The ghoulish grave robber who chipped and chiseled bronze from dozens of mausoleums at St. Raymond’s Cemetery in The Bronx pleaded guilty yesterday to grand larceny.
In exchange, Louis Peduto, 56, agreed to enter into a program to treat the crack habit that prompted his crime spree.
Peduto had been accused of removing $160,000 worth of bronze from 65 mausoleums in the historic cemetery between Feb. 15 and Feb. 18.
Under the plea deal, he admitted to hauling off about $1,000 worth of metal.
Cops nabbed Peduto a day after a security guard confronted him in the cemetery and snapped his picture holding a plastic flower. When he ran off in a panic, he left behind a bag of stolen pieces of bronze.
When cops nabbed him, an uncooperative Peduto crumbled when a detective squad commander, stretching the truth, claimed he had desecrated the mausoleum of Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno, who ran the Genovese crime family from 1981 to 1986, a source said.
The no-jail-time offer was made after the Bronx DA’s office consulted with cemetery officials, prosecutor Brooke Schieferle-Goldfarb told Bronx Criminal Court Judge Marc Whiten.
Repeatedly saying “yes” in a low voice, Peduto agreed to enter the court-ordered in-patient drug- treatment program, which he has to complete to get his felony plea reduced to a misdemeanor petty larceny charge — and a conditional release.
Whiten promised to toss Peduto in prison for one to three years if he fails the drug program.
Peduto’s lawyer Cynthia Pong said her client pleaded guilty to end the prosecution and get out of jail as soon as possible.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona