Murder trial begins for Philadelphia mafia soldier
The gunman who shot and killed Gino DiPietro in December
2012 made his getaway in a black Honda Pilot owned and driven that day by South
Philadelphia mob figure Anthony Nicodemo.
That fact was not in dispute as Nicodemo's murder and
conspiracy trial opened this afternoon in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. What
came next was rather murky.
Using the same set of facts, Assistant District Attorney
Brian Zarallo and defense attorney Brian McMonagle told the jury decidedly
different stories about what went down in the 2800 block of Iseminger Street on
the afternoon of December 12.
Zarallo, pointing to a .357 magnum that was found in
Nicodemo's vehicle, said authorities had the "smoking gun" that tied
the hulking, 42-year-old mob soldier to the murder. He also said that a
witness, who testified before the trial wrapped up this afternoon, got the
license tag of the black Honda Pilot as it drove away and that within minutes
police were knocking on Nicodemo's door in the 3800 block of South 17th Street,
a five-minute ride from the murder scene.
But McMonagle, in an impassioned opening statement, said his
client was not involved in the shooting. He just happened to be parked near the
murder scene when an unknown gunman jumped in his car and forced him to drive
away.
Law enforcement sources who have been following the case
shook their heads and rolled their eyes. Nicodemo, they pointed out, has been
held without bail since his arrest on the day of the shooting. Yet this is the
first time he has offered any explanation of what went down. If, in fact, he
was the victim of what amounted to a carjacking, they said, then he could have
offered that explanation when they came knocking on his door minutes after
DiPietro was killed.
The trial, before Judge Jeffrey Minehart, is scheduled to
resume tomorrow morning. Nicodemo faces 30 years to life if convicted of the
first degree murder charge. He is also facing conspiracy and weapons charges.
Zarallo told the jury that Nicodemo was involved in a
"conspiracy to assassinate" DiPietro, a one-time South Philadelphia
drug dealer. He said the gun and the car tied him to the murder plot and said
he was just as guilty as the shooter. He also said authorities, when searching
Nicodemo's home, found a pre-paid phone -- a "burn phone," Zarallo
said -- and traced four calls made between the time the shooting occurred and
the police arrived at Nicodemo's home. All four calls were made to another burn
phone, he said.
Zarallo also said a "close associate" of Nicodemo,
Domenic Grande, fit the description of the hitman who, two witnesses said, was
dressed in a black hoody and was wearing a mask and gloves as he fled the
scene. The shooter was described as short and stocky.
James Moone, a mailman who was working his route in the
neighborhood, testified that he heard six shots and ran to find DiPietro lying
next to a pickup truck.
"His eyes were open and he was trying to breathe,"
said Moone, who testified that he knew DiPietro from working in the
neighborhood. Moone said he heard the first shot as he was at his mail truck a
half-block away near the corner of Johnson and Iseminger Streets. He said as he
ran toward the scene in heard another shot and then saw a man in a black hoody
standing over DiPietro's body while he fired four more shots into the victim.
The jury also saw snippets from a surveillance camera that
captured Moone at his truck and running toward the murder scene. The video
included the sounds of six shots being fired. The audio brought tears to the
eyes of several members of DiPietro's family who were part of the packed
eleventh floor courtroom.
Lewis Houck, a second witness, testified that he was walking
near Camac Street when the suspected shooter ran past him. He said he watched
as the shooter jumped into a Honda Pilot that was parked in an alley that ran
parallel to Johnson Street.
Houck, who got the license tag of the vehicle and turned it
over to police, said it appeared to him the engine was already running and the
vehicle pulled away as the shooter jumped in and slammed the door behind him.
The prosecutor said the motive for the murder remains
unknown, but cautioned that the District Attorney's Office is not required to
offer a motive. At the time of the shooting, several sources said DiPietro was
suspected of cooperating with authorities in ongoing narcotics investigation.
In his opening statement, McMonagle told the jury that
Nicodemo "had no idea his life would be destroyed" when he woke up on
the morning of Dec. 12, 2012. He said Nicodemo drove his two young children to
school that morning, did some food shopping and then, that afternoon, drove
over to the neighborhood around Iseminger Street, a neighborhood where his
parents lived, where he had grown up and where he maintained a business office.
McMonagle described the events following the shooting of
DiPietro as "chaos" and said his client had "no idea" what
was going on. The defense lawyer implied that Nicodemo was forced at gunpoint
to drive away and that, a short time later, the shooter jumped out of the Honda
Pilot, but not before hiding the murder weapon in a seat pocket behind the
driver's seat of the vehicle.
That's where police found the gun.
McMonagle said Nicodemo had no motive to kill DiPietro and
asked the jury who would commit a murder in his own neighborhood while driving his
own car.
"If this was planned," McMonagle said, "never
in a million years would he drive his own car to a neighborhood that he goes to
every day."
At the time of Nicodemo's arrest, law enforcement sources
described the shooting as perhaps "the dumbest hit" in the history of
the Philadelphia mob, citing the same facts and raising the same questions that
McMonagle posed to the jury.
Nicodemo, who has been identified by New Jersey authorities
as a suspect in the 2003 murder of mobster John "Johnny Gongs"
Casasanto, showed little emotion during today's proceedings. Dressed in a white
shirt and tie, he occasionally whispered in McMonagle's ear and during breaks
he waved and nodded to friends and family members who helped pack the
courtroom.
Law enforcement sources have indicated that Nicodemo could
work a deal by giving up what he knows about the Casasanto murder and other
acts of violence that authorities believe are linked to mob boss Joseph
"Uncle Joe" Ligambi and his top associates.
The Casasanto shooting is one of three unsolved murders that
occurred during Ligambi's reign. Ligambi and six associates were on trial for
racketeering at the time the DiPietro murder occurred. Ligambi and two of those
defendants beat the charges.
One underworld source predicted that Nicodemo would take his
chances by going to trial for the DiPietro slaying, but would cut a deal if he
were convicted.
"If he blows trial, he'll start talking," the
source said.
History would suggest that that might not be the best
strategy. The last mobster to cut a deal after being convicted of first degree
murder was Willard Moran who was convicted of the murder of union boss John
McCullough in 1980. Moran is still in jail.
http://www.bigtrial.net/2014/05/anthony-nicodemo-unwitting-getaway.html#Qe8pgPGhfKTeLIlW.99
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