Vincent Asaro Found Not Guilty in ‘Goodfellas’ Lufthansa Jewel Heist Trial
By NY1 News
Alleged mobster Vincent Asaro has been fount not guilty on all three counts during a federal trial for his alleged role in the infamous Lufthansa Heist.
Jurors had been deliberating the case since Tuesday.
Prosecturos argued that Asaro helped plan the armed robbery of $6 million in cash and jewelry from the Lufthansa Airlines cargo facility at JFK Airport in 1978, as depicted in the 1990 movie “Goodfellas”.
Jurors have heard recordings of what prosecutors say is Asaro telling an informant that he never got his correct share of the money.
The defense argued the recordings were just the bluster of an old man with a gambling problem.
Asaro was also charged with choking another suspected informant to death with a dog chain.
Investigators say they discovered the informant’s remains in 2013 at the former home of Jimmy Burke.
Burke has long been considered the mastermind of the airport robbery and inspired the mob character played by Robert De Niro in “Goodfellas”.