'Free!:' Aging mobster acquitted in 1978 'Goodfellas' heist.

(AP Photo/Bryan R. Smith)

NEW YORK (AP) — An aging mobster threw his hands into the air and shouted "Free," grinning as he walked out of a courthouse following his surprising acquittal on charges he helped plan the legendary 1978 Lufthansa heist retold in the hit Mafia film "Goodfellas."

A federal jury reached the verdict Thursday at a Brooklyn racketeering trial where it heard testimony that portrayed 80-year-old Vincent Asaro as a throwback to an era when New York's five organized crime families comprised a secret society that committed brazen crimes and settled scores with bloodshed.

It was a stunning defeat for the federal government in a courthouse where prosecutors over the years have won convictions of major mob figures like Gambino family head John Gotti and Genovese crime boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment after the verdict. The jurors, granted anonymity by the judge, did not appear to depart through any public exits.

"I was shocked, I was really shocked," Asaro said outside. "I've got two years in, and I'm dying to get home."





Full story at Yahoo News.
By TOM HAYS and MICHAEL BALSAMO.