Three years after his arrest on arson charges in an extortion scheme that went up in flames, Gambino Crime Family Associate and Philadelphia Crime Family friend Pete Tuccio was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in Federal prison.
The 29 year old Tuccio, who also spent time under the wing of Bonanno and Lucchese Crime Family figures, has been hold up on house arrest at his Howard Beach, New York home since his arrest back in November 2018.
He plead guilty to “using fire to commit extortion” in January 2021 in the midst of the Covid19 pandemic and has been more than patiently cooling his heels at home ever since, even offering at one point to self-surrender and start his sentence.
Despite a spate of letters from family members and friends asking the sentencing judge for leniency, Tuccio was sentenced to the mandatory term of a decade in prison. He did not receive any time off his sentence for his time on house arrest even though it took three years through the Covid 19 pandemic to get this case to a conclusion in court.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, MichaelJ. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office(FBI), and Keechant L. Sewell, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD),
announced the sentence.
“Today, Tuccio pays a steep price for the dangerous actions he took to extort payments to the mob,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “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 will not be tolerated.”
Mr. Peace also thanked the New York City Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Investigation for their outstanding work on the case.
“The 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,” stated NYPD Commissioner Sewell. “With today’s
sentence, the result of our efforts 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.”
In a December sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors also alleged that Tuccio took part in three other crimes, including the 2015 lead pipe beating of a man who borrowed money from a Bonanno Crime Family member and fell behind on the payments.
Prosecutors also alleged that on August 15,2015 Tuccio “set fire to a Chevrolet Suburban in the Howard Beach section of Queens.” The SUV investigators alleged, belonged to an individual who was in the midst of a union dispute wth a member of the Lucchese Crime Family.
Tuccio has denied being involved in either of these two incidents.
Tuccio has been no stranger to Instagram during his home confinement, freely and publicly offering his disdain for government cooperators.
The tough talking, “rat” bashing Tuccio made headlines three years ago when he popped up in New York at the East Coast LCN trial of Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino. Tuccio and Merlino could be seen coming and going from the courthouse on multiple occasions, causing mob watchers to ask “Who’s the guy with Joey”?
Tuccio then began appearing at bars and restaurants with Merlino around New York drawing high profile attention. He was also pictured across the internet with Merlino and Philly wiseguys like Mob Capo Dom Grande.
He visited mob clubhouses and crime family gatherings, in some cases all suited up with Merlino and other prominent Philly Mobsters and associates.
Tuccio pleaded guilty before United States Magistrate Judge Steven L. Tiscione in Brooklyn last January to using fire to commit the felony crime of extortion.
When he’s sentenced in March, Tuccio faces a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison, as well as forfeiture, restitution and a fine of up to $250,000.
Seth D. DuCharme, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the guilty plea in a statement back in January.
“With today’s guilty plea, Tuccio has been convicted of an offense arising from his efforts to extort a local businessman by brazenly chasing him through the streets and then setting his car ablaze,” DuCharme said.
“This Office, together with our partners at the FBI, will continue to vigorously investigate and prosecute members and associates of organized crime to eradicate the danger they pose to our community.”
DuCharme thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, the New York City Police Department and the New York City Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Investigation for their outstanding work on the case.
According to the charges filed against Tuccio, in 2015, a businessman who had been extorted by a captain in the Gambino Organized Crime Family (referred to in court filings as “Co-Conspirator 1”) for many years, began avoiding Co-Conspirator 1 in an effort to stop making the $400 annual payment.
On December 3, 2015, Tuccio, co-defendants Jonathan Gurino and Gino Gabrielli, who were charged in a separate indictment, observed the businessman leave a smoke shop in Howard Beach, New York and drive away in his 2014 Mercedes Benz.
The three men then followed the businessman at a high rate of speed through the streets of Queens and confronted him outside a pizzeria, where Tuccio allegedly mentioned Co-Conspirator 1 and commented on the businessman’s car. Tuccio and his co-defendants schemed to set the businessman’s car on fire, sending a message that he had to continue making the extortion payments to Co-Conspirator 1.
Later that night, the businessman heard a loud noise and saw that his car was on fire outside of his residence. The businessman’s security video system recorded Gabrielli pouring a substance on the car, the car erupting in flames, and Gabrielli running away with his pant leg on fire.
A short time later, Gabrielli and Tuccio were caught on surveillance video entering Jamaica Hospital. After the arson, the businessman paid more than $5,000 to Co-Conspirator 1.
In August 2016, Gabrielli pleaded guilty to the arson.
In June 2020, Gurino pleaded guilty to extortionate collection of credit and extortion. They are awaiting sentencing.
