‘Goodfellas’ trial underway

’78 heist was ‘score of scores’

NEW YORK — A prosecutor called the $6 million Lufthansa terminal heist in 1978 the “score of scores” as the racketeering trial of alleged mobster Vincent Asaro, the first person ever charged in the notorious “Goodfellas” robbery, began in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday.

Prosecutor Lindsay Gerdes told jurors that Asaro helped plan the heist at Kennedy Airport; waited in a “crash car” with plot mastermind Jimmy Burke while a crew carried it out; and received a $500,000 share.

The Lufthansa heist is one in a series of crimes ranging from murder to loan-sharking that prosecutors have alleged Asaro, 80, committed in his rise from a Bonanno family associate and “tough guy” to soldier and captain.

But a defense lawyer told jurors that Asaro was entitled to the presumption of innocence, and that the government’s case was based on testimony from turncoat witnesses who have gotten $2 million in support from the FBI and who aren’t believable.

The government’s first witness was Sal Vitale, a former Bonanno family underboss who admitted participation in 11 murders before becoming an informant. He said he drove Bonanno boss Joe Massino to a meeting where Asaro handed him a case filled with gold chains.

When Massino returned to the car, Vitale testified, he said, “This is from the Lufthansa score.”