Onetime defendant in legendary Lufthansa heist is rearrested
NEW YORK — An aging mobster who made headlines two years ago by beating charges in a legendary heist retold in the hit film “Goodfellas” was arrested Wednesday for a far less noteworthy crime — directing the torching of a car that cut him off in traffic, authorities said.
Vincent Asaro, an 82-year-old third-generation member of the secretive Bonanno crime family, was ordered held without bail after pleading not guilty to the 2012 arson in federal court in Brooklyn.
Also pleading not guilty to the same arson and an unrelated bank robbery was John J. Gotti, the 23-year-old namesake grandson of the Gambino crime family boss John “Dapper Don” Gotti.
The defendants “are charged with committing an assortment of violent crimes — arson to exact punishment for a perceived slight and robberies to unjustly enrich themselves,” acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Rohde said in a statement announcing the arrests.