Jerome Asaro, 56, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court on Friday to moving the body of Paul Katz during the 1980s.
BY JOHN MARZULLI
JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Jerome Asaro, 56, after his arrest earlier this year. He pleaded guilty Friday to moving the body of Paul Katz, who was murdered by Luchese mobster James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke.
The son of a longtime Bonanno gangster charged in the spectacular 1978 Lufthansa heist pleaded guilty Friday to digging up the rotting corpse of a gangland victim allegedly buried there by his old man.
Reputed capo Jerome Asaro copped to the charge of accessory after the fact of the 1969 murder of Paul Katz, admitting that he exhumed the body from the basement of a Queens house sometime in the 1980s and moved the remains elsewhere.
“Did you act to hinder the apprehension of the person who committed the murder?” asked Brooklyn Federal Judge Allyne Ross.
“Yes I did,” Asaro, 56, replied.
Prosecutors have charged Jerome’s 80-year-old father Vincent Asaro with killing Katz as a favor to legendary Luchese mobster James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke who was immortalized by actor Robert De Niro in the film “Goodfellas.”
Burke was also the mastermind of the $6 million robbery at the Lufthansa warehouse at Kennedy Airport.
JOE MARINO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSVincent (Vinnie) Asaro, 80, is scheduled to go on trial next year.
Vincent Asaro was implicated by a rat — his cousin Gaspare (Gary) Valenti — and allegedly received a cut of the proceeds from Burke as tribute to the Bonanno family.
Although Jerome Asaro will not have to testify against his father, law enforcement sources said the guilty plea proves that Valenti’s information was solid.
“It’s every man and every son for himself now, regardless of family or not,” a source said.
Asaro, who also pleaded guilty to torching a Queens building in 1981, faces up to eight years in prison.
Prosecutors contend that Katz was marked for death because Burke believed he had tipped off cops to raiding a Richmond Hill stash house for stolen property where Vincent Asaro was arrested in the late 1960s.
Vincent Asaro told his cousin that he and Burke had killed Katz with a dog chain and enlisted his help in burying the body in the basement of a house in Ozone Park owned by Burke, according to court papers.
Sometime in the 1980s, Burke sent word from prison to Vincent Asaro that he wanted the body moved. Valenti and Jerome Asaro dug up what was left of Katz — a skull, bones and some corduroy scraps of clothing — and poured a fresh cement floor over the hole.
Father and son are apparently still on good terms despite the guilty plea. Defense lawyer Lawrence Fisher requested the government lift the separation order at the Metropolitan Detention Center so they can see each other behind bars.
Vincent Asaro is scheduled to go on trial early next year, but other sources say his mental condition has deteriorated since his arrest last January and he may not be competent to defend himself.