Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“I thank our colleagues at the FBI and the Eastern District of New York for their dedication in helping us hold accountable anyone who commits violence in order to spread fear, especially when it’s in the form of organized crime,” Commissioner Sewell said.
By Michael V. Cusenza
A reputed associate of the Gambino organized crime family has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for his involvement in setting a car on fire in Howard Beach in 2015 to extract extortion payments, federal prosecutors recently announced.
The court also ordered Peter Tuccio, 29, a Howard Beach resident, to pay more than $75,000 in restitution. Tuccio pleaded guilty in January 2021 to using fire to commit one or more felonies.
File Photo
The victim’s vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire.
As alleged in court filings, in 2015, a businessman who had been extorted for years by a captain in the Gambino crime family (referred to in court filings as “Co-Conspirator 1”), began avoiding Co-Conspirator 1 in an effort to stop making his annual extortionate payment. On Dec. 3, 2015, Tuccio and his co-conspirators observed the businessman leave a smoke shop in Howard Beach and drive away in his 2014 Mercedes Benz. They followed the businessman at a high rate of speed through the streets of Queens and confronted him outside a pizzeria, where Tuccio asked about Co-Conspirator 1 by name and complimented the businessman’s car. Tuccio and his co-conspirators schemed to set the businessman’s car on fire as a message to the businessman that he had to continue making payments to Co-Conspirator 1. Later that night, the businessman heard a loud noise and saw that his car was on fire outside of his residence. After the arson, the businessman made additional payments to Co-Conspirator 1.
“The primary mission of the NYPD and our law enforcement partners is to arrest, prosecute, and send away with meaningful prison sentences those who instill fear in New Yorkers through their criminal actions,” said City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. “With today’s sentence, the result of our efforts is tangible. I thank our colleagues at the FBI and the Eastern District of New York for their dedication in helping us hold accountable anyone who commits violence in order to spread fear, especially when it’s in the form of organized crime.”
