Brooklyn prepares for trial over Lufthansa heist featured in Goodfellas

The Guardian ^ | October 17, 2015

[ETL]

Vincent Asaro, accused of receiving a cut of one of US history’s biggest cash thefts, was arrested last year after allegedly keeping his role secret for decades.

For decades, prosecutors say, Vincent Asaro managed to keep hidden his role in an infamous mob heist that was immortalized in the hit movie Goodfellas. As he did so, others of his generation were locked up or died gangland deaths.

A frail-looking Asaro finally emerged from the shadows after his arrest last year. He will go on trial on Monday on charges that he pocketed a cut of the $6m Lufthansa robbery at Kennedy Airport in 1978 – one of the largest cash thefts in American history.

If convicted, he will become the latest casualty of an erosion of the Mafia’s code of silence that has decimated the aging upper echelon of New York City’s underworld, sometimes called the “Oldfellas”.

Prosecutors at the trial in federal court in Brooklyn will give jurors a lesson in a bygone era when the five Italian Mafia families had a greater appetite for brazen crimes and deadly payback for betrayals. The defense will counter by accusing the government of using shady turncoat gangsters with faded memories or incentives to lie.

Asaro, 80, who has a history of convictions for lesser mob-related crimes, was arrested after his cousin, Gaspare Valenti, came forward with new information about the Lufthansa heist and agreed to wear a wire to try to coax admissions out of the reputed longtime member of the Bonanno crime family.

Prosecutors have not revealed why the key witness turned on Asaro, though it is believed he may have held a grudge after being cheated out of a cut of Asaro’s $750,000 take from the heist, said Jerry Capeci, a Mafia expert who writes the ganglandnews.com web column.

[ETL]

John Gotti killed mobster played by Joe Pesci in 'Goodfellas' [Tommy DeSimone]
New York Post ^ | By Bill Sanderson July 12, 2015 | Bill Sanderson

It was time for Tommy ­DeSimone to die.

The mobster — famously portrayed by Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" — killed two made men, tried to rape the wife of his gangster pal Henry Hill and stupidly lifted his ski mask during 1978’s historic $6 million Lufthansa heist.

So John Gotti took care of it — personally.

The handsome capo used a silencer-equipped Colt .38 to shoot DeSimone three times in the skull in January 1979 in the basement of an Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx, says an upcoming book, “The Lufthansa Heist,” written by Hill and journalist Daniel Simone.

It’s the first time the details of Gotti’s role in the death of the 28-year-old psychopath have been revealed.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...

[Army Air Corps]

Oh yeah, no doubt that La Cosa Nostra would be hard-pressed to match that level of gangsterism.

[ETL]

LOL! That was great! Thanks.

https://screen.yahoo.com/jon-lovitz-snl-skits/wired-danny-000000907.html

[ETL]

Here’s Jon Lovitz again. This time from City Slickers 2...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsXyG1R2MhQ

[Larry Lucido]

Rule of thumb: When you're supposed to bring the getaway van to a junkyard to be crushed, don't get high and park it in a no-parking zone at your girlfriend's apartment.

Parnell Edwards (I think this is him)

[ETL]

Related to the City Slickers 2 clip...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zfGdG79taE

[NormsRevenge]

Maury’s cousin snitched?

So much for da good old days.

[ETL]

Parnell Edwards (I think this is him)

[ETL]

Tommy ­"Two-Gun Tommy" DeSimone
(played by Joe Pesci in Goodfellas)

Henry Hill
(played by Ray Liotta in film)

Jimmy "The Gent" Burke
(played by Robert De Niro)

Paul Vario
(played by Paul Sorvino)

[ETL]

I’m funny how? I mean funny, like I’m a clown? I amuse you?
I make you laugh? I’m here to F-n amuse you? Whattya you mean
funny? Funny how? How am I funny? What the F is so funny about me!

[GoldenPup]

No statute of limitations?

[ETL]

GoodFellas: Billy Batts scene
(language & violence warning!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzqZNRVIQpM

[Artemis Webb]

I still consider Joe Pesci’s performance in Goodfella’s to be the single best acting performance I’ve ever seen in anything! He made me nervous!

[combat_boots]

His performance in “Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag” was good, too. Gnome sayin?

[sheik yerbouty]

Bwaaaaahaaaaaaa!

[SkyPilot]

The director, Martin Scorsese, played the piano part of Layla himself for the final cut. He wanted to hit the notes at the right time to correspond to the footage of the bodies hitting the garbage dumpster and other touches.

[SkyPilot]

I didn't know that was filmed at Salerno's. Thanks!

[SkyPilot]

LOL!

Back when Saturday Night Live had talent and was actually funny.

[Rome2000]

I saw that guy in real life, I was in grade school and he would hang out sometimes by a candy store called “The Goody Jar” on the corner.

Big fat guy with a beard, not skinny like in the movie.

[ETL]

Are you from that neighborhood in Queens?