Based on the 1986 book The Heist: How a Gang Stole $8,000,000 at Kennedy Airport and Lived to Regret It, by Ernest Volkman and John Cummings, this TV movie tells the story about the 1978 Lufthansa Heist at JFK Airport in New York - the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil. The heist was also the subject of the much better-known 1990 film Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese. It was also the subject of another made-for-television film: The 10 Million Dollar Getaway from 1991.