The FBI is probing the recent murder of a Staten Island jeweler as a mob hit – and suspects the shooting was ordered by leaders of the Genovese crime family, The Post has learned.
Louis Antonelli, 43, who was gunned down outside a restaurant last April, is believed to have been a Genovese associate and involved in business deals with wiseguys and crime-family underlings.
“The FBI is now investigating this. We now know that Antonelli had a business relationship with two or three members or associates of the family,” spokesman James Margolin said.
“We’re also operating under the theory that one or more members ordered the shooting.”
In the hours before he was shot, Antonelli and his bodyguard, Jason Aiello, retrieved $260,000 in gems from a storage area and placed them in an SUV.
Later, they went to a Staten Island Spanish restaurant, where two gunmen shot Antonelli as he exited without Aiello, a retired NYPD sergeant.
Cops found the gems still in the vehicle.