The police-officer brother of a Queens man fatally shot defending his father from a crew of housebreakers stared down the thug who set up the robbery yesterday, calling him a “drug addict, coward, savage.”
Geraldo Antoniello was shot in the head Sept. 9, 2009, by one of four punks savagely beating his dad, the owner of a popular pizzeria in Howard Beach.
Carmine Antonello, delivering a victim-impact statement in Queens Supreme Court, also described Vincent Mineo as “an unskilled junkie who preys on hard-working, law-abiding citizens.’’
Mineo, 29, who had been charged with murder, copped a plea to burglary, attempted robbery and conspiracy in January. He was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison.
He and Francis LaCorte, 29, allegedly ran a four-man, one-woman crew of criminals who allegedly broke into three houses, including Antoniello’s, in 2009. The two did not join their hired thugs at the crime scenes, authorities said.
Justice Richard Buchter compared Mineo to the cult killer Charles Manson.
LaCorte’s murder trial also began yesterday with the dead man’s mom, Gaetana, describing the scene in their Ozone Park house.
“The blood was too much,’’ she said. “It was running all over the floor.’’