Shot Trying To Stop Home Invaders
A reputed mobster from Ozone Park is spending at least the next 50 years in a state prison for the murder of the 29-yearold son of a Howard Beach pizzeria owner during a botched home invasion in September 2009, prosecutors announced.
Francis LaCorte, 30, was sentenced on Monday, June 11, by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard L. Buchter to serve 50 years to life behind bars after being convicted in April of plotting and carrying out three home invasions between August and September 2009.
One of the incidents resulted in the shooting death of Gerardo Antoniello as he tried to stop the robbers who invaded his father’s home on North Conduit Avenue in Ozone Park on the evening of Sept. 9, 2009.
“Under the circumstances, the lengthy sentenced imposed today is more than warranted so as to punish [LaCorte] and to protect society,” Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a statement on Monday.
Law enforcement sources said that LaCorte and an associate-Vincent Mineo, 29, of Raleigh Street in Ozone Park-worked together to plot home invasions of several residences around Queens between Aug. 6 and Sept. 5, 2009. Two other individuals- 39-year-old Jason Burrell of Remsen Avenue in Canarsie, Brooklyn and 32-year-old Rashod Cowan of East 197th Street in the Bronx- were recruited to carry out the gunpoint robberies.
One of the locations targeted was the Ozone Park home of Antoniello’s father, who is the owner of Romeo’s Pizzeria on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach. Reportedly, Mineo and/or LaCorte supplied Burrell and Cowan with a loaded firearm, duct tape and other items to carry out the robbery.
At around 10:10 p.m. on the evening of Sept. 9, 2009, prosecutors said, the pizzeria owner arrived at his residence and was approached from behind by two masked perpetrators. One of the suspects reportedly struck the man in the back of his head with a handgun as they forced their way inside the residence.
Upon entering the location, Gerardo Antoniello confronted the robbers and engaged in a physical struggle. During the scuffle, authorities said, one of the robbers shot the 29-year-old man in the head; the suspects then fled from the scene.
Members of the 106th Precinct and EMS units responded to the location. Antoniello was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he died the following day from his injuries.
In the other home invasions allegedly carried out by LaCorte and his associates, the victims were bound and had quantities of cash and personal property stolen at gunpoint. The locations of these robberies were not disclosed in the indictment.
Burrell and Cowan were arrested in December 2009 by members of the 106th Precinct Detective Squad. They have since pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary and first-degree attempted robbery and are scheduled to be sentenced in August, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Mineo and LaCorte were both booked in May 2011 for the murder of Antoniello and the three home invasions. Mineo pled guilty in February to first-degree attempted robbery, first-degree burglary and fourth-degree conspiracy and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Brad A. Leventhal, chief of the D.A.’s Homicide Trials Bureau, and Marilyn A. Filingeri of the Homicide Investigations Bureau, under the supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.
