Lufthansa Case Collapses for the Feds

By Ed Scarpo
Vinny Asaro alone pays the piper.
One rule of thumb for reporters is, if something happens three times it's a trend. Well, it seems we have something of a trend...

The recent Lufthansa news, beginning with street boss Thomas "Tommy D" DiFiore's successful motion for separation, something virtually unheard of in racketeering cases involving multiple members of a single crime family, makes for three recent New York Mafia cases in which the Feds' once promising indictments slowly crumbled and ended up a shadow of what they were supposed to be.

As for the other two: one involved reputed Gambino crime-family associate Daniel Fama, who faced charges that were eventually dropped for allegedly driving the getaway car in the 1990 gangland hit on Edward "Eddie the Chink" Garofalo ordered by then Gambino boss John Gotti; the other was the "Papa Smurf" case involving a three-family panel trying to take control of the waste hauling business in the tri-state area.

One source told us in an interesting conversation before he went off to serve time that the nickname "Papa Smurf" had been fabricated by the pederast informant himself. Carmine Fatico was occasionally called "Papa" and "Papa Bear" by those closest to him as a term of endearment and, apparently, the wired informer -- whose job was to deliberately engage "Papa" in arguments and physical confrontations to prompt him to issue incriminating threats -- thought he'd create a clever and insulting spin on it, the source said.

The Lufthansa case was so intriguing, recalling the film Goodfellas, complete with papparazzi films and photos of five different gangsters forced into the notorious "perp walk." Even the acting boss had been caught!

However, all along only one gangster was actually facing charges for the storied heist masterminded by the one and only James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke...

Scene from Goodfellas, in which the Lufthansa heist served
as a major plot point for the excellent film.
As a result of what can only be a lack of hard evidence ensuring draconian sentences four of the five Bonanno gangsters swept up in the January bust are negotiating plea deals to settle their cases, according to a Brooklyn federal court filing.

Vinny Asaro, the one who benefitted (though he'd consider that arguable) from the Lufthansa heist back in the 1970s will now face the music all alone. He will go on trial for a slew of raps including murder and racketeering in addition to Lufthansa. He faces life behind bars.

Vinny's son, Bonanno captain Jerome Asaro, 56, also faced life behind bars, but was able to plead guilty in Brooklyn Federal court yesterday (to digging up a years-buried corpse). He can get up to eight years, newspapers reported.

Lawyers for three of Asaro’s co-defendants — acting capo Jack Bonventre, soldier John Ragano and DiFiore — had been granted severance from charges related to the 1978 JFK robbery when a judge agreed it was too prejudicial and that the three had nothing to do with the crime.

They successfully had their cases severed from Asaro’s and are now hammering out deals, according to a filing by DiFiore’s ­attorney, Steve Zissou, the New York Post reported.

Vincent Asaro allegedly had a man suspected of being a stoolie killed in 1969 as a favor to Burke.

Comments

  1. tutshuttle .Oct 11, 2014, 3:29:00 PM

    Another good story. Feel I have been out of the loop with no information coming out. Thanks for keeping me updated,

    ReplyDelete
  2. RonenOct 11, 2014, 6:47:00 PM

    Considering Mr. Asaro has retained the best mob lawyer in NYC Gerald Mcmahon who won many cases for many wise guys in recent years along with weak evidence being presented by the feds, I would say there is a big chance vinny will be acquitted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. anonymousOct 11, 2014, 8:28:00 PM

    The Gov getting sloppy they think they can throw any informant up there and half as facts and the jury will buy it them days are over my friends. Philly

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ed ScarpoOct 13, 2014, 1:04:00 AM

    They have Vinny on tape complaining about Burke keeping everything and Lord knows what else. Vinny is fucked I think.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RonenOct 13, 2014, 1:22:00 AM

    If convicted, should we as observers expect him to flip?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ed ScarpoOct 13, 2014, 1:42:00 AM

    Doubt it. What can he give them. He's been out of the loop. Dominick Cicale who, according to Anthony DeStefano, was Vinnny Gorgeous's chief enforcer, rising from associate to capo in ..... five years? Said Asaro had been shelved and was not a factor. I don't believe they wanted Massino either so he had to give them something. Massino DIDN'T WANT TO GET ARRESTED, that was his fundamental strategy. He changed all the rules but still got caught. I believe--actually I know -- that Massino originated the order to take out Andres and he had to implicate Vinny on tape to win his seat. Vinny was fucked; he had to talk to Massino as the boss of the family. The feds used the Mafia's own rules against Vinny who was in a no win situation. When the boss rolls its fucked up to the marrow.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular This Week

Hoodwinked: Restaurateur on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Was a Mobster

By Ed Scarpo
Image
Peter (Peter Pasta) Pellegrino, formerly of the Babylon, New York restaurant Peter’s Italian Restaurant, really is -- or was -- a gangster. Gordon gives a pep talk. Peter is ready for action..... The once-promising Bonanno crime family member who appeared in Kitchen Nightmares now calls himself a brokester . And the Bonanno crime family, with which he was once affiliated has disowned him. So has the rest of New York's Cosa Nostra, according to FBI documents and Peter Pasta himself. But before all that he appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which he acted very much like the mobster he allegedly was trying to become around the time of filming. (See Peter's Italian Restaurant menu here .) Back then Peter Pasta was an up-and-coming Bonanno associate who "earned" $15 grand a week from bookmaking. At the time, he also owned two boats that he'd park in a pricey nearby Babylon harbor called Great South Bay. Gang Land News's Je
Read more

Who Killed Carmine Galante And Why: Weighing The Evidence (Series Conclusion)

By Ed Scarpo
Image
“ In the back, Sally! "                                               --(?) G etting sentenced to 20 years in prison on narcotics charges in 1962 was just about the worst possible thing that could happen to the ambitious Carmine Galante—short of, say, getting blasted in the face with shotguns while dining with amici stretti on the back patio of his favorite restaurant. 1980 Giuseppe Bono wedding: Phil Giaccone, Dom Trinchera, JB Indelicato, and Bruno Indelicato were major participants in Galante murders. Lilo spent most of the 1960s and almost half of the 1970s in various prisons. By the time he departed on parole, he was already “yesterday’s man,” as Adrian Humphreys and Lee Lamothe dubbed him in The Sixth Family: The Collapse of the New York Mafia and the Rise of Vito Rizzuto , adding: “Internationally, the underworld had realigned in his (Galante's) absence: the French Connection, along with Galante’s Corsican and French colleagues in Europe and Canada, was unraveling. The
Read more

Joseph Anthony Colombo Jr. Dies at Age 67

By Ed Scarpo
Image
Joseph Anthony Colombo Jr. Joseph A. Colombo Junior, affectionately known as "Pop," died on October 29, 2014 at his home in Newburgh, New York. He was 67. He's survived by his wife, Diane, and kids Dina, Denise, and Joe. He died following a long battle with Neurological Lyme Disease, according to one news report . Joe Junior was among Joseph Colombo Senior's five children, which also includes sons Christopher, Anthony and Vincent. Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, November 3rd at Brooks Funeral Home, 481 Gidney Ave., Newburgh. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Rev. William Scafidi at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4th at St. Mary's Church, Newburgh. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, New Windsor. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in Joseph's name to Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties, 800 Stony Brook Ct., Newburgh, NY 12550 or to Lyme Research Alliance, 20
Read more

Bath Avenue Crew Rose High, Fell Hard

By Ed Scarpo
Image
This story from 2014 is one of the most popular on this site—and we didn't even know it until very recently (for reasons stemming from the fallibility of generalized analytics data.) Members of the Bath Avenue Crew were as young as 8 years old when they began to align themselves with the biggest, baddest gang in America: Cosa Nostra, specifically the Five Families. Bath Avenue Crew founding members. They saw the wiseguys on the street pulling up to the curbs in their big shiny Cadillacs, loafing around social clubs wearing pricey suits and sporting hundred-dollar haircuts and manicured fingernails. But the guys presented more than just a cold, distant image to watch; Mafia members interacted with the kids, joked around with them and showed them there were other ways to make it through life. The wiseguys doled out twenty-dollar bills like they were nothing. The wiseguys patted them on the back, told them they were "good kids," and maybe asked them to watch the cars
Read more

Who Really Killed Tommy Two-Guns DeSimone?

By Ed Scarpo
Image
It's one of gangland's most high-profile, enigmatic hits -- and the identity of the killer has been debated for decades. Joe Pesci immortalized a vicious killer in Goodfellas. Thomas "Tommy Two-Guns" DeSimone killed a made member of  the Mafia  -- and for that, among other things, he was killed in what's been described as a classic setup. The truth is, we know very little about this murder, including who pulled the trigger. (Or fired up the chainsaw, depending on who you believe). DeSimone disappeared, meaning there's zero evidence as to how he was killed; in fact, it can't be said with absolute certainty that he was killed. Still, he was killed . Guys like him don't just disappear into thin air.  They'd never leave New York because everything they want -- a certain lifestyle, basically -- is in New York and cannot be duplicated anywhere else.  At the same time, there's no shortage of answers as to who and the why. Answers sell books an
Read more

Genovese Capo Angelo Prisco Wiretap Transcript: "I Hate Them F---ing Gangsters"

By Ed Scarpo
Image
On December 24, 2004, while being driven to a meeting with the  acting boss of the Genovese crime family, Daniel (The Lion) Leo, capo Angelo Prisco relaxed and spoke candidly with his driver, Jeff Santini, who Prisco considered a protege. Genovese waterfront capo Angelo Prisco Prisco sounds good natured and easygoing, but the man you hear casually shooting the breeze was, at that very time, helming a violent home invasion crew that tied up its victims and beat them inside their homes. Not even other wiseguys were off limits. As the FBI later alleged: Prisco told his crew about his robbery "policy" -- specifically, that they should "play dumb" if it ever turned out that they had robbed someone with organized crime ties. As the tape (and the car) rolls, Prisco casually tells Santini that he expects one of two things to happen at the meeting. Most likely, he'd get paid a lump sum that had been dangled before him previously, compensation for being in pris
Read more