It was James Burke, popularly called ‘Jimmy the Gent’, who is said to be the owner of Robert’s Lounge, a bar saloon. He was considered to be Lucchese crime family’s associate. This place is known to have served as the criminal headquarters between 1957 and early 1979.
Significance of Robert Lounge
The lounge was said to be utilized as supermarket for selling t hose goods which was stolen by James Burke as well as his group. This lounge was a criminal hub, where different types of criminal activities were planned for being executed. One such plan that was said to be made sitting at Robert’s Lounge was the Lufthansa Heist, something that has gone down in history, although for the wrong causes.
Location
The location of the saloon was near to J.F.K. International Airport’s, Air Cargo Center. There were also present other hangouts in the vicinity, which included Vesuvio Restaurant of Don Pepe, Bargain Auto Junkyard, Aqueduct Race Track and dress factory of Moo Moo Vedda.
About the Lounge
Initially, the saloon was a simple bar, where blue collar employees were said to be frequent visitors. However, with time, as James Burke including other members of Lucchese Family began to frequent the place, the other customers were driven away. Slowly, it had become a criminal hangout.
Other essential facts about the lounge
The lounge was known notoriously for the ‘graveyard’ also. Dominick Cersani was killed by James Burke to seek revenge, since the former is said to have cooperated with the District Attorney of Queens and assisted in capturing the stolen cigarette load of Burke. The saloon’s backyard became Dominick’s grave after his murder. Also, another person had been murdered and buried within the saloon, who was Michael Gianco, popularly called the ‘Spider’. Gianco had worked as night manager and bartender. He was killed over an ordinary issue by Thomas DeSimone. His body was buried in the lounge’s basement. The worst part is that when the FBI had carried out thorough research of the Lounge and its basement, they were not able to find any of the bodies as has been claimed to be buried here. The reason for the bodies not to be found within the Lounge was because details of the search warrant were found out by Burke before the actual search was to be carried out by the FBI. Hence, he had the bodies taken out and displaced to another place.