United States invasion of Afghanistan
On the morning of 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda carried out four coordinated attacks on the United States. Four commercial passenger jet airliners were hijacked. The hijackers – members of al-Qaeda's Hamburg cell – intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both buildings collapsed within two hours from fire damage related to the crashes, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target the White House or the United States Capitol. No flights had survivors. In total, 2,996 people, including the 19 hijackers, died and more than 6,000 others injured in the attacks. According to the New York State Health Department, 836 first responders, including firefighters and police personnel, had died as of June 2009.
The Lufthansa Heist
Burke, an astute criminal, selected six armed robbers from his Robert's Lounge Gang, a band of psychotic thieves with low levels of intelligence and hair-trigger tempers. On December 11, 1978 at 3:00 a.m., the gunmen forayed into Lufthansa Cargo Building 261 at Kennedy Airport and held hostage the night staff. Two of the perpetrators forced the supervisor to disarm the alarm system of the high-value vault and hauled out bundles of cash and jewels, totaling $6,000,000. (Approximately $42,000,000 at present value) 
When the robbery was reported, several law enforcement agencies swarmed into the Lufthansa Cargo Complex. The New York Port Authority Police, The New York Police Department, The Queens County District Attorney, and the FBI took immense interest in this crime of epic proportion, and an extraordinary rivalry began among them. The Lufthansa heist spun national headlines for months to follow, and every law enforcement agent wished to assume control of the investigation, hopefully to eventually taking credit for solving the crime. In fact, the competition to dominate the case became so intense that the various law enforcement agencies threw one another off course by sabotaging their investigations. The winners were the FBI and the US attorney.
But for Burke and the Robert's Lounge Gang matters became problematic when one of their accomplices, Stacks Edwards, failed to deliver the getaway van to an auto wrecking yard for it to be destroyed. Instead, he parked it near a fire hydrant and spent the night snorting cocaine with his girlfriend. The police discovered the van and lifted fingerprints that matched those of the perpetrators, who had already been under suspicion. Consequently, Jimmy Burke ordered Stacks to be murdered.