Edward McDonald

ABOUT THE BOOK

America has its share of feared and famous G-men and mob prosecutors, but at the height of the New York Mafia’s reign over New York City and beyond, arguably none was more successful than Edward McDonald. A folk hero in law enforcement circles and scorned within the underworld, Ed has become a well-known personality, perhaps most recognizable for playing himself in the iconic Oscar-winning film Goodfellas. Ed has faced off against the fiercest mob bosses in history, and the legal victories he achieved in the courtroom quite literally devastated organized crime and public corruption at their peak. 

In his debut memoir, written with Jake Brown, Ed, for the first time, takes us inside the real-life investigations, prosecutions, and trials of two front-page courtroom battles, the Lufthansa Heist and the Boston College point-shaving scandal. 

It begins with a dramatic account of how a group of gunmen organized by the unforgettable New York underworld legend Jimmy “The Gent” Burke planned and executed the robbery of over $6 million in cash and jewels from the Lufthansa cargo building at John F. Kennedy Airport, at the time of the nation’s largest robbery. In its wake, the murderous Burke executed many of his accomplices to silence them and assume their share of the loot for himself. The engrossing account of Ed’s assignment as the prosecutor in charge of the massive investigation of the robbery describes in absorbing detail the process that led to the turning of critical witnesses and securing evidence necessary for the indictment of the hapless inside man, Lou Werner. The resulting trial, recounted  from Ed’s unique  perspective, is riveting and at times uproariously funny—an unforgettable roller coaster ride of a drama that resulted in Werner’s conviction. 

While investigating the elusive Burke crew, Ed and his FBI partners unexpectedly gain the cooperation of Henry Hill, Burke’s closest associate and an early insider on the Lufthansa robbery. Hill is a truly unforgettable character, despicable yet lovable, moronic but bright, endlessly funny with his self-deprecating sense of humor and a font of information on the Burke’s crew and the entire Lucchese crime family. Hill is unable to get the investigators over the finish line on a Lufthansa prosecution, but he almost inadvertently discloses he and Burke had corrupted Boston College players who had agreed to rig games by shaving points.  As coincidence would have it, Ed is a B.C. alum and had played on the freshman basketball team. The ensuing investigation to back up Hill’s testimony about the fix is another gripping story, and the point shaving trial is one for the ages. Ed’s insider story is filled with a series of madcap events and high drama. Characters abound, a mixed bag of witnesses, the colorful defense attorneys, the presiding judge, and others. It results in the convictions of Jimmy the Gent Burke, Rick Kuhn, and the Pittsburgh wannabes.

Ed shares his humorous, exciting, and sometimes sad three-decade relationship with Henry Hill, the remarkably incorrigible character he made into a witness, offering unforgettable anecdotes, from his endless efforts going to bat for Hill with other prosecutors to their entertaining encounters in Hollywood and New York. He also tells the story of his unexpectedly being offered the role of playing himself in the classic film about the life of Hill, Goodfellas, describing the days spent with the director Martin Scorsese and getting to perform with Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Lorraine Bracco—a fascinating and entertaining experience.

The stories of the legendary Lufthansa heist and the Boston College point shaving fix are iconic, interesting cases that have captivated the public for years. With an entertaining storytelling style, Ed provides singular, insider accounts of how the investigations and trials were conducted. With behind-the-scenes detail of trial strategies and stages, Ed’s memoir also serves as a window into criminal trial practice, presented in an understandable and gripping way for non-lawyers, while never leaving out descriptions of the antics of all the colorful characters he encountered along the way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edward McDonald headed the Justice Department’s largest and most successful Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn throughout the 1980s. He was responsible for the convictions of the leaders of four of the five Mafia families in New York, over sixty La Cosa Nostra capos and soldiers, more than seventy corrupt labor union officials, and countless others associated with the LCN. He also successfully tried New Jersey Senator Harrison Williams and successfully prosecuted five US congressmen. 

A member of the Screen Actors Guild, Ed played himself in Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award-winning film Goodfellas and appeared in three other films. He has been a fixture on television, with appearances on news shows including Good Morning America and Today, and countless organized crime documentaries, including GOTTI: Godfather & Son on History/A&E/Bio and The 5 Families on Netflix.

In private law practice in New York since 1990, he has been praised by the Legal 500, which said, “the ‘excellent Edward McDonald’ lives up to his reputation as ‘one of the best criminal defense attorneys in New York.’” A graduate of Boston College and Georgetown Law School, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Mary, a short walk from his three sons and five grandchildren.

TALKING POINTS

• Organized crime and the Italian-American mafia—what it’s like working with informants and against capos and killers
• Ed’s unlikely 30-year friendship with mobster Henry Hill, navigating his shenanigans and criminal mishaps while in the Witness Protection program and elsewhere 
• Inside the mind of a trial lawyer—a first-hand behind-the-scenes POV of landmark criminal trials
• Corruption in sports and the Boston College point-shaving case. Basketball indictments in the news. (The NBA season starts in October and college basketball in November)
• The Lufthansa heist of 1978—then the largest robbery in American history— masterminded by a legendary mobster and resulting in the murders of multiple co-conspirators and related individuals
• Ed’s experience playing himself in the film Goodfellas