FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 10, 2022 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Howard Beach mobster gets decade behind bars for torching Mercedes: Feds
BY BILL PARRY
BPARRY@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
A Howard Beach mobster on Wednesday,
March 2, was sentenced in Brooklyn
federal court to 10 years behind bars for
torching a businessman’s car over late
extortion payments in 2015.
Peter Tuccio, 29, an associate in the
Gambino organized crime family of La
Cosa Nostra, was sentenced by U.S. District
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall and ordered
to pay more than $75,000 in restitution.
Tuccio pleaded guilty in January 2021 to
using fi re to commit one or more felonies.
“Today, Tuccio pays a steep price for the
dangerous actions he took to extort payments
to the mob,” U.S. Attorney Breon
Price said. “No residents or businesses
should have to operate under the threat of
violence or intimidation from organized
crime. Let Tuccio serve as an example that
this behavior won’t be tolerated.”
As alleged in court fi lings, in 2015, a
businessman who had been extorted for
years by a captain in the Gambino crime
family began to avoid the mobster in an
eff ort to stop making his annual extortionate
payment. On Dec. 3, 2015, Tuccio and
his co-conspirators saw the businessman
leaving a smoke shop in Howard Beach.
Federal agents said the three suspects followed
the businessman’s car, a 2014 Mercedes
Benz, at a high rate of speed, then confronted
him later outside a neighborhood pizzeria.
Tuccio allegedly asked the businessman
A Gambino crime family associate from Howard Beach was sentenced to 10 years in prison for torching a businessman’s car in 2015.
about the Gambino captain, then made
a comment about the Mercedes Benz.
Later that night, according to the indictment,
the businessman heard a loud noise
and then noticed that his car was on fi re.
Th is prompted the businessman to pay off
the Gambino captain.
“Th e primary mission of the NYPD and
our law enforcement partners is to arrest,
prosecute and send away with meaningful
prison sentences those who instill fear
in New Yorkers through their criminal
actions,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant
Sewell said. “With today’s sentence, the
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
result of our eff orts is tangible. I thank
our colleagues at the FBI and the Eastern
District of New York for their dedication
in helping us hold accountable anyone
who commits violence in order to spread
fear, especially when it’s in the form of
organized crime.”
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