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U.S. NEWSTuesday 20 October 2015

Aging gangster accused of ‘Goodfellas’ heist goes on trial

In this Jan. 23, 2014 file photo, FBI agents flank Vincent Asaro as they escort the reputed mobster “death without dishonor” tore Vitale, gave the jury
from FBI offices in New York. More than 30 years after one of the largest cash robberies in U.S. tattooed” on forearm. the rules of La Cosa Nos-
history, the now 80-year-old Asaro will stand trial in New York for helping to plan the heist that “For him, the Mafia was lit- tra including an important
became immortalized in the Martin Scorsese mob movie “Goodfellas.” erally the family business,” one he had broken: “If you
she said. “The defendant meet with law enforce-
(Charles Eckert/Newsday, via AP, File) is a gangster through and ment, we have the right to
through.” kill you.”
TOM HAYS for Vincent Asaro and other Gerdes said. “Jimmy Burke Defense attorney Diane Vitale testified how he was
Associated Press mobsters of his generation, and Vincent Asaro were Ferrone countered by ac- involved in 11 payback
NEW YORK (AP) — An aging Assistant U.S. Attorney Lind- true partners in crime.” cusing the government of killings, and how he grew
gangster went on trial Mon- say Gerdes said in open- The prosecutor told jurors relying on the testimony disillusioned after he was
day on charges he was in ing statements in federal — who had been asked on of untrustworthy turncoat ordered to rub out a friend
on the $6 million Lufthansa court in Brooklyn.Asaro, 80, questionnaires if they had mobsters, including Asaro’s for being disrespectful to a
holdup in 1978, a legend- teamed with heist mas- seen “Goodfellas” — that cousin, Gaspare Valenti. higher-up.
ary theft dramatized in the termind, the late James Asaro became a real-life She labeled the cousin a “I was just tired of the life,”
hit film “Goodfellas.” “Jimmy the Gent” Burke - member of the Bonanno con artist who became he said. “I was tired of the
The brazen armed robbery played by Robert De Niro organized crime family in a paid government infor- killing.”
of cash and jewelry in the in the 1990 Martin Scorsese the 1970s, following in the mant in the late 2000s and Vitale testified that after
dead of night at a cargo film - “because he knew footsteps of his father and agreed to wear a wire to the Lufthansa robbery, he
terminal at Kennedy Airport Burke was someone he grandfather. She also said record their conversations. saw Asaro deliver an atta-
was “the score of all scores” could make money with,” he has the mob slogan “You shouldn’t believe him che case to Asaro’s then-
because his latest con vic- captain Joseph Massino.
tim is the United States gov- He said Massino opened
ernment,” Ferrone said. the case to find it full of
On Valenti and other gov- gold chains, telling Vitale,
ernment witnesses, she “This is from the Lufthansa
said, “When necessary, score.”
they lie to each other and After rising to boss of the
they lie to save themselves. family, Massino stunned the
... Once a liar, always a underworld by becoming
liar.” Unlike Burke, Asaro the highest-ranking mob-
was an obscure member ster to ever break the mob’s
of the Bonannos with low- oath of omerta when he
level mob-related convic- testified at the 2011 trial
tions before his arrest last of his successor. He’s also
year. He became the lat- expected to testify at the
est mobster to fall prey to Asaro trial.
a breach in the Mafia’s Prosecutors alleged that
once-sacred code of si- though Asaro didn’t par-
lence that has decimated ticipate directly in the Luf-
the ranks of New York’s five thansa robbery, he was
Italian crime families. given $500,000 because
The first witness, former the airport was considered
Bonanno underboss Salva- Bonanno turf.q

‘Whitey’ Bulger’s lover heads to court on contempt charge d
b
BOSTON (AP) — The long- A judge ordered her to re- assisted and harbored the charges in 2012, her law- leave Bulger during their ra
time girlfriend and fugi- turn Nov. 19. mobster. yer, Kevin Reddington, time on the run. Instead, T
tive companion of James The 64-year-old Greig is Bulger, now 86, fled Boston said Greig was in love with they said she helped him c
“Whitey” Bulger has serving an eight-year sen- just before being indicted Bulger when she fled with remain a fugitive by using d
pleaded not guilty to a tence for conspiracy to in early 1995. He was one him and did not believe false identities and posing fo
contempt charge for re- harbor a fugitive, identity of the FBI’s most wanted that Bulger was capable as his wife so she could K
fusing to say whether other fraud and conspiracy to fugitives until he was cap- of murder. pick up his prescriptions. fo
people helped the Boston commit identity fraud. tured in Santa Monica, In 2013, Bulger was con- The couple posed as mar- 2
mobster during his 16 years The indictment alleges California, in 2011. victed of playing a role ried retirees from Chicago. c
on the run. that from December 2014 He and Greig had been in 11 murders and other After they were captured, to
Catherine Greig entered until last month, Greig dis- living together in a rent- charges in a sweeping authorities found a stash “
the plea Monday on the obeyed a judge’s order to controlled apartment. racketeering indictment. of more than $800,000 in c
new charge in U.S. District testify before a grand jury When Greig was sen- Prosecutors said Greig had cash and 30 weapons in li
Court. in an investigation into who tenced on the original numerous opportunities to their apartment.q c
If