1978 Lufthansa heist was the 'score of scores,' prosecution says as trial starts

[Blue_Tires]

A prosecutor called the $6 million Lufthansa terminal heist in 1978 the "score of scores" as the racketeering trial of alleged career mobster Vincent Asaro, the first person ever charged in the notorious "Goodfellas" robbery, began in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday.

Prosecutor Lindsay Gerdes told jurors that Asaro helped plan the heist at Kennedy Airport, waited in a "crash car" with plot mastermind Jimmy Burke -- the Robert DeNiro character in the movie -- while a crew carried it out, and received a $500,000 share.

"The defendant is a gangster through and through," she said in her opening arguments, explaining that his grandfather, father and son all were wiseguys. "He lived and breathed the Mafia ... What mattered to this defendant was money and power."

The Lufthansa heist is just one a series of crimes ranging from murder to loan-sharking that prosecutors have alleged that Asaro, 80, of Howard Beach, committed in his rise from a Bonanno family associate and "tough guy" to soldier and captain.

But a defense lawyer told jurors that Asaro was entitled to the presumption of innocence, and that the government's case was based on testimony from turncoat witnesses who have gotten $2 million in support from the FBI and who aren't believable.

http://www.newsday.com/news/new-york/lufthansa-goodfellas-heist-in-1978-was-the-score-of-scores-prosecution-says-as-trial-starts-1.10982926

Wait...We're only just *NOW* trying somebody for this after all these years?

[Calista241]

1. Was the Asaro character in the movie?

If he was, I wonder if "Goodfellas" will be evidence in the proceedings.

[winstars]

2. Here ya go:

[meaculpa2011]

3. A few years before the heist...

I was working in a supermarket in Howard Beach.

The mob controlled the union and had a few dozen no-show jobs. You always knew when they were under FBI surveillance because they would show up for work and play cards in the back room all day.

One day, Tommy asks me if he can borrow $20 until payday. So I say "Sure" and give it to him.

Time goes by and Tommy never comes up with the cash, so I ask one of the other crew members.

He says, "Kid, fugeddaboutit."

Tommy was played by Joe Pesci in the movie and he "disappeared" soon after the heist.

He still owes me the money.

BTW: While I was there I met this cute little cashier and it was love at first sight. That was in 1967 and she's still little and cute and looking over my shoulder as I'm typing.