April 2 (UPI) — New York mob hitman Dominic Taddeo, who killed three men and attempted to kill two others, has escaped federal custody with less than a year of his sentence after decades in prison.
Taddeo, 64, escaped on Monday of a halfway house overseen by the Bureau of Prisons in Florida, the Federal Bureau of Prisons records show.
The convicted hitman, who pleaded guilty to racketeering crimes in 1992, including three homicides in the 1980s in the name of the mafia Rochester, NY, featuring Nicholas Mastrodonato, Gerald Pelusio and Dino Tortatice, was slated for release in February.
Taddeo had been transferred in mid-February of medium-security correctional facility in Sumterville, Florida, about 50 miles northwest of downtown Orlando, at the halfway house to help prepare for his release next year.
On Monday, after an approved medical appointment, he did not return, records show.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Taddeo had requested a humanitarian release, citing health issues, like hypertension, but a judge refused.
“Taddeo’s prior convictions relate to crimes including assault, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and, more specifically, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) conspiracy arising out of his employment and association with the La Cosa Nostra organized crime family of Rochester,” U.S. District Judge Frank Geraci said. Jr. wrote in denial of his compassionate release, obtained by the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. “RICO’s charges involve the murder of three people, the attempted murder of two others and the conspiracy to murder a fifth person.”
Taddeo was facing federal weapons charges when he previously evaded authorities for two years after being released on $25,000 bail in 1987.
He had a few disciplinary issues in his early years in prison, including ‘starting a fire’, running a ‘play pool’ and ‘possessing intoxicants’, but since the late 1990s he had a clean record , except for a 2010 citation for “possession of an unauthorized item.”
