FBI agents knock on the door of notorious mobster Jimmy Burke’s former house in Ozone Park, where his daughter now lives. Anna Gustafson/The Forum Newsgroup
It was about 8 a.m. when Roberto Velasquez heard “a lot of banging” outside his Ozone Park apartment. The construction worker was home on 102nd Road with a sore throat and annoyed that his sleep was disturbed. “When I looked out the window all I saw were FBI guys running around.”
Federal Agents descended on the home of the late James Burke aka Jimmy the Gent in hopes of finding human remains in the basement of the house. Still inhabited by some family members, the F.B.I. began tearing up the floors and walls with jackhammers while others used shovels to dig under two tarps they set up over the driveway. The fervor of the dig was interrupted when the blade of the jackhammer struck a water line and flooded the basement.
FBI agents reportedly were searching for human remains at the former house of mobster Jimmy Burke on Monday.
Law enforcement sources say that the dig is in connection with a homicide case more than thirty years old.
Jimmy Burke earned fame when he was named as the mastermind of the Lufthansa Heist in 1978. Over $5 million was never recovered in connection with the theft. A known member of the Luchese crime family, his life was immortalized in the film ‘Goodfellas’, in which his character was portrayed by Robert DeNiro.
Burke has a storied connection to burying bodies in many places, including Robert’s Lounge, a bar he owned located near the house. A book written by mob rat Henry Hill quotes Hill as saying, “Jimmy buried over a dozen bodies there…” Human remains were excavated from the bar over thirty years ago.
Burke died in prison in 1996 of cancer. He was imprisoned for the murder of Richard Eaton, a drug dealer.
What are believed to be human remains were discovered Wednesday morning at the site, located at 81-48 102nd Road. As of press time, FBI agents were continuing work on the site and hoped to be finished by Wednesday evening.
