Vincent Asaro

[willychichi]

Pals so mad at ‘Goodfellas’ turncoat they skipped his wake

“Goodfellas” mob rat Henry Hill was so hated by some of his former pals that they skipped his 2012 wake.
“F–k him,” growled Bonanno capo Vinny Asaro on a secret recording played Friday at his trial in Brooklyn federal court.
On trial for the famed 1978 Lufthansa heist that was featured in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 flick “Goodfellas,” Asaro told his wire-wearing turncoat cousin, Gaspare Valenti, that he didn’t bother to attend Hill’s wake.
“That’s one less left of Lufthansa,” Valenti chimed in, referring to Hill’s death and the dwindling number of crooks left from the score. “He made a big thing like he was there with us.”
“Yeah,” Asaro responded. “Piece of sh-t.”

Read more: http://nypost.com/2015/10/24/pals-so-ma ... -his-wake/

[NickyEyes1]

Dion was even addicted to it.

Just skimmed the thread and this caught the eye.

WHAT?!

Seriously?

Indeed. I was shocked too when I first heard.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-1 ... ance-party

[B.]

Well Dion's music was much better during his addiction at least. His stuff from the 1970s is embarrassing.

If you're a Dion fan, I recommend this song from his first record in 1956. Lo-fi recording but a great sad tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjCMpMsn2M8

[willychichi]

Defense in Vincent Asaro trial attempts to use a dog as evidence in infamous ‘Goodfellas’ heist

As legal defenses go, this one was a dog.

The lawyer for the Bonanno hood on trial for the biggest heist in U.S. history tried Monday to undermine the feds’ key witness by suggesting he could not have gotten all the loot into his house without rousing the family dog named “Beauty.”

“Beauty was a barker, wasn’t she,” attorney Elizabeth Macedonio asked mob turncoat Gaspare Valenti.

Valenti, testifying in Brooklyn federal court at the trial of his cousin Vincent Asaro, looked amused by the question.

“She was a sickly dog we took care of,” he replied.

Valenti said the pooch was on the porch when they arrived in the dead of night at his Brooklyn house after the 1978 Lufthansa robbery at Kennedy Airport that netted them $6 million in cash and jewelry.

Forming “a train,” they unloaded 50 boxes from the van into the basement while his wife, mother, sister and nine children snoozed, Valenti said.

“And nobody in the house woke up?” Macedonio bored in on the witness.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/d ... -1.2411809

[willychichi]

Lufthansa heist trial witness, ex-mobster recalls intimidation from Vincent Asaro’s crew after he shot, killed guard dog

Several years after the spectacular 1978 Lufthansa heist, Bonanno hood Vincent Asaro rounded up his crew to do another job — punish another mobster for shooting a dog.

An accused killer who apparently loves animals more than people, Asaro was furious when Peter (Bud) Zuccaro shot a guard dog protecting his nephew’s auto body shop.

Testifying Wednesday at Asaro’s racketeering trial, Zuccaro said the dog went after him because he just returned from a robbery and was wearing a disguise. He did not specify if it was “Champ” or “Blackjack.”

“The dog zeroed in on me, jumped over the desk, I guess he didn’t recognize me, as started chewing on my arm,” the 60-year-old mob turncoat testified. “I shot him in the head. He mauled my arm. I had no choice.”

Later, Zuccaro said in Brooklyn federal court, Asaro showed up at his home with other members of the gang that pulled off the $6 million robbery at Kennedy Airport that was immortalized in the movie “Goodfellas.”

There was James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke, the murderous architect of the heist portrayed in the mob movie by Robert De Niro, and his son, Frank, Zuccaro told the court.

Asaro also brought along more muscle — Tommy DeSimone, who was played in the flick by Joe Pesci, and Parnell (Stacks) Edwards, who was depicted by Samuel L. Jackson.

The beef was later settled without anybody getting hurt by then-Bonanno capo Joseph Massino, who broke with the mob in 2011 and is also testifying against Asaro.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/luf ... -1.2414778

[Pogo The Clown]

The beef was later settled without anybody getting hurt by then-Bonanno capo Joseph Massino, who broke with the mob in 2011 and is also testifying against Asaro.

Massino actually flipped in 2004 (it was revealed in 2005).


Pogo

[willychichi]

Nervous witness testifies his 'cousin Vinny' Asaro shook him down several times over the years at the Bonanno capo’s trial

To the feds, Vincent Asaro is one of the masterminds the 1978 Lufthansa robbery immortalized in the mob movie “Goodfellas.”

To the nervous witness squirming on the stand Friday, Asaro was “my cousin Vinny.”

“Do you want to be here?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri asked 57-year-old John Zaffarano.

"No I don't,” said Zaffarano, visibly nervous and glancing at Asaro in Brooklyn federal court.

Zaffarano was supposed to testify at the 80-year-old Bonanno goon’s racketeering trial on Thursday, but claimed he was too sick to fly up from Florida.

Sitting on the stand, the chubby witness looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, and at times claimed to have trouble remembering what he told the grand jury earlier.

His pop, Mickey Zaffarano, was a Bonanno family capo and sleaze merchant whose Pussycat Theater in Times Square showed some of the biggest porn movies of the 1970s, like “Deep Throat.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/vin ... -1.2417977

[AG777]

Lmao , “I’m having a little trouble with my memory.”

“I had a substance abuse problem back then and I was on a white cloud so I really don't remember,”

[toto]

Is this Zaffarano related to the old Bonanno captain?

[Pogo The Clown]

Is this Zaffarano related to the old Bonanno captain?

According to the article he is his son.


Pogo

[toto]

Is this Zaffarano related to the old Bonanno captain?

According to the article he is his son.


Pogo

Yeah. I should carry on reading before making a reply.

[B.]

Was reading a doc earlier that indicates that Joseph "Josie" Asaro was considered a member of the Montreal decina when he was living there. It also says in 1964 that there were approximately twenty made members of the Montreal decina. So that's consistent between 1964, the 1970s under Violi, and then when Vitale visited Rizzuto after the Sciascia killing. Also said that Carmine Galante was made by 1952 when he set up shop in Montreal, and that Cotroni and Greco were bosses of their respective areas who reported to Galante.

Nothing new in any of that, but it does further reinforce the structure that was in place.

[B.]

By the way, the only reason I mentioned Galante being made by 1952 is it's not clear when he got formally inducted. He was either made at a very young age in the late 1920s or 1930 before he went to prison, or more likely made in the 1940s when the families began making new members.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Well Dion's music was much better during his addiction at least. His stuff from the 1970s is embarrassing.

If you're a Dion fan, I recommend this song from his first record in 1956. Lo-fi recording but a great sad tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjCMpMsn2M8

Interesting though absurdly useless point of trivia regarding Dion. Ive only two of his tracks on yours playlist "the Wanderer' and 'Runaround Sue' and both being a play on each other (one about a girl who loves every boy in town the other about a guy who cant commit to one girl) they're actually both exactly the same length.

Love the play against each other, obviously deliberate but that they're the same duration is, a little spooky.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Have Massino or Vitale testified yet?
Will they be doing so?

Wouldve thought they'd be a key part of the prosecution.