Posted on 10/19/2015 1:50:58 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Indeed. SNL was once worth watching!
Goodfellas film locations
New York, New Jersey
http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/g/goodfellas.html#.ViWVQW4YGSp
According to henry hill, that scene of jimmy berating the others for spending their loot on flashy things was a bunch of nonsense invented for the movie. They were openly buying themselves nice things and they didnt care who was watching.
LOL! I was just thinking the same thing.
There is nothing glamorous or admirable about violent criminals.
Here’s a link to Goodfellas filming locations which makes use of Google Maps. It has clickable location markers for current photos of the various sites.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zC1aAvaEIzUY.k4AqsJP_iQeg
No, I am from upstate. But I have been through Queens and I try and place things.
You know, because I miss the 70’s, I can say “nice car” while disliking the color. Of course, I’m guessing that’s about a 1978? Don’t remember.
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