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Racteering Trial Begins Against Vincent Asaro For Alleged Role In Lufthansa Heist


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The racketeering trial against Bonanno mobster Vincent Asaro starts this Monday for his alleged role in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport as reported by The Associated Press: "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." Also slated to testify against Asaro is Bonanno-boss-turned-government-witness Joseph Massino.

 

Further reading that may be of interest:

 

In Praise Of The Rat

 

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OTOH

Goodfellas, John Gotti and The Lufthansa Heist
October 15, 2015

(Snip)

Talk about the upcoming case and what it means?

 

I’m assuming you’re referring to the Vincent Asaro case. I spent almost two years interviewing Henry–and some of those sessions were videotaped. I had the collaboration of the two FBI agents who spearheaded the investigation (they wrote the forward and the afterward in my book). I also had the invaluable cooperation of Ed McDonald, the former US Attorney who was in charge of the case. (Incidentally, he played himself in Goodfellas). In my Notes and Sources page of the book, I name numerous individuals who were peripherally involved in the robbery; some on the sides of the authorities, and several down in the bowels of the underworld. Additionally, I managed to review a series of FBI inter-office memorandums circulated by those agents who were assisting the lead investigators identifying prospective suspects. And in the end of this exhausting mission, Vincent Asaro’s name never came up.

 

In fact, in January of 2014 the blasting news about Asaro’s arrest shocked not only me but the FBI agents, the former US Attorney, and everyone else who had been attached to the investigation. My conclusion, and that of the aforementioned parties, is that Asaro had nothing to do with Lufthansa. Perhaps, he might’ve pestered Jimmy Burke for a percentage of the loot, and maybe to appease him Burke tossed him a bone. But I can’t envision Asaro having partaken in the heist, and yet remain totally obscure. Moreover, he didn’t surface throughout my research and interviews with over a hundred people who had a direct and indirect participation in this crime of epic proportion.

 

So, you may ask, how could the current prosecutors obtain an indictment against Asaro for the Lufthansa charge? Simple. The indictment is based solely on the affidavits of two convicts, desperate felons in dire straits willing to fabricate lies that hey could offer to the prosecution in exchange for leniency. And the prosecutors, ambitious and blinded by the prospect of trying a case that will surely attract national attention, bought into those tales with hook, line, and sinker. The FBI also covertly recorded conversations wherein Asaro complains that “Burke never gave us what we were supposed to get from Lufthansa.” Such off-handed and fragmented statements, however, cannot be taken at face value and don’t necessarily mean what they imply. More realistically, it’s a commonality for the likes of Asaro to brag about crimes they did not commit.

 

(Snip)

 

H/T Cosa Nostra News

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The racketeering trial against Bonanno mobster Vincent Asaro starts this Monday for his alleged role in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport as reported by The Associated Press: "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." Also slated to testify against Asaro is Bonanno-boss-turned-government-witness Joseph Massino.

 

Further reading that may be of interest:

 

In Praise Of The Rat

 

Hey good post/read what I just read Asaro not involved -- but who knows unsure.png

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Friends of Ours

 

The racketeering trial against Bonanno mobster Vincent Asaro starts this Monday for his alleged role in the 1978 Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport as reported by The Associated Press: "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." Also slated to testify against Asaro is Bonanno-boss-turned-government-witness Joseph Massino.

 

Further reading that may be of interest:

 

In Praise Of The Rat

 

Hey good post/read what I just read Asaro not involved -- but who knows unsure.png

 

 

 

Thing we always need to keep in mind is who we are dealing with. Vincent Asaro, John Gotti, Joey Massino, Henry Hill....These are all bad guys who lie as a matter of course and always look to make themselves look innocent and/or more important than they may be. These are not nice reliable people. If Big Joe Massino told me it is October...I'd triple check the calendar....and call 4 other people.

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HENRY-HILL-AND-THE-ROBERTS-LOUNGE-GANG-7

The Joe Pesci Character in Goodfellas was Whacked by John Gotti

*An excerpt from The Lufthansa Heist by Daniel Simone and Henry Hill Burke and Hill were losing their minds in Florida hunting for Eaton. Up north in New York Tommy DeSimone was dressing for his acceptance into the Mafia. He donned his double-breasted black Bill Blass suit, a starched blue shirt, and beige silk tie. His hair was trimmed and […] Scissors-32x32.pnghttp://www.gorillaconvict.com/2015/10/the-joe-pesci-character-in-goodfellas-was-whacked-by-john-gotti/

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Riveting Retelling of ’78 Lufthansa Heist, but in Court, Not on Film

By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

 

OCT. 20, 2015

Wearing black ski masks and gloves and driving a stolen van, six Mafia members and associates came to a stop outside a terminal at Kennedy International Airport on a December night in 1978 for what they thought would be a $2 million robbery.

 

A mile away, Vincent Asaro, who is now on trial in Brooklyn in connection with the holdup, waited with James Burke for the action to unfold.

 

Minutes later, after the employees at the Lufthansa terminal had been rounded up at gunpoint, the six robbers forced one of them to open the vault. Scissors-32x32.png

 

Tommy DeSimone walked in first, followed by Gaspare Valenti, who testified on Tuesday in Federal District Court, riveting the courtroom with his breathtakingly detailed account of the infamous robbery

 

But it was the details of the Lufthansa affair that held the room rapt; even Mr. Asaro, 80, watched with apparent interest as Mr. Valenti described the night.

 

Eight Mafia members and associates participated, led by Mr. Burke, who was not Italian and thus could not be an acknowledged Mafia member. Mr. Asaro, a member of the Bonanno family, and Mr. Burke knew one another from a Mafia social club, Robert’s Lounge, which they both owned shares in.Scissors-32x32.png

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/nyregion/at-lufthansa-heist-trial-man-tells-of-his-role-in-crime.html

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