Yesterday (Nov. 12), alleged mobster Vinny Asaro was acquitted of the 1978 Lufthansa heist made famous in Goodfellas as well as numerous other crimes, including murder. Asaro walked out of court smiling, and with jokes.
Reports the New York Post:
Grinning ear to ear while leaving Brooklyn federal court after two years behind bars, the 80-year-old Bonanno crime-family capo was so thrilled that he even ad-libbed a Mafia-hit joke to reporters outside court.
“Sam, don’t let ’em see the body in the trunk,” he said in a mock aside as one of his lawyers popped open the trunk to the white Mercedes-Benz that would take him to freedom.
Prosecutors had been seeking a landmark conviction in the heist immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film, “Goodfellas.”
Prosecutors had argued that Asaro was heavily involved with the band of mob hoodlums who breached the Lufthansa cargo terminal at Kennedy Airport on Dec. 11, 1978, emptying a vault of $6 million in cash and jewels.
Asaro was acquitted of having any role in the caper as well as the murder of Paul Katz, who was thought to be a mob informant.
The irony here is that the informant who the feds banked their case on, Gaspare Valenti—who is Asaro’s cousin, is in witness protection and pled guilty. He is looking at 20 years in prison.
Do dirt, get dirty.
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Photo: AP Photo
