BROOKLYN, NY— Vincent Asaro has been fount not guilty on all charges for his alleged role in the infamous $6 Million Lufthansa Heist.
From NY1: “Prosecturos argued that Asaro helped plan the armed robbery of $6 million in cash and jewelry from the Lufthansa Airlines cargo facility at JFK Airport in 1978, as depicted in the 1990 movie “Goodfellas”.
Jurors have heard recordings of what prosecutors say is Asaro telling an informant that he never got his correct share of the money.
The defense argued the recordings were just the bluster of an old man with a gambling problem.
Asaro was also charged with choking another suspected informant to death with a dog chain.”
1978 Lufthansa Heist: Vincent Asaro was charged for his participation in the 1978 robbery at the Lufthansa Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport of more than $5 million in United States currency and approximately $1 million in jewelry. Asaro, Lucchese crime family associate James “Jimmy the Gent” Burke, and their co-conspirators each expected to receive approximately $750,000 in cash and large quantities of gold jewelry from the proceeds of the robbery.
MORE: Five members of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (the Bonanno family) were variously charged with racketeering conspiracy, including predicate acts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to murder, robbery and extortion, and other crimes.
Bonanno family administration members and captains Vincent Asaro and Thomas Di Fiore; Bonanno family captain Jerome Asaro; Bonanno family acting captain Jack Bonventre; and Bonanno family soldier John Ragano were arrested in 2014 in Brooklyn.
“As alleged, Vincent Asaro devoted his adult life to the Bonanno crime family, with a criminal career that spanned decades. Far from a code of honor, theirs was a code of violence and brute force. Those suspected of cooperating with law enforcement paid with their lives. Asaro helped pull off the 1978 Lufthansa robbery—still the largest bank robbery in New York history. Neither age nor time dimmed Asaro’s ruthless ways, as he continued to order violence to carry out mob business in recent months. The arrests and charges announced today are a testament to the relentless pursuit of justice by law enforcement,” stated United States Attorney Lynch. Ms. Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the FBI for its extraordinary work in bringing these defendants to account for the charged crimes.
