MOB LORE & ORDER
'78 Lufthansa 'Goodfellas' trial opens
Accused “Goodfellas” mobster Vincent Asaro personally handed off a case stuffed with jewelry from the infamous 1978 Lufthansa heist to future Bonanno boss Joe Massino, a witness testified Monday as the first trial in the unsolved crime opened in Brooklyn federal court.
Veteran Mafia snitch Salvatore “Good Lookin’ Sal” Vitale took riveted jurors inside the $6 millionplus Kennedy Airport robbery, which was depicted in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mob classic, “Goodfellas.”
“When Joe got in the car, he had the case that Vinny gave him,” Vitale, 68, testified. “He had it in his lap . . . He opened up the case, and he showed me all kinds of chains, and he said, ‘ This is from the Lufthansa score.’ ”
Later that day, Vitale went to Massino’s Queens house and was shown a portion of the haul.
“All of the jewelry was laid out on the diningroom table,” Vitale said, griping that Massino tossed him just one measly necklace as a gift.
“He was always a big spender,” Vitale quipped.
Eager to convert the glittering booty into cash, Vitale said, he and Massino took a ride to Manhattan shortly after the JFK score.
“A couple of days later, I drove Joey to the diamond district on Canal Street, and after I parked, we entered into a jewelry store,” Vitale said. “There was a guy there. Him and Joe went in the back with the case, and I never saw the case again.”
On crossexamination, Asaro’s attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, sought to shred Vitale’s smirking testimony as the unreliable yammering of a murderous crook.
Vitale, now in the witness protection program, casually told jurors of his associations with major mob figures, including former Gambino boss John Gotti.
His gripping recollections of the heist kicked off what could be the last oldschool New York City Mafia trial.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors hope to knock the notorious Lufthansa crime off the coldcase shelf by nailing Asaro, 80.
“The defendant is a gangster through and through. He lived and breathed the Mafia,” prosecutor Lindsay Gerdes said in her opening statement as Asaro looked on.
Luchese associate Jimmy “The Gent” Burke — portrayed in “Goodfellas” by Robert De Niro — is credited with orchestrating the robbery.
“The defendant and Jimmy Burke waited nearby in a car, ready to act as a crash car if the police happened to stumble upon the crew,” she said.
“Jimmy Burke and Vincent Asaro were true partners in crime,” Gerdes said. “Hijacking, robbing, murder.”