Francis LaCorte, the man who was convicted for the murder of Gerardo Antoniello during a 2009 armed robbery, was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Monday, June 11.
In April, LaCorte was convicted of six charges, including second-degree murder, first-degree attempted robbery and first-degree attempted burglary.
According to trial testimony, LaCorte, along with Vincent Mineo, devised a plan to rob the home of Gerardo’s father, Bartolomeo, who was the owner of Romeo’s Pizzeria on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach. Bartolomeo died from cancer in March 2010.
LaCorte and Mineo met between Sept. 5 and Sept. 9 of 2009 to plan the robbery. They allegedly showed their accomplices where the house was and gave them items that would be used during the robbery, including duct tape and a loaded gun.
On Sept. 9, as Bartolomeo arrived home, the robbers ambushed him and forced their way into the home. During the struggle that ensued, Gerardo attempted to help his father. One of the robbers shot Gerardo in the head and fled the scene empty-handed. He died shortly afterwards from the gunshot wound.
LaCorte and Mineo also planned two other home robberies in Queens between Aug. 6 and Sept. 5, 2009. According to a press release from Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, the two robberies took place during the week of Aug. 13, 2009 and on Sept. 5 that same year. During those two robberies, the victims were robbed of money and personal property at gunpoint. The locations of these two houses were not revealed in the indictment.
Mineo, 29, of Ozone Park, was convicted in March of planning the robberies and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted robbery, first-degree burglary and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Two other defendants in the case, Jason Burrell, 40, of Brooklyn and Rashod Cowan, 33, of the Bronx pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and first-degree attempted robbery and are scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Brown said that LaCorte’s sentencing was fair and justified. “This was a particularly brutal murder in which a son was gunned down in his own home as he bravely came to the aid of his father who was being robbed,” he said. “At trial, the defendant was found guilty of not just murdering the young man but of having orchestrated, planned and carried out other home robberies at gunpoint.”
By Luis Gronda
