class my blue Heaven, which was literally one of my favorite fucking movies growing up. I still quote it sometimes. Like, if you know, you know. So this is the story of one of the largest cash robberies in American history and possibly the best known Mafia crime, the story of the Lufthansa heist.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Beautiful.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So let's just Go in a totally different direction. The main sources used for this story are a book called the Lufthansa Heist, written by Mafia informant Henry Hill and Daniel Stone, and an article from when the Heist Happened from Time magazine. And the rest of the sources can be found in our show notes. But definitely go watch My Blue Heaven if you. Or Goodfellas. Whatever.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah, whatever you like.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Both are classics. All right, so here we are. It's three in the morning on Monday, December 11, 1978. A great year. And a stolen black Ford van is driving the perimeter of JFK Airport in Queens, New York. It pulls to the side, not by the passenger area where you'd, like, pick up and drop off passengers, but by a cluster of cargo terminals. Three men hop out and use bolt cutters to cut the chain and open a gate in the chain link fence separating the road from the terminals. So already, here we go.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yep.

[Georgia Hardstark]

They get back in the car and drive toward a ramp that leads to the loading dock at the cargo terminal for the German airline Lufthansa. There, a Lufthansa employee named Carrie Whalen, who is driving a truck around the terminal, spots them. And as Carrie gets close to the passenger side door, one of the men gets out of that van and pistol whips him. And then those men drag Carrie into the van. They lie down on the floor and then proceed up the ramp. Once they are at the top of the ramp, the men put on masks, and they are met with three other masked thieves who have somehow already gained entry into the building. It's not clear how. So these six thieves have met up at the exact moment when all of the employees in the cargo terminal are taking their coffee break. So sounds timed, doesn't it? Like they had insider info, doesn't they?

[Karen Kilgareff]

They knew when to do it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right. They round up all these poor fucking employees who are just trying to have a coffee break and get through their fucking airport job, night shift, it's three in the morning. They're just trying to get through their day. I hate. Whatever.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's like that thing when you have to. Like when you have to work at night and so you have to drink coffee and you feel kind of like hollow, but you're rat.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And you're just kind of like, how am I gonna do this?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Everything's a little dreamlike and woozy.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And then when you get off at like 7am by that time you're like, forget it. Now I have energy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, and you can't sleep. What are you gonna sleep till Two. And then what? They round up all the employees, these poor employees, and handcuff all of them. They happen to have brought the exact amount of handcuffs needed for the job.

[Karen Kilgareff]

They didn't just happen by.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, they didn't. Then they pick out the manager. They find the manager, hold a gun to his head and bring him to the terminal's high security. They drive the van right up to the vault. And then, threatening to kill this port manager, they get him to open the vault and they load the vault's contents into the van. What's in the vault, you ask? Nondescript boxes. There's a ton of them. And it takes them 45 minutes to load all of those into the stolen black van. These boxes have arrived on a plane from Germany on Friday.

[Karen Kilgareff]

What's that?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Germany? The boxes had been scheduled to be transferred to Chase Min. Manhattan bank first thing the morning when they arrived, but they had been stalled and had stayed over the weekend. Instead, these boxes and the boxes everyone knows contain cash and jewelry. It's like a known thing, but nobody knows how much. So the van is loaded up. The thieves take the security tapes, which they know the location of another insider info, and they drive away. End of the rock robbery. It's 4:20am at this point, and the employees are instructed not to call the police until 4:30, which they comply with. And at some point, Carrie Whan, the man who got pistol whipped, is let out of the van. And no one's been killed. He's the only person who had been injured at all. And he ends up being okay.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Good.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So right away, investigators are like, hi. Inside job. They're fucking totally aware of it. The Lufthansa employees are able to tell the police that all six of them had, quote, strong Brooklyn accents, just like the police are, right. That the thieves had someone helping them on the inside. A man named Lewis Werner is a supervising shipping clerk at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at the airport. And he, unfortunately, it turns out, is a gambler. And he owes $20,000 to a man named Martin Krugman.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I don't want to be judgmental, but it sounds like Lewis is a little bit of a nerd.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Which part because he's a supervising ship.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. And he's kind of like, it's probably the guy no one would expect. So they're just like, oh. They're like, hey, Lewis, how you doing? You know what you're going to do, right, that nobody's ever going to think you would ever do, right? He's all nervous. I'm probably getting that from the movie, right?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Totally. But $20,000 is a fucking lot of money in 1978. 1978. That is a. That's a ton of money now that you owe someone. Like, God. But guess how much it is in today's money.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Is it $300,000?

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's a hundred thousand dollars. I know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I always go way over.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So the guy he owes money to, Martin Krugman, is a wig salesman. Oh, that's so innocent. Right? No, he's also an associate of certain mobsters named Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke. They are both associated with the Lucchese crime family.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Sorry, wig salesman. Like, come on in, everybody. We got Bob's. We got Longhead.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, I think so.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, back then when they had, like, wig shops.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But, like, he's in with the mob, though.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. You know, he actually doesn't know anything about wigs.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Probably not. I mean, what do you have to know about them? Put them on.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah, just pull it on.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Try to pull it back a little so it looks normal.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right now we're into Goodfellas because this Henry Hill fellow is played by Ray Liotta. RIP And Jimmy Burke, this guy is played by Robert De Niro. So, like, that's how important they were, is they're played by two of the most, like, classic actors.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Big deal, guys.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Big deal, guys. So Lewis Werner's situation, owing all that money is not good. Clearly. When gamblers can't pay Martin the wig salesman, he sics his enforcers on them. His enforcer goes by the name Spiky. Just immediately bad.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Or it's one of those, like, opposite nicknames where he's, like, real round and fat.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He's the opposite of a spike. His fun, special M.O. his, like, thing. His, like, this is my mob thing, is to take people into his basement and break their hands with a vise. No, that's gonna be my thing.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I'm Spiky.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm Spiky.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Fuck. That's the piece where, when I talk about, like, the mob, I just wanna turn away because you've got spikies doing stuff like that where it's just like.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Oh, they're not the beautiful people you want them to be and think they are.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I just really treasure my wigs. And I don't want people touching them that have that kind of violence in their hearts.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Spiky would never.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Spikey, get out of the basement.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Jesus.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Take a painting class, please.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Pottery. A nice pottery throwing class. And so, of course, Lewis Werner's like, oh, no. I don't want to fucking deal with my spiky and his vice grips. So he proposes an idea to Jimmy. He tells him, hey, man, I work at this cargo place. A large shipment of untraceable US currency regularly comes into the Lufthansa cargo terminal at JFK Airport. This is like a regular thing. He says it doesn't come in on a particular day, so he can't give him the day. But he says he always knows when it's going to arrive. So the shipment in general, why are they sending boxes of untraceable money from Germany to the U.S. right? It's because of an agreement between a German bank and the Chase Manhattan bank in New York City. It's all money that American tourists, business people, and military personnel have exchanged in Germany. So, like the money you exchange for German. What are they, fucking Reichmarks? They have to go back to the U.S. oh, right. You know what I mean?

[Karen Kilgareff]

But where's that jewelry coming from?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Here, take this necklace. I can have a couple Deutschmarks, buy myself a drink.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That was good.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Thanks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That was great.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I'm working on my accents.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I like it. And the serial numbers from those bills are not recorded, I don't think, until they get to Chase. So they're just unmarked bills in boxes. Boxes. At the cargo terminal, it was such.

[Karen Kilgareff]

A wild time and a loosey goosey time.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So loose and free. They're almost like, please steal this money.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. It's just in a cardboard box.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

With what? A little tape on the top?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Tape?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Some stamps.

[Georgia Hardstark]

With, like, this hello Kitty tape, you know, it was just like, oh, there.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It is, this side up with a little cash symbol.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So much money. Careful money. Or like, fragile money.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I heart money.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So it's always a huge amount of money, generally in the millions. And just like, everyone fucking knows that. So Martin brings the idea to his Mafia connection. Henry Hill, Ray Liotta and Jimmy Burke. Robert De Niro, he's like, hey, here's this idea. Like, let's do it. And they run the idea up the chain of command to the capo, which is the head of the Lucchese family, who's like, sounds great. Let's do it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Perfect.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. A crew is assembled, mostly made up of the Lucchese associates, who all operate out of a bar in Queens. They all. That's their sp. It's called Robert's Lounge.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Cool.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sounds great. Let's go.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So good. So many brown drinks in there.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So many rusty nails, pinky rings, wigs.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So many Wigs.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So many wigs, too. And that's where Jimmy Burke conducts most of his business. And a plan comes together with the help from Lewis on all of the logistics. He provides plans to the building and says he will tell them exactly when to come and pick up the shipment, which he does that weekend in December. December. So immediately after the heist, it becomes clear to both authorities and to the thieves exactly how much money's actually been stolen. It turns out that there were two separate shipments in the vault that day, not one like the thieves had been expecting. And so the total amount of the untraceable bills they stole was $5 million. And in addition to this, there was about $800,000 worth of all that beautiful jewelry.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We were talking about American jewelry in Europe.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, the bangles and the roaches.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And I left my watch on the plane. L. Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So that's about a total of about $5.8 million, which, in today's money.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, in 78.

[Georgia Hardstark]

5.8 million. I think everyone was like, oh, fuck, Is it double?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Is it like 10 million?

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's 28 million.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Jesus Christ.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, they were stoked at the time. This is the largest cash robbery ever on American soil.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So they're like. At Roberts, they're like, pina coladas for everybody.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's right. Let's go to. The cache is quickly laundered through a network of additional mob contacts, all of whom are told to lay low. They're like, don't fucking buy flashy shit because clearly, like, they're. They're kind of onto us, and you're gonna, like, point them right in our direction. Just play it cool.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You know, so things immediately start to go wrong, as they tend to do when you make a movie about a.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Thing that happens, especially a thing that happens in the Mafia.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right, Right. The stolen black van that you know, was part of the heist is supposed to be driven to a salvage yard in New Jersey. And guess who it's owned by. John Gotti, who's like, not. He's not in this family, but he's like, I'll help you guys. I think they had so much money, they're like, let's, like, spread it around. Like, he's like, yes, I'll get rid of the van. But the man who's supposed to bring the van to the salvage yard, a man named Parnell Edwards, who goes by the nickname Stacks, which is pretty great nickname.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Spikey and Stacks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Spikey and Stacks.

[Karen Kilgareff]

My favorite.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So instead of doing what he's supposed to do, Stacks for some fucking reason. Parks the van in front of his girlfriend's apartment in Brooklyn.

[Karen Kilgareff]

He loves her.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He loves her so much. He, like, has to make a pit stop on the way to getting rid of the van.

[Karen Kilgareff]

He's like, I'm trying to do these crimes, but I gotta come see you, sweetheart.

[Georgia Hardstark]

All right. Unfortunately, he parks the van in front of a hydrant.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh. Oh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So it's immediately. No, like, the police are immediately like, hey, here's. They know the van. They know it's the van that had been reported stolen that was used in the heist. Sax Sachs really fucking blew it. And also then Carrie Whan's wallet is found inside the van.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Kerry Whelan. Sounds like the name of a girl I would have gone to high school with. It's like, that does not sound like a Mafia name at all.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's K E R R Y. Is that Irish?

[Karen Kilgareff]

It sounds. It's like an Irish last name, I think.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. So he was the one who worked at Lufthansa. He was the one who got pistol whipped and, like, put in the van. So they were able to connect that to the van. Got it. You know what I mean? So, like, they're like, we're. This is the van. The FBI figures out whose apartment the van is parked in front of, knows who Stax is and who he works for. And because of the rigid hierarchy of the mob, they basically know immediately which general circle of people is connected to this heist, you know?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

At the same time, investigators want to find out who the person was on the inside at Lufthansa who orchestrated the heist. Like, because he's maybe the worst one maybe. Right. They first focus on a Lufthansa employee name Peter Grald. And Peter had actually, in the past, conspired with Lewis Werner to plan this exact kind of heist. But Peter was either cut out of the plan in the end or he just didn't want to participate. But it doesn't matter because Peter knows all about it and knows who the player, even though he wasn't participating. So he agrees to testify in exchange for immunity and immediately rats on his coworker, Lewis Werner.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It can't feel good when you're ratting on a fellow Mafia guy.

[Georgia Hardstark]

No, you gotta get out of there.

[Karen Kilgareff]

All the stuff in the Mafia is the opposite of that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Well, Lewis Werner isn't a Mafia guy. He just fucking owes the Mafia money.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, that's right. Sorry. Well, he's an associate.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And you, by association, you're an associate.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's Right. You hang around a barbershop, you're gonna get a haircut.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Love that.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I love that I didn't make it up.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It sounds like an old Irish thing. Okay. So Lewis is arrested, charged, found guilty. He's sentenced to 15 years in prison, all within the first half of 1979. Ultimately, though, he's the only person who was ever convicted in connection with the Lufthansa heist.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Interestingly. And you're like, oh, why aren't more people prosecuted for that? Well, people start to get whacked. Oh, yeah. Mostly at the order of. So the first to fall is Stacks.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I mean, we lost Stacks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He fucked up so bad.

[Karen Kilgareff]

He really did.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, that one's kind of a given, you know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

My boyfriend Stacks died. Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He's found in an apartment in Ozone Park, Queens, having been shot in the head on December 18, just a week after the heist. And he had to know it was coming.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, he fucked up real bad.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Although if they shot him from behind, it might have been a Soprano situation where he was. It was just over.

[Georgia Hardstark]

But he had to know that it was coming.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Because he fucked up. You know what I mean?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. He was out in no Zone park because he knew it was coming.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. He's. He's like, I'm gonna get my hand in a vice grip, and then I'm fucking dead.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So next to go is Martin Krugman, the wig salesman. Poor Marty. Part of the problem is that Martin also owes money to loan sharks. He's not just a loan shark himself. He owes money to them. And he's so anxious to get his cut from the heist, which is supposed to be, like, half a million dollars, that he keeps going to Robert's Lounge and bugging Jimmy Burke for his cut, which is like, you just don't want to do that.

[Karen Kilgareff]

No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like Every. That's mob 101.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I feel like that's in the movie. Or there's something in the. In the movie where it's like, yeah, there's a guy that comes to the.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Bar and just keeps nagging.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. I haven't seen it in a long time. Great fucking movie.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Such a good movie.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Double feature, fucking Goodfellas. And I'm just going to keep pushing My Blue Heaven. It's really a gem. And I feel like it's not given enough credit.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Do it.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay. By early January, Martin goes missing and his body's never found. Another member of the crew named Tommy DeSimone, who's played by Joe Pesci Hey. Classic. He gets killed by members of the Gotti crew as vengeance for a different killing, not even directly related to the Lufthansa heist. But the heist probably did set the events in motion that led to it. So it is connected. It's all connected in the mob. Then another member of the crew named Louis Gafora, whose nickname. It's a deli meat.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, it's a head cheese. Louis. Head Cheese Gamora.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Nickname's Roast beef. He wouldn't have gotten. Who would have gotten that? Okay.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's so simple.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And delicious roast beef. Hey, Roast Beef.

[Georgia Hardstark]

This guy goes and buys his wife a custom pink Cadillac. Right away, fool with his share of.

[Karen Kilgareff]

The money, you put a Mary Kay sticker on the back, then no one's the wiser.

[Georgia Hardstark]

That's true, but he didn't do that. It was like they told you not to buy flashy shit, and you buy.

[Karen Kilgareff]

A pink Cadillac, you buy the flashyish.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. You know, my second cousin wrote the song Pink Cadillac.

[Karen Kilgareff]

What?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

What?

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We've been doing this podcast for eight and a half years, and you've never bragged about that.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I'm trying to make sure that that's right. I'm fact checking that in my mind.

[Karen Kilgareff]

And is it the Bruce Springsteen song Pink Cadillac? No.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Was it? Yeah. But who else sang it?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Aretha Franklin.

[Georgia Hardstark]

There you go. He wrote that from the Bay Area. Yes. Maybe you knew him.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, yeah, I did. I was very good friends with him. I loved his music.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So Lewis and his wife, they disappear. Their bodies are never found. The wife, too.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's sad.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Bummer. Yeah. Then two other members of the crew who were likely directly involved in the heist because they actually worked at JFK for Air France's cargo terminal, were found dead in the same car, both of them shot in the head. So, like, everyone's taken out at this point, which I kind of remember that part in Goodfellas.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. Where the. The killings start and it's just like, boom, boom, boom.

[Georgia Hardstark]

It's like a montage of hit.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yep.

[Georgia Hardstark]

And so while all this is going on, Henry Hill, our friend Ray Liotta, who first brought the idea of the heist to Jimmy Burke, is starting to worry a little bit. He's worried that Burke's gonna find a reason to kill him, too. Henry wasn't actually directly involved in the heist that we know of. But at this point, even people who are tangentially involved are getting killed.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So in 1980, Henry Hill is arrested on drug trafficking. Charles and he's ultimately convinced to become an informant. And that is so his family can enter the Witness Protection Program. Right around the time Henry becomes an informant, Jimmy Burke is arrested for a totally separate crime. A college basketball points fixing scheme that, of course, Vince knows about. When I asked him about it, of course, Sports, he knows everything.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Well, so how the fuck do you do that?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I don't know. It says this happens at Boston College, and it's a big scandal on its own. I think you just.

[Karen Kilgareff]

I think you get people to not score. Not score, I guess, or not block or whatever, but.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Right. Or, like, get a certain amount of points. I don't know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Huh.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Okay.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. Burke is sentenced to 12 years in prison, but then is also convicted of the murder of a Florida club owner who likely also laundered money from the Lufthansa heist and had been scared. So Jimmy goes to prison, but he dies there in 1996. So Henry Hill's testimony, you know, as a. He becomes a rat. His Testimony leads to 50 separate convictions in assorted mob cases. So it's like one of the biggest fucking turns in mob history.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah.

[Georgia Hardstark]

His family changes their name and lives in various other states around the country, which I like. I don't know why I found fascinating. And I want to know everything about it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. About the Witness Protection Program.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And then you start thinking about, like, the, like, kids who were at your school for, like, six months and then, like, had a weird background story and then left again.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes. That happened all the time. Where I'm like, I've always lived here. How come you just. Yeah, you're coming and going willy nilly. Right.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Like, when someone in Orange county, when someone would transfer from, like, Florida, you'd be like, what the fuck are you doing in Irvine from Florida?

[Karen Kilgareff]

I don't buy this story of that. You're only in the second grade. Grade, exactly.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. You're not a kindergarten cop or teacher. Anyway, so they live in various states around the country. I think he marries and remarries, and he dies at the age of 69 in 2012. So he never gets fucking offed by the Mafia.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's crazy. He gets away.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And so none of the cash or jewels that were stolen from the cargo, which would be worth about 28 million today, has ever been found. No, because it wasn't traceable.

[Karen Kilgareff]

It's like the last great heist. Yeah. Holy shit.

[Georgia Hardstark]

He put some fucking kids through college, I bet.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, my God. Just real low key. Paying for, like, a Pool and some nice purses.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Sure. A couple fur coats.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Maybe a nice cruise.

[Georgia Hardstark]

A nice cruise.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Just low key.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah, low key. Not a pink Cadillac. And when Henry Hill was working with Nicholas Pelegi to write Goodfellas or to write the book that Goodfellas was based on in the screenplay, sometimes he'd call late at night and Nicholas wouldn't be around. So he talked to his wife, Nora Ephron, not knowing that she was just getting information from him to write My Blue Heaven the whole time, when she'd just like, hey, just let's. Let's chat. And he said, quote, I never got a penny for it. But Nick, her husband, had been so generous with me that I let it slow. Had it been anyone else's wife? Yeah.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Oh, my God.

[Georgia Hardstark]

So she fucking pushed it.

[Karen Kilgareff]

So essentially, it's almost like those are.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Mirror movies and they came out in the same year.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Did the people that made them kind of know that?

[Georgia Hardstark]

I think so.

[Karen Kilgareff]

That's hilarious.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Yeah. And that's the story of a Lufthansa heist.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Incredible. That was great. Thank.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thank you. So different.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah. It's the light and dark of life, the duality. The duality of this human experience that we are just going to have to keep on playing back and forth over and over to get through the next four years.

[Georgia Hardstark]

I mean, what is the reasoning? What is the answer? What is the purpose? What is the.

[Karen Kilgareff]

We'll figure it out.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Will we?

[Karen Kilgareff]

Maybe.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Okay.

[Karen Kilgareff]

You never know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You don't know. Never know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yes, you do. Never know.

[Georgia Hardstark]

You do never not know.

[Karen Kilgareff]

All right, well, guys, thanks.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Thanks for listening. Thanks for sticking with us.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Yeah, that's right. Stay strong. Go outside and walk around. Turn your head from left to right. That's real good for the nervous system.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Adopt a puppy or a kitten or an older dog or a senior cat. Adopt an animal. They really give you that endorphin rush that you need.

[Karen Kilgareff]

They do help you. And if you. If you can't afford an animal, pick a bird in the park that you like and visit it day after day. And remember, we're going to get through this.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Stay sexy and don't get murdered.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Goodbye, Elvis.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Do you want a cookie?

[Karen Kilgareff]

This has been an exactly right production.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our senior. Our producer is Alejandra Keck.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

[Karen Kilgareff]

This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Our researchers are Maren McClassian and Allie Elkin.

[Karen Kilgareff]

Email your hometowns to my favorite murdermail.com.

[Georgia Hardstark]

Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at my favorite murder and Twitter, yfav Murder Goodbye.