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Two Gambino Organized Crime Family Associates Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 180 Months in Prison for 1998 Murder Conspiracy

U.S. Attorney’s Office March 24, 2010
  • Southern District of New York (212) 637-2600

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that two associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family, LETTERIO DECARLO and THOMAS DONO, were each sentenced to 180 months in prison on March 22, 2010, and today, respectively, by United States District Judge COLLEEN McMAHON in Manhattan federal court for their participation in a conspiracy that resulted in the 1998 murder of FRANK HYDELL. In addition, DECARLO and DONO were sentenced for their participation in a conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business in the late 1990s.

According to the Indictment, Superseding Information, other court filings, evidence at the trial of co-defendant EDMUND BOYLE, and the statements of DECARLO and DONO made during their guilty plea proceeding on December 21, 2009:

In late 1997 or early 1998, various members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family suspected FRANK HYDELL of cooperating with the Government. Gambino Family soldier THOMAS "HUCK" CARBONARO and Gambino Family associates LETTERIO DECARLO, THOMAS DONO, JOHN MATERA, and others plotted to murder HYDELL to prevent him from providing information to the Government concerning, among other things, the murder of FRANK PARASOLE in 1997.

On the night of April 27 and into the morning of April 28, 1998, JOHN MATERA, a close friend of HYDELL's, lured HYDELL to a strip club on Staten Island, New York. Later that night, as HYDELL was leaving the club, he was shot dead at close range in front of his car. The evidence at trial showed that CARBONARO later indicated that he was the getaway driver for the murder, that his associate EDMUND BOYLE was the shooter, that MATERA lured HYDELL to the strip club, and that his nephews, DECARLO and DONO, also planned and were present at the scene of the murder. In addition, as part of the plot to murder HYDELL, other members of the Gambino Family, including Gambino Organized Crime Family Captain MICHAEL DiLEONARDO and Gambino Family Soldier FRANK FAPPIANO, conspired with CARBONARO and others to carry out the murder.

As part of their guilty pleas, DECARLO and DONO both admitted that they agreed with others to murder HYDELL in order to maintain and increase their standing as associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family. In addition, the evidence at the BOYLE trial showed that, after the murder of HYDELL, various members of the Gambino Family proposed DONO for membership in the Family.

DECARLO, 48, was sentenced on March 22, 2010, to 180 months in prison and three years of supervised release, to run consecutive to a federal sentence that he presently is serving in connection with the murder of FRANK PARASOLE.

DONO, 36, was sentenced today to 180 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Co-defendant BOYLE is scheduled to be sentenced on June 10, 2010, by Judge McMAHON after a jury found him guilty for conspiring to participate in the affairs of the Gambino Organized Crime Family. The racketeering acts found by the jury in connection with the conspiracy included murder and witness tampering. BOYLE was acquitted at trial of the substantive charges of murder in aid of racketeering and witness tampering.

In addition to these defendants, CARBONARO was found guilty of, among other things, conspiring to murder HYDELL after a jury trial that took place in 2004. CARBONARO was sentenced to 70 years in prison for that and other crimes. JOHN MATERA pleaded guilty in 2004 to charges relating to the murder of HYDELL and received a sentence of 20 years in prison. MICHAEL DILEONARDO and FRANK FAPPIANO also pleaded guilty to charges relating to the murder of HYDELL and both of them await sentencing.

Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office's Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys JONATHAN B. NEW and JOHN T. ZACH are in charge of the prosecution.

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