WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 4, 2018 17
Mob veteran ignited by road rage
gets eight years behind bars
A veteran mobster will be spending
several years behind bars
after letting a minor traffic
dispute in Howard Beach ignite his
road rage.
On Thursday, Bonanno crime family
member Vincent Asaro, 82, was
sentenced to 96 months for violating
the Travel Act by using a telephone to
order the torching of a vehicle. Asaro
previously pleaded guilty to the crime
on June 27, 2017.
In sentencing Asaro, United States
District Judge Allyne R. Ross factored
in Asaro’s past connections to the 1969
murder of Paul Katz, the 1978 robbery
of the Luft hansa Airlines Terminal at
John F. Kennedy Airport, and loansharking
as of 2013. Asaro was also
ordered to pay $21,276 in restitution
for the damage to the burned car.
“Today’s sentence holds Asaro
accountable not only for using his
power as a member of organized
crime to address a perceived slight
by another motorist, but for a lifetime
of violent criminal activity,”
stated Bridget M. Rohde, Acting
United States Attorney for the Eastern
District of New York.
718-894-0400
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@R_KELLEY6
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As described in court documents
and statements made in court appearances,
the road rage incident took
place back in April 2012 when another
driver switched lanes in front of Asaro
at a traffi c light. Asaro then engaged in
a high-speed pursuit of the other vehicle.
The victim drove to Ozone Park
while trying to call the police, driving
in circles around a block that he knew
to have red-light cameras.
Aft er the chase was over, Asaro contacted
a member of the Gambino crime
family who he knew had access to local
law enforcement databases, according
to a press release from the sentencing.
Aft er obtaining the victim’s license
plate number and address, Asaro then
ordered an unnamed associate from
the Bonanno family to carry out the
arson. That associate recruited Asaro’s
co-defendants Matthew Rullan
and John J. Gotti to help him douse the
car in gasoline and ignite it.
Also in court to announce the sentence
were NYPD Commissioner James
P. O’Neill and FBI Assistant Director
in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr.
“The anger that propelled Asaro
to action is reminiscent of so many
scripted Hollywood dramas,” Sweeney
stated. “But unlike the fame and
fortune of the big screen, Asaro’s story
ends on a diff erent note.”
Photo via Shutterstock
Bonanno crime family member Vincent Asaro was sentenced to eight
years behind bars.
Queens woman’s murder is city’s
fi rst homicide of new year
Police secure the 103rd Avenue home in Richmond Hill where a
26-year-old woman was found fatally stabbed on Jan. 1.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM / @ROBBPOZ
Cops are investigating the stabbing
death of a 26-year-old
woman in Richmond Hill on
Monday — the city’s fi rst reported
homicide of 2018 — as a possible murder
suicide stemming from a dispute
with her husband, it was reported.
The victim, Stacy Loknath, was
found with multiple stab wounds
inside her home on 103rd Avenue
near 113th Street at 1:09 p.m. on Jan.
1, police said. Earlier in the morning,
police reportedly found her
42-year-old husband hanging from
a tree in Forest Park.
Photo via Facebook/Robert Stridiron
Citing police sources, the New
York Daily News said that Loknath,
a mother of two, who was stabbed
multiple times in the back. Paramedics
pronounced her dead at the
scene.
The same report identifi ed her
husband as Vinny Loknath, 46,
whose body was found in Forest
Park about two hours before offi cers
from the 106th Precinct found Stacy
Loknath dead in Richmond Hill.
As of Tuesday, however, police
had not confi rmed the speculated
reasons for their deaths. The Daily
News reported that detectives are
investigating the case as a possible
murder-suicide.
