Bill Fischetti

Guglielmo Fischetti a.k.a. "William" (September 30 1933 Ridgewood, Queens-April 7, 1999 Baldwin, Nassau County, New York) was a Bear Stearns accountant in New York City and close friend of Louis Werner. Fischetti helped launder Louis Werner's share of the money stolen in the 1978 Lufthansa heist.

Biography

Guglielmo Fischetti was an Italian-American friend of Lufthansa cargo supervisor Louis Werner; the two attended high school together in Ridgewood, Queens. His parents named him in memory of the hermit Saint William. He Anglicized his name early on in life to "William". He was the son of immigrants from the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont located in Northern Italy. Fischetti was hired by Bear Stearns as an accountant in a bank located on the Lower East Side, Manhattan. He was fortunate to be hired on by one of the largest global investment banks and securities trading and brokerage firms in the world. He was introduced to the lucrative hijacking enterprise at John F. Kennedy Airport and regularly purchased stolen stocks and bonds at The Bamboo Lounge from Angelo McConnach. Henry Hill describes Fischetti as a "real Wall Street type" who always dressed in $1,000-dollar suits. He was involved in money laundering and bank fraud.

Partnership in Crime

In 1972, after Louis Werner and Peter Gruenwald robbed Lufthansa of $22,000 in untraceable currency, Werner approached Fischetti and inquired how the stolen German currency could be converted into American dollars. Fischetti met with Louis at his office located at the bank headquarters located at 383 Madison Avenue in Manhattan and informed his friend that as long as the bank deposit transactions were less than $500 each, Werner's bank branch would not have to be report the deposits to the United States Department of the Treasury. A week later Werner retrieved the money from his backyard and gave it to Fischetti at his office to swap at several of the foreign exchange banks.

Betrayal and Deceit

From 1967 to 1978 Fischetti had an adulterous relationship with Werner's estranged wife Beverly Rao for eleven years, when Louis was in severe financial distress. After the Lufthansa heist, Fischetti became a key witness testifying in the case against Louis Werner for his role in the robbery and led to his conviction. In 1978 Fischetti planned to resign from his position as an accountant and to form a taxicab dispatch company located on the Lower East Side.

References

* "Wiseguy: A Life In A Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi
* http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/13.html
* http://fixapix.com/lhheist.aspx
* US Social Security Death Index