According to the district attorney, Vincent Mineo is charged in a 22-count indictment — including second-degree murder, attempted robbery, attempted burglary, robbery, burglary and conspiracy – for “orchestrating, planning and executing” the three separate home invasions.
Antoniello, 29, was killed on September 9, 2009 trying to protect his family during a push-in robbery at their home on 95th Street and North Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park.
Reportedly, a woman working with the two male suspects had attempted to gain entry into the home by asking for directions, but Gerardo and his mother, Gaetana, 58, refused to open the door.
When Romeo Antoniello arrived at the home, the two masked men tried to rob him of the cash he had allegedly been carrying after closing the family’s pizzeria, Romeo’s on Cross Bay Boulevard, for the night.
After hitting the older, ailing man in the head, the perpetrators then proceeded to push their way into the residence, cops said, where Gerardo, who had just celebrated a birthday in late August, tried to defend his home and family. One round was fired, hitting Gerardo in the head. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, where he died early Thursday morning, September 10.
In December of 2009, three of the suspects wanted in connection with the case were arrested.
Since the tragedy, the family put their home and business up for sale. The patriarch, Romeo, also passed away.
Mineo, said the DA, remains incarcerated. His bail was set at $2.5 million (secured bond) or $1 million cash, pending a bail sufficiency hearing.
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