Defense: 'Goodfellas' Case Built On Testimony Of 'Despicable People'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Closing arguments brought out some strong words from the defense in the of trial Vincent Asaro, a now 80-year-old mobster facing charges on his role in the infamous Lufthansa mob heist immortalized in the hit movie "Goodfellas."
Defense Attorney Elizabeth Macedonio said the government's case is built on the testimony of despicable people and accomplished liars and that Asaro is the victim of lies bought and paid for by the federal government.
Gaspare Valenti, Asaro's cousin and the government's star witness, was paid as much as $3,000 a month to wear a wire to record hundreds of hours of conversations with Asaro, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.
Valenti told the court on Oct. 21 that the FBI approached him in 2008 and he agreed to wear the wire because he was broke.
Macedonio said the government has become a pension plan for organized crime figures who negotiate sweetheart deals and reap the rewards.
On Dec. 11, 1978, $5 million in cash and $1 million in jewels was stolen from the Lufthansa vaults at JFK. The cash and jewelry were never recovered. It was one of the largest cash thefts in American history.
The theft was orchestrated by James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke — a late Lucchese crime family associate portrayed by Robert De Niro in "Goodfellas" — with the blessing of Asaro, whose crime family considered the airport its turf, court papers said.
Afterward, higher ranking conspirators were expected to receive $750,000, "but most did not live to receive their share, either because they were killed or it was never given to them," the papers said.
In addition to the real-life heist, Asaro is charged in the 1969 murder of a suspected law enforcement informant, Paul Katz, whose remains were found during an FBI dig in 2013 at a house once occupied by Burke. Asaro told the cooperator that Burke "had killed Katz with a dog chain because they believed he was a 'rat,"' the court papers said.
The defense has asked the jury to question the credibility of the former gangsters set to testify against Asaro — career criminals with 22 murders among them.
The prosecution gave its closing argument on Friday. A jury was expected to begin deliberating on Tuesday.
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