Prosecutors argue that in April 2012, Asaro was cut off by another driver in Brooklyn and ordered Gotti to torch the man’s car in revenge.
According to the criminal complaint, a police officer in an unmarked car witnessed the crime and pursued Gotti’s Jaguar through Queens in a high-speed chase.
Gotti is also charged in connection with a bank robbery that he allegedly committed two weeks after the arson. He was also questioned last year in connection to the burning of a Mercedes-Benz owned by a rival.
Asaro is a "capo" in the notorious Bonanno crime family – one of New York’s "Five Families." Last year he was acquitted of orchestrating the US$ 6 million Lufthansa heist in 1978 at JFK Airport that inspired Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film ‘Goodfellas’ - at the time the largest cash robbery in US history.
Following the heist, many of the gang members were reportedly killed off to avoid being arrested. Henry Hill, one of those involved and who later entered a witness protection program, told The Telegraph that "the whole crew were homicidal manics. Just about every guy was a cold blooded murderer. Every day I was scared."