Howard Beach mobster sentenced to 10 years for arson
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Gambino crime family associate Peter Tuccio, of Howard Beach, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this week for torching the car of a Queens man in 2015. Photo via the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York/Twitter
By Jacob Kaye
A Howard Beach man with alleged ties to the Gambino crime family was sentenced to a decade in prison in federal court Wednesday for setting fire to a car owned by a man the mob was extorting.
Peter Tuccio, 29, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge La Shann DeArcy Hall to 10 years in prison for the crime after pleading guilty to arson charges in January, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace announced.
Additionally, Tuccio was ordered to pay over $75,000 in restitution.
In 2015, a Howard Beach businessman, who had allegedly been extorted by the Gambino crime family for years, began to avoid one of Tuccio’s co-conspirators in an effort to stop making the annual payments, prosecutors said.
On Dec. 3, 2015, Tuccio and his co-conspirator spotted the businessman driving off from a smoke shop in the neighborhood. Prosecutors said Tuccio and a co-conspirator got in their car and chased after the man, confronting him outside a Queens pizzeria.
Tuccio mentioned his partner to the business man, and complimented his car, the U.S. attorney said.
Later that night, the businessman heard a loud noise and looked out his window to see his car was on fire, according to the charges.
He later made additional payments to the organized crime family.
The duo was caught when Tuccio’s associate accidentally caught himself on fire while torching the car, law enforcement said. Tuccio and the associate later went to Jamaica Hospital to get the burns treated.
“Today, Tuccio pays a steep price for the dangerous actions he took to extort payments to the mob,” Peace said in a statement. “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.”
