Pair of thugs face time for home invasion execution

Pair of thugs face time for home invasion execution

  March 24, 2015    Dapper_Don

---

A pair of Manhattan thugs are facing at least two decades behind bars after copping pleas Monday for the execution-style 2009 slaying of a Queens pizzeria owner’s son who died trying to protect his cancer-stricken dad during a botched Mob-connected home invasion.

Antoine Burroughs, 26, and cohort Leon Whitfield, 24, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges of robbery and robbery conspiracy. Through the plea agreement with the government, they avoid prosecution for murder and other crimes that could have landed them in jail for life for the shooting death of Gerardo Antoniello, 29.

Burroughs faces 24 to 30 years in jail and Whitfield 27 to 33 years when they are sentenced by Judge Gregory Woods on July 29, according to the plea deal.

The victim was killed defending his father, Bartolomeo Antoniello, the owner of a Howard Beach pizzeria.

The gunmen coldly stood over the victim as he lay face down on the floor and pumped a bullet into the back of his head, execution-style, in front of his helpless dad, authorities said.

Francis LaCorte, an alleged Gambino mobster, was convicted in 2012 of being the “puppeteer’’ behind the gang that pulled off the deadly home invasion and a string of other robberies. He was sentenced to 50 years to life.

An accomplice to LaCorte, Vincent Mineo, previously got 20 years in a plea deal involving the case. Cops say the group cased the neighborhood, identified target homes and then dispatched hired thugs.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/24/thugs-face-prison-time-for-home-invasion-execution/