Aging Bonanno crime family wiseguy Vincent Asaro tried unsuccessfully to appeal his 8-year prison sentence from his 2017 arson conviction.
The 84-year-old mobster hired mob associates including John J. Gotti the grandson of former mafia boss John Gotti to strike back at another driver after a road rage incident. According to court documents, the other driver had cut Asaro off in traffic which led to him hiring the mafia underlings that set the other drivers car on fire as payback. The lengthy sentence was imposed in part because of Asaro’s criminal history during his years as a made man in the New York Mafia. According to the feds he held the rank of captain within the Cosa Nostra family and at one point was part of a Bonanno family ruling panel.
The feds tried to take down Asaro in 2015 indicting him on charges linked to the infamous 1978 Lufthansa heist. But the veteran goodfella was found not guilty and walked out of court a free man. During the trial, prosecutors detailed Asaro’s criminal past which included a long history of violence. Judge Allyne Ross presided over both cases and decided to factor in some of the crimes he was accused of in the Lufthansa case into the 2017 sentencing even though he was acquitted of all charges. Ross stated that she was firmly convinced that prosecutors had proven their case against him even if the jury had rejected the veracity and credibility of the government’s claims.
Vincent and his defense team believed the harsh sentence (which at his age could amount to life behind bars) was simply payback for the 2015 acquittal. So they decided to take it up with the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of being resentenced. In a statement, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals said “The court found Asaro’s long history of violent behavior to be proven by ‘not only just a preponderance of the evidence but by overwhelming evidence’ based on … evidence of crimes committed by Asaro during a period of over forty years.” They ruled that the previous court had not exceeded the bounds of its discretion according to a New York Daily News report.
So it looks like Vincent Asaro will be a guest of the government for the entire 8 years.
