Goodfellas gangster found not guilty in 1978 Lufthansa heist


Vincent Asaro, a third-generation Mafia member, was found not guilty on Thursday of planning the 1978 Lufthansa robbery memorialized in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. The jury was urged by the defense to question testimonies that came from other gangsters, who collectively had 22 murders to their names, CBS reports.
Prosecutors argued that Asaro was a member of the Bonanno family, whose "turf" in the 1970s included John F. Kennedy International Airport. Before the heist, they say, James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke, portrayed by Robert De Niro in Goodfellas, had to obtain Asaro's blessing.
The Lufthansa heist was then believed to be the largest in U.S. history, with $5 million in cash and $1 million in jewels seized from the cargo vault.
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Asaro was acquitted on all counts.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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