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| © Provided by Associated Press |
The brazen armed robbery connected with funds AS WELL AS jewelry at the dead regarding night in a great cargo terminal at Kennedy Airport \'m "the score of most scores" with regard to Vincent Asaro along with mobsters associated with his generation, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Gerdes said inside opening statements with federal court within Brooklyn.
Asaro, 80, aligned himself within heist mastermind, the late James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke — played from Robert De Niro in the 1990 Martin Scorsese film — "because he knew Burke feel somebody he could make dollars with," Gerdes said. "Jimmy Burke AND ALSO Vincent Asaro were precise partners within crime."
The prosecutor told jurors The item Asaro had been a designed member of any Bonanno organized crime family since the 1970s, after with the footsteps of his father AND grandfather.
"For him, your Mafia feel literally the family business," she said. "The defendant is a gangster in the course of ALONG WITH through."
Defense attorney Diane Ferrone countered coming from accusing your own government regarding depending for the testimony connected with untrustworthy turncoat mobsters, just like an close Relate associated with Asaro's cousin, Gaspare Valenti. She labeled your cousin a con artist who became an paid government informant in the late 2000s AND ALSO agreed to be able to wear an wire in order to Record its conversations.
"You shouldn't believe him since the his latest con victim is the United State government," Ferrone said.
On Valenti along with government witnesses, she said, "When necessary, they lie for you to each different AND they lie to save themselves. ... once a good liar, always a good liar."
Unlike Burke, Asaro am a good obscure member of a Bonannos in low-level mob-related convictions before his arrest last year. He became a brand new mobster to be able to fall prey to help a good breach for the Mafia's once-sacred signal connected with silence The idea has decimated your current ranks associated with New York's all 5 Italian crime families.
The very first witness, admitted killer IN ADDITION TO former Bonanno underboss Salvatore Vitale, testified The idea after your Lufthansa robbery, he saw Asaro deliver the attache to help Asaro's then-captain Joseph Massino. He said Massino opened your own case looking for This full involving gold chains, telling Vitale, "This is usually with the Lufthansa score."
After rising in order to boss of your family, Massino broke ranks AND became ones highest-ranking mobster to be able to ever break the mob's oath connected with omerta Whenever he testified with the 2011 trial connected with his successor. He's likewise needed in order to testify at the Asaro trial.
Prosecutors alleged The item even though Asaro didn't participate straight with the Lufthansa robbery, he am granted $500,000 because the airport was considered Bonanno turf. They likewise say he \'m the degenerate gambler who blew much regarding The item on the racetrack.
The defendant in addition is usually charged for the 1969 murder of your suspected law enforcement informant, Paul Katz, whose carries on were found during an FBI dig throughout 2013 with the house just after occupied from Burke. Asaro told his cousin The item Burke "had killed Katz using a dog chain considering that the they believed he \'m a great 'rat,'" your current court papers said.
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