The Big Heist

May 1, 2017
Veteran Mafia chronicler DeStefano (Gangland New York: The Places and Faces of Mob History) serves up a comprehensive account of the legendary 1978 heist at New York’s JFK Airport, including the recent indictment of Vincent Asaro, an elderly member of the Bonanno crime family, who was charged and acquitted in 2015, decades after the theft. DeStefano traces the arc of Asaro’s Mafia career before delving into allegations made by his cousin Gaspare Valenti, a fellow organized-crime associate, who testified that Asaro took part in the robbery. Though the book melds an impressive amount of material into a coherent narrative, it’s not all that suspenseful, especially for those familiar with the crime, which is documented in other accounts such as Nicholas Pileggi’s Wiseguys (1985). DeStefano’s insights into the more recent material, such as the trial of Asaro, aren’t enough to sustain interest.

June 1, 2017
A straightforward update to the notorious 1978 Lufthansa Airlines heist.Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter DeStefano (Gangland New York: The Places and Faces of Mob History, 2015, etc.) understands the difficulty of opening new aspects of a crime immortalized in journalism, memoirs, and the film Goodfellas: "Of all the Mafia heists, rip-offs, scores, and plunders, none has been more iconic a part of American popular culture than the brazen [Lufthansa] robbery." The author focuses on the 2015 trial of Vincent Asaro, an aged survivor of the era's Five Families crews. Asaro, whose alleged participation in the crime had not been recognized, was wiretapped over several years for the FBI by his cousin Gaspare Valenti, another low-level mobster. The tapes revealed both men scuffling for years as their influence faded within the mob, itself more constricted in today's New York City, as well as the chilling moment when Asaro realized Valenti's betrayal. DeStefano leads up to Asaro's trial with a narrative re-creation of the crime, its murderous aftermath, and the notorious figures involved, including Lucchese family underboss Paul Vario, robbery mastermind Jimmy Burke, and turncoat Henry Hill, the protagonist of Goodfellas. The author tries to counter the ambiguity surrounding the crime, noting, "while Hill's public statements on the heist excluded Asaro...he had actually claimed to law enforcement as far back as 1983 that Asaro was involved." Following the heist and the murders of many participants, Asaro ran stolen car operations for a Bonanno family crew, finding himself marginalized over time: "Part of the problem was Asaro's volatility and temper." Despite Valenti's testimony, Asaro was acquitted at trial, a startling development. Though Asaro's connection to Lufthansa still seems inconclusive, DeStefano paints him as a poignant if unlikable character, a criminal journeyman who survived a violent life to watch his status, wealth, and cherished lifestyle slip away. The book will please Mafia completists, but the overall arc will feel more familiar than revelatory to most true-crime readers.

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July 1, 2017

Newsday reporter DeStefano (Gangland New York) details the 2015 trial of longtime (and almost 80-year-old) Bonanno crime family captain Vincent Asaro on federal racketeering charges. Asaro joined the family business: his father was a Bonanno captain, his uncle Michael Zaffarano was the Times Square porn/peep show magnate who made a lot of money from the sale of his properties when New York City cleaned up the area, and his son Jerome eventually usurped him in rank and power. Asaro's cousin Gaspare Valenti, who had been his "partner in crime" for many years, became the star government informant against him. In addition to the usual racketeering charges (robbery, fencing, loan-sharking), the charges against Asaro included the long-unsolved murder of low-level associate Paul Katz and the accusation that Asaro was involved in the 1978 Lufthansa "big heist" when approximately $6 million in cash and jewelry were stolen from the JFK airport. By the time of the trial, most of those involved in the heist had either taken a deal or were long dead. VERDICT While a good coda to Goodfellas, a must-purchase only for extensive true crime collections.--Karen Sandlin Silverman, Mt. Ararat Middle Sch., Topsham, ME

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