NYC trial revisits infamous heist portrayed in 'Goodfellas'

Prosecutors at the trial in federal court in Brooklyn will give jurors a lesson in a bygone era when the five Italian Mafia families had a greater appetite for brazen crimes — and deadly payback for betrayals.

Asaro, 80, who has a history of convictions for lesser mob-related crimes, was arrested again after his cousin, Gaspare Valenti, came forward with new information about the heist and agreed to wear a wire to try to coax admissions out of the reputed longtime member of the Bonanno crime family.

Valenti, a Bonanno associate who has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, is expected to take the witness stand to testify about Asaro's alleged role in the Lufthansa heist and a gruesome murder of a suspected mob turncoat.

Asaro was a Bonanno soldier, with the Mafia slogan "death before dishonor" tattooed on his forearm, in late 1978 when hooded gunmen looted a vault in the Lufthansa's cargo terminal and stole about $5 million in untraceable U.S. currency that was being returned to the United States from Germany, along with about $1 million in jewelry.

De Niro's character became irate over fellow mobsters' purchases of flashy cars and furs, fearing they would attract law enforcement attention, and had some of them whacked — a plot twist based on the inside account of Henry Hill, the mob associate-turned informant played in the film by Ray Liotta.

By 2013, "after a series of high-profile Bonanno family members cooperated with law enforcement or were incarcerated," the defendant had been promoted again to captain and won a position on the "panel" or administration running the Bonanno family, court papers said.