Real-life Goodfella's mobster busted in £5m plane heist dies at 86

22 October 2023 , 19:15

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Vincent Asaro (front, red shirt) and cousin Gaspare Valenti (white shirt) (Image: Collect Unknown)

A notorious real-life 'Goodfellas' mobster who was believed to be involved in one of the biggest heists to ever take place on US soil has died at the age of 86.

Vincent 'Vinny' Asaro, a Bonanno crime family capo, died on Saturday, according to sources. The cause of his death is unclear, with his family saying his funeral will be held on Friday at St Helen's Catholic Church in Queens, New York City.

Asaro was said to have been a part of the infamous Lufthansa heist at John F Kennedy Airport in New York City, which went on to be depicted in the movie Goodfellas. He and other suspects were finally arrested in 2014 by the FBI, with Asaro indicted on federal racketeering charges stemming from the heist.

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Vincent Asaro (right) with cousin Gaspare Valenti (left) (© Justice Department)

He, along with cousin Gaspare 'Gary' Valenti, a trusted sidekick of the real-life Jimmy 'The Gent' Burke - played by Robert De Niro in Goodfellas - was allegedly part of a 12-man team that pulled off the mammoth heist. It is claimed the group robbed a Lufthansa cargo plane at the airport in 1978, netting £5 million in cash and gems - worth more than £14 million today.

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The crew plotted their chest at Robert's Lounge, Jimmy, real surname Burke's dive bar in Queens. They estimated they'd be able to walk away from the heist with around $2 million (£1.6). So, on December 11, 1978, the group busted into a Lufthansa hangar at the JFK Airport in Queens, making off with dozens of boxes full of cash and jewellery.

The mob heist was immortalised in the Scorsese film Goodfellas (© 2013 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.)

The 1978 Lufthansa robbery inspired Martin Scorsese's legendary movie Goodfellas 12 years later, making mastermind Burke an underworld legend. Asaro's cousin Valenti turned state witness in 2008, striking a deal to sell out his cousin by wire-tapping hundreds of hours of chats about their past. During the 2015 trial, Valenti testified: "We loaded 50 boxes...

"There were burlap sacks of gold chains, crates of watches, metal boxes with three drawers in them - and each drawer had diamonds and emeralds... And we loaded everything into the van.

"It was euphoria. We thought there was $2 million in cash and there was $6 million. Without the gold. Without the German money."

Vincent Asaro leaves federal court in 2015 after being acquitted of charges alleging he helped plan the legendary 1978 Lufthansa heist (AP)

He did not go down in 2015 for his alleged part in the heist and the unrelated 1969 gangland murder of mob associate Paul Katz, however, he was jailed in late 2017 over an unrelated road rage arson conviction.

Prosecutors alleged Asaro had enlisted a Bonanno crime family associate to set alight the car of a motorist who had cut him off in Howard Beach, Queens, in April 2012. Asaro told the judge: "I made arrangements for someone to take care of it and it was done."

Vincent Asaro was arrested for his alleged part in the Lufthansa heist in 2014 (AP)

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was scheduled to be released in 2022, however, he was granted compassionate release in April 2020 and released six days later. This was due to his age and health vulnerability following a stroke the previous year due to the risk of Covid in the prison.

Born in the Queens neighbourhood of Ozone Park, New York City, in 1937, Asaro followed his father and uncle into the organised crime business and rose through the ranks of the Bonanno family, becoming a captain by the mid-1970s.

Fiona Leishman