GUILTY! Mobsters Grasso and Riccardi Convicted of Murder

Surveillance photo of Luigi Grasso.
Luigi Grasso and Richard Riccardi have been found guilty for the killing of James Donovan.

Grasso, 46, of Staten Island, and Riccardi, 41, of Manalapan, N.J., each face a minimum of 10 years and maximum of life in prison when sentenced on Aug. 1.

They were both convicted on conspiracy, robbery, firearms use and murder charges.

"The defendants plotted this brazen robbery and took the life of James Donovan because of their unrelenting greed," said Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "After lying in wait for Donovan, the defendants coldly robbed him, shot him and left him to die in the street."

While authorities said Grasso and Riccardi helped plan and carry out the July 2010 fatal robbery, the actual shooter was Hector Pagan. He became a cooperating witness in the case, testifying against Grasso and Riccardi at the two-week trial in an effort to reduce his own potential prison sentence.

"I just can't understand how the government has no problem letting the shooter go so you can put away two guys who only wanted to rob him," said Susan Kellman, Mr. Riccardi's lawyer.

According to the WSJ, Donovan was being investigated by the Business Integrity Commission, a city agency overseeing private garbage haulers and other businesses, when he was murdered.

On the day of the murder, BIC investigators were monitoring by camera a business in Gravesend, Brooklyn, where they knew Donovan made weekly transactions. According to court records, a glitch caused the camera to stop recording as the fatal robbery started. However, investigators said they found surveillance footage from nearby stores and discarded cigarette butts that put the three men at the scene at the time of the murder.

Comments

  1. Feds keep re-defining the meaning of justice. My prayers go out to Donovan's family and all of pagan's future victims.

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  2. I bet u Pagan gets a slap on the wrist for his snitching.

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  3. How could they be convicted of the murder and conspiracy charge when junior admitted to firing the fatal shot? That part of the verdict does not make sense to me.

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    1. I agree -- it is frigging bizarre! It would be comical if a man wasn't dead... And there was no reason for Junior to shoot him! Donovan dropped the cash, they had it. Why did he shoot the guy!!!!

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    2. Someone should put a bullett in pagans head

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  4. The ancient Greeks and Romans have said through the centuries: leave another man's wrongdoing where it lies. In other words: don't snitch...let the authorities deal with it. Pagan is traitor.

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