In December 1978, a group of six Mafia members held a group of airline employees at gunpoint and robbed a vault at the Lufthansa terminal at JFK Airport. They made off with more than $6 million in one of the most infamous Mafia crimes of the 20th century.

The heist was immortalized in the hit movie "Goodfellas" and the case largely went unsolved for decades.

That's all changed, after a series of cooperating witnesses implicated an 80 year-old Queens gangster long thought to be a bit player in the notorious Bonanno crime family.

Vincent Asaro is charged with racketeering and murder, among other charges, dating back to his time in the mob.

The case has served as a throwback of sorts. Federal mob trials used to be a fairly routine occurrence. But Jerry Capesi, writer for ganglandnews.com, told WNYC's Soterios Johnson that's all changed, as the FBI has turned its attention away from prosecuting organized crime.

"They have much fewer members of the FBI squads and US Attorneys offices focusing on it right now," said Capesi. "The mob itself has become less influential and less of a threat, at least in the eyes of the powers that be."