Until 2014 he was on the panel running the family. He was broken down to solider by Massino in 98 for abusing and robbing his men.But by the late 2000s he was back in the game
Mike Padavona gave him 50k for his button and he blew it in a matter of days
At one point he was very wealthy as a soldier....Had a fence company,a big Shylock business and made 800k off Lufthansa and hundreds of thousands more from shaking down Mike Zaffaranos son(who was his nephew)
So many guys were gambling addicts and he was a drug addict too. Snorting cocaine and drinking a ton...
Do you have a source for Asaro using cocaine? Hopefully I can ask without you going into a rage because you have no source.
The prosecutors say they have "many witnesses" prepared to testify how Asaro "evolved from a teenage heroin addict into a mastermind of the Lufthansa Heist." The witnesses would describe a "powerful but broke mafia leader," one who substituted one addiction for another by blowing all the money he made during his life of crime by "gambling, both illegal and legal, to an extreme degree."
He is not the first mobster to become addicted to heroin, but Asaro, who was on a three-member Bonanno family ruling panel in 2012, is the first known ex-junkie to serve as an Administration member of one of the notorious Five Families.
"The defendant's story is one of redemption and loss," prosecutors Nicole Argentieri, Alicyn Cooley and Lindsay Gerdes wrote. "Witnesses are expected to testify regarding the defendant's drug addiction and how he apparently beat it 'cold turkey' so that he could join the Asaros' ranks of mafia soldiers. In addition, (they) are expected to testify that (Asaro) at one point was demoted from the rank of captain due to, among other things, his repeated appropriation of money from the individuals assigned to him in order to feed his gambling addiction."
In the 1960s, after he kicked his heroin habit, Asaro "earned respect from the mafia for being an earner," by taking part in "robberies, the sale of stolen goods and loansharking," prosecutors wrote. In that decade, his father Jerome schooled him, and introduced him to James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke, the murderous Luchese gangster who is the recognized mastermind of the heist, they wrote.
Anthony RuggianoIn a voluminous 72-page filing, the prosecutors write that testimony by six cooperating witnesses will directly link Asaro's heroin addiction and his obsessive gambling losses to his guilt of many charged crimes in the indictment, particularly the Lufthansa robbery.
"Many cooperating witnesses and civilian witnesses with personal knowledge of the defendant are expected to testify that the defendant struggled with heroin addiction as a teenager and into his twenties," wrote prosecutors Argentieri, Cooley and Gerdes.
Among those prepared to testify about the Bonanno veteran are Asaro's cousin Gaspar (Gary) Valenti, 68, who says he took part in the Lufthansa heist with Burke, as well as a second witness, former Gambino associate Anthony Ruggiano Jr., 61, who would detail Asaro's heroin use — as well as his compulsive gambling, the prosecutors wrote.
Ruggiano "is expected to testify that the defendant used heroin with an individual from the neighborhood," and Valenti "is expected to testify that (Asaro) directed him to store proceeds from the Lufthansa Heist with the brother of that individual, who (Valenti) knew used heroin with the defendant when they were teenagers," the prosecutors wrote.