• Five suspected mobsters have been arrested for their part in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at New York's Kennedy International Airport
• The robbery was famously featured in the Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas
• The arrests of four men and surrender of a fifth follows a discovery by the Federal Bureau of Investigation of human remains at a New York property in June
• The home was once owned by James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke last summer - who was played by Robert De Niro in Goodfellas
  
• This is the first time any accused member of the mafia has ever faced charges in connection with the crime
  
• The December 11, 1978, heist was one of the largest cash thefts in American history
• The cash was never found and only one conviction has ever been made

By James Nye

PUBLISHED: 10:18 EST, 23 January 2014 | UPDATED: 13:30 EST, 23 January 2014

It has taken them over 30 years, but the FBI have finally charged members of the New York mafia with the 1978 Lufthansa heist at JFK - made famous by the movie Goodfellas.

Five high-ranking members of the Bonanno organized crime family were arrested and charged in pre-dawn raids on Thursday morning in connection with the $6 million robbery that is still one of the largest cash thefts in American history.

The arrests took place across New York and included Thomas 'Tommy D' DiDiore, who is believed to be the highest ranking member of the Bonanno family outside of prison and Vincent Asaro, 78, who is alleged to be a captain, or capo in the ranks of the crime family.

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This is the first time any accused member of the mafia has ever faced charges in connection with the crime.

The wide-ranging indictment naming Vincent Asaro, his son Jerome and three other defendants alleges murder, robbery, extortion, arson and bookmaking.

Asaro was accused of participating in the December 11, 1978, armed robbery — one of the largest cash thefts in American history.

Hooded gunmen invaded the airline's cargo terminal and stole about $5 million in untraceable U.S. currency being returned to the United States from Germany.

The cash was never found. Authorities say jewelry worth about $1 million also was taken.

The Asaros, both alleged captains in the Bonanno organized crime family, also were charged together in a 1984 robbery of $1.25 million worth of gold salts from a Federal Express employee.

Information on their attorneys was not immediately available.

The elder Asaro was charged in the murder of Paul Katz, whose remains were found last year during an FBI dig at a house once occupied by James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke.

Burke, a late Lucchese crime family associate, planned the Lufthansa heist and was known for burying victims of mob hits in familiar places.

Burke owned Robert's Lounge, the saloon that a fellow Lucchese associate, the late Henry Hill, described as Burke's private cemetery. 'Jimmy buried over a dozen bodies ... under the bocce courts,' Hill wrote in his book, 'A Goodfella's Guide to New York.'

Burke inspired Robert De Niro's character in 'Goodfellas,' which was based on Nicholas Pileggi's book 'Wiseguy' and told the story of Hill's time in the mob and subsequent cooperation with law enforcement.

The indictment alleges that in December 1969, Asaro 'together with others ... did knowingly and intentionally cause the death of Paul Katz,' but provides no further details.

The heist, which would have been worth $20 million today, was masterminded by Jimmy Burke, a late associate of the Lucchese family, who was portrayed by Robert De Niro in the movie.

The arrests are believed to be connected to remains discovered during a search of Burke's Queens home in Ozone Park in June as the FBI hunted for links to missing mobster, Paul Katz, who disappeared in 1969.

Investigators discovered bones buried in the ground that tests showed to be human, but the identity of those remains has not been released.

Law enforcement have said that the arrested are Bonanno crime family members Vincent Asaro, 78; Jerome Asaro, 55; Thomas 'Tommy D' DiFiore, 70; John 'Bazoo' Ragano, 52; and Jack Bonventre, whose age isn't known.

The five suspects arrested Thursday morning face racketeering, extortion and conspiracy charges in connection with the discovery of those remains as well as the airport heist.

Two of the suspects live in Queens, two in Long Island and one in upstate New York.

The exact connection between the search of Burke's home in Queens and the Lufthansa heist has not been made clear by the FBI as of Thursday.

Before today the only person ever convicted in connection with the robbery was airport insider, Louis Werner - who tipped off the men who stole the money.

The theft occurred in the middle of the night on December 11, 1978 and netted the robbers more than $5 million in cash and $1 million in jewels.

At the time, it was the largest heist ever in America and led to a huge, decades-long search for the perpetrators that until now has been fruitless.

Six masked gunman took 64 minutes to steal the packets of cash, toss them into a van and escape.

The FBI has always agreed with the plot of the movie Goodfellas about all loose coonections to the robbery being killed off by paranoid mob bosses.

Federal agents believe that Asaro was the key mafia overseer for JFK and as such would have been informed of Burke's plan to rob the currency shipment from West Germany.

The indictment charges Asaro with the murder of Paul Katz in 1969, as well as robbery, conspiracy and other charges tied to the 1978 heist.

ABC News reported Katz was killed, and his remains buried, because Burke believed he was working with law enforcement.

Burke was a specialist in hijacking and was arrrested in 1982 for a parole violation and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for match fixing involving the Boston College basketball team.

During his prison term, Burke was indicted for the murder of a known drug dealer whose body was found tied up hanging in a freezer truck in Brooklyn.

He was sentenced to 20 years to life for second-degree murder and died behind bars in 1996, at age 64, almost two decades after the airport robbery.

The cash has never been recovered from the robbery.