Vincent Asaro

[dixiemafia]

I think someone in the thread already said they would testify or have. I imagine they will as they probably had knowledge of it or a hand in it.

[Pogo The Clown]

Vitale testfied. B. posted some tidbits from his testimony earlier in this thread.


Pogo

[B.]

Imagine if you had told Asaro over a decade ago that his boss and underboss would be testifying against him in the Lufthansa case in 2015.

[Lupara]

Imagine if you had told Asaro over a decade ago that his boss and underboss would be testifying against him in the Lufthansa case in 2015.

Imagine if you told that to Massino and Vitale themselves.

[willychichi]

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

Reminded that he told the grand jury he gave Asaro $250,000, Zaffarano stammered, “I’m having a little trouble with my memory.”

On cross-examination, Zaffarano said he had not seen Asaro in 20 years before Friday and insisted he never gave him any cash out of fear.

"I always loaned money with the intention that I wasn't going to get it back and if I did, hooray,” he said.

Zaffarano was followed on the stand by another alleged Asaro shakedown victim who testified what happened to him after he missed his weekly “protection money” payments.

Guy Gralto told the court he was shot and robbed after Asaro drove his car through the fence of Gralto's auto parts store on 101st Ave. in Queens.

Asaro, who seethed as Zaffarano and Gralto testified, finally blew his stack another mob turncoat, Anthony Ruggiano Jr., took the stand.

Ruggiano testified that his late Gambino soldier father, "Fat Andy," helped Asaro and Lufthansa heist co-architect James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke fence jewelry stolen in the robbery. He also told the court Asaro started placing $100 bets at Aqueduct Racetrack after the robbery.

“This guy is lying through his teeth,” Asaro snarled.

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

[willychichi]

Brutal details of New York mafia life recalled in 'Goodfellas' heist trial

The man in the black track suit spoke in a voice as deep and gravelly as the pits where the bodies were buried.

He recounted a life of crime, from small-time hustling for neighborhood mobsters to the big stuff: hijackings, murders, beatings and drug trafficking.

From the witness stand in a Brooklyn courtroom, Peter "Bud" Zuccaro was at ease recalling the brutal details, like the time someone raised a hand to Fat Andy's wife and was never seen again, or the time he blew off the head of an attack dog chewing on his arm.

If it sounds like a Hollywood movie, that's because it is: Martin Scorsese's 1990 "Goodfellas," which told the story of the 1978 Lufthansa heist and its bloody aftermath. Nearly 40 years later, Vincent Asaro is on trial on charges that he helped plan the robbery, which netted a record $6 million in cash and jewelry, and that he was a heavy in the Bonanno organized crime family when it held sway on the mob-infested streets of Queens and Brooklyn.

Read more: https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/new ... /s-1747986

[willychichi]

Son of man allegedly strangled to death with dog chain by mob boss Vincent Asaro testifies at Lufthansa trial

When mob murder victim Paul Katz was getting ready to leave his house after getting a mysterious phone call, his worried wife told him to take one of the kids along — as protection.

“He said no,” Katz’s son Lawrence testified Tuesday at the trial of a Vincent Asaro, the 80-year-old Bonanno hood and Lufthansa heist leader accused of helping strangle his father with a dog chain.

“She said at least take the dog, but he said no. He said, ‘If I'm not home in a couple of hours, call the cops.’”

And those were the last words, the younger Katz testified in Brooklyn federal court, he ever heard his father say.

The remains of Katz, who Asaro suspected of being a rat, were found buried in Queens basement in June 2013 — 44 years after his death.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/son ... -1.2422481

[B.]

Dogs are a running theme in this trial.

[willychichi]

btw the Feds chose not to use Massino in the trial, heres the latest

Vincent Asaro's evidence trial ended with jurors looking at mobster's 'Death Before Dishonor' tattoo

Tat’s all, folks!

The evidence part of the trial of reputed Bonanno capo Vincent Asaro — who is charged with planning the infamous $6 million Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport in 1978 — ended Wednesday with jurors getting a look at the mobster's "Death Before Dishonor" tattoo.

FBI special agent Robert Ypelaar, the government's final witness, identified the blurry letters pinted on the 80-year-old Asaro's right forearm from a photograph taken on the day he was busted in January 2014.

In her opening argument two weeks ago, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Gerdes said those ominous three words were for Asaro, "the pact of 'Omertà,' the code of silence which he built his life on."

But like the faded tattoo, the silence did not stand the test of time. Asaro was betrayed by first cousin Gaspare Valenti, who secretly recorded nearly 200 hours of conversations with the unwitting wiseguy.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/vin ... -1.2424006




Lufthansa heist trial highlights struggles of aging wise guys

In 2008, a lifelong Mafia associate picked up the phone and dialed a random number at the FBI in New York.

"I'd like to cooperate," Gaspare Valenti, now 68, recalled saying on the phone to a woman named Nora. She happened to head a federal law enforcement squad investigating the Bonanno crime family.

"I have remorse in me and need ways to support my family," Valenti said in the call.

For the next five years, Valenti arranged to receive about $3,000 a month to record conversations, including some with his first cousin, Vincent Asaro, an alleged Bonanno family captain.

The recordings were critical in bringing federal charges, more than 30 years after the crime, against five alleged Bonanno crime family members in the infamous Lufthansa heist that helped inspire part of the 1990 film "Goodfellas."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/03/us/aging- ... aro-trial/

[willychichi]

Trial of Vincent Asaro Highlights Loss of Mafia’s Code of Silence

Born in 1935, he entered the same business as his father and grandfather, also Mafia members: a company man even if the company business was murder and extortion. Growing old, Mr. Asaro stayed in his old neighborhood in Queens, shopping at Waldbaum’s, sticking with the routines he knew.

By then, though, other organized crime groups were squeezing out the New York Mafia with new, sophisticated businesses. More devastatingly for him, Mr. Asaro’s friends, superiors and even a relative began informing on him to the government — providing the material that allowed prosecutors to bring charges after all these years, and shredding the Mafia code that defined his life.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/10/nyreg ... .html?_r=0

[Wiseguy]

On the other side, the Mafia was getting squeezed by crime syndicates from Japan, Russia, Mexico and Eastern Europe doing drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms dealing. The mob, though it still made money from extortion and gambling, was not evolving, and neither was Mr. Asaro.

As other organized crime was getting ever more sophisticated — hacking into bank accounts, stealing identities — Mr. Asaro was still talking about small robberies and little shakedowns.

Quotes from the above NY Times article willychichi posted seem to be part of a theme by the writer but I'm not sure how based in reality they are. One can certainly point to drug trafficking but how could the Mafia be "squeezed" out of human trafficking and arms dealing when they were never deeply involved in either to begin with?

She also tries to use Asaro as an example of the entire mob. Sure, the mob has continued to be involved in small robberies and shakedowns. But they have also been involved in plenty of more sophisticated crimes. The Bonannos were deep into the pump and dump stock fraud racket in the 1990's and 2000's. As were the other families. The Gambinos had the calling card scam, as well as the phone cramming and internet porn scams. The Genovese were probably the first of the families to get involved in health care scams. I'd have to look into my files to list those involves but one mob-linked operation used high tech equipment to clone credit cards. One Genovese associate was bootlegging 10,000 CDs a week back in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

[Pogo The Clown]

The Luccheses were also involved with real estate scams in the early 2000s.


Pogo

[Rocco]

On the other side, the Mafia was getting squeezed by crime syndicates from Japan, Russia, Mexico and Eastern Europe doing drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms dealing. The mob, though it still made money from extortion and gambling, was not evolving, and neither was Mr. Asaro.

As other organized crime was getting ever more sophisticated — hacking into bank accounts, stealing identities — Mr. Asaro was still talking about small robberies and little shakedowns.

Quotes from the above NY Times article willychichi posted seem to be part of a theme by the writer but I'm not sure how based in reality they are. One can certainly point to drug trafficking but how could the Mafia be "squeezed" out of human trafficking and arms dealing when they were never deeply involved in either to begin with?

She also tries to use Asaro as an example of the entire mob. Sure, the mob has continued to be involved in small robberies and shakedowns. But they have also been involved in plenty of more sophisticated crimes. The Bonannos were deep into the pump and dump stock fraud racket in the 1990's and 2000's. As were the other families. The Gambinos had the calling card scam, as well as the phone cramming and internet porn scams. The Genovese were probably the first of the families to get involved in health care scams. I'd have to look into my files to list those involves but one mob-linked operation used high tech equipment to clone credit cards. One Genovese associate was bootlegging 10,000 CDs a week back in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Seems the Westside first used the healthcare scams thru their control of the unions. Longshore union to be specific. Then branched out from there. But it was easier to steer union contracts with healthcare co they controlled. etc.

[Wiseguy]

The Luccheses were also involved with real estate scams in the early 2000s.


Pogo

As were the Genovese later in the decade.

[Benny Squint]

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

I laughed when I first read that article. Either Bud Zuccaro is full of s**t, or the author of the article lost something in translation. Tommy DeSimone and Stacks Edwards were both dead within weeks of the Lufthansa heist, so they couldn't have been along on such a mission "several years" after it unless Asaro summoned them via seance and they tagged along as ghosts. Of course if this is in fact what occured, I'm sure it left an indelible impression upon Zuccaro !!!