Feds Drop Case Against Bonnano Wiseguy for Saying "Do Something" and "Handle This"

Updated
Brooklyn prosecutors have abandoned efforts to pin 82-year-old wiseguy Vincent “Vinny” Asaro to the alleged planned execution of a federal agent.

And Vinny Asaro pre-Lufthansa...

That said, prosecutors still want the Bonanno mobster to rot in jail for as long as a judge will allow, which could be 15 years. As for Asaro, he’s been seeking to get out on bail for alleged health-related issues.

 Prosecutors had said, under the circumstances, he should never be released. Also, they noted, he can get adequate health care in jail. (Incidentally, the Feds raised allegations about Asaro’s “death threats” a few days after Asaro made his pitch for bail. The timing is interesting, is all…)


Prosecutors made the new concession in a letter to the judge this past Monday. Still, prosecutors charge, Asaro deserves a long sentence given his "lifelong allegiance to a dangerous criminal organization and his participation in a litany of crimes."

Note: Gang Land News today reported:
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have owned up to making a big mistake six months ago: crediting a jailhouse snitch who fingered Bonanno wiseguy Vincent Asaro for plotting to kill a prosecutor who had failed to convict him for the spectacular $6 million Lufthansa Airlines robbery but was trying to put him behind bars for arson.


If you anger Asaro, he will kill you or do violence unto you, sayeth prosecutors, who bolstered that belief in an earlier filing in which they noted: "As a long-time and powerful member of a the Bonanno crime family, there will always be younger and more physically capable individuals ready, willing and able to act on his orders and ingratiate themselves with the Bonanno crime family.”

It seems to come down to a jailhouse snitch, whose reliability is now in question. Prosecutors, in the letter, told the judge not to rely on the jailhouse informant’s information.

That’s the word, based on a New York Daily News report, which noted that Brooklyn prosecutors “didn't elaborate on what they've learned about the confidential source.” That said, they maintain that “the tipster's information was corroborated in significant part."

In May, prosecutors accused Asaro of planning the hit on a federal agent, highlighting alleged comments he made that reached the confidential source in the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Asaro denied the allegations of a plot and has never been charged for the crime.


... and Vinny Asaro post-Lufthansa

Judge Allyne Ross will sentence Asaro (the hearing has been put on hold, as per GLN) for ordering a 2012 car arson, a crime to which Asaro pleaded guilty early this past summer. (The driver of the car had had the balls to cut Asaro off on the road. We’ve heard Asaro has a quick temper. Don’t ever play racquetball with him, we’d advise.)

In 2015, as prosecutors no doubt believe, Asaro bitch-slapped them by winning an acquittal for his alleged role in the 1978 Lufthansa heist, which netted the criminals around $6 million. (They also were charged with other crimes, including a murder.)

For the arson crime, federal sentencing guidelines recommend a sentence of about five years in prison. But as the News notes, prosecutors are urging the judge to incorporate time for bad behavior, “including crimes he was acquitted of.”

In May, prosecutors launched their effort to nail Asaro for talking about killing a federal prosecutor while behind bars. Initially, Brooklyn federal prosecutors said that the Bonanno crime family capo twice threatened to kill the prosecutor while locked up in the Metropolitan Detention Center on arson charges. (The prosecutor was never officially identified by name, though it is believed to be Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri.)

And again! .... Vinny Asaro pre-Lufthansa....


The jailhouse snitch told prosecutors that Asaro was heard telling another defendant in the arson-related racketeering case: “We need to handle this and do something about this b---h.” (Sounds pretty convoluted.)

Another time, Asaro referenced former Bonanno boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano, saying, “We need to do something about this b---h, and not f--k it up like Vinny. We need to handle this.” Basciano is imprisoned for life.

Asaro was referencing Basciano’s attempt to allegedly order the murder of a federal prosecutor in his case. This was based on testimony of Joseph Massino, former Bonanno crime family boss, who also attempted to record Basciano saying as much. (Gotta a tip about where "Jackie Gleason" is these days, which we will not divulge.)

Prosecutors in a court filing described Asaro’s reference to Basciano as "chilling." At the time, prosecutors also said they had video recordings and prison records to bolster charges about Asaro’s alleged plotting.

Asaro and six others, among them John J. Gotti, the grandson of the former Gambino crime family boss, were charged in March for the 2012 arson, a case that also incorporates bank robbery and jewelry store heists.

Asaro was held without bail when arrested on the new case, which is when an inmate passing through the Metropolitan Detention Center heard the alleged threats, as per prosecutors in May.

Vinny Asaro post-Lufthansa....

Asaro's lawyer, Elizabeth Macedonio, was not immediately available for comment, the News reported. Previously, she’s said her client "adamantly denies" the allegations he was transmitting a hit request. She added that Asaro was "an angry, 82-year-old man sitting in prison lamenting he was back in prison" due to efforts by some of the same prosecutors who prosecuted him, ineffectively, for Luftansa.

A probe into the alleged murder threats turned up nada, Macedonio said in a response that also highlighted how authorities had discovered no revelatory details in visitor logs and recorded calls.



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