A Manhattan playboy has been sentenced to consecutive maximum prison terms for slicing a man's throat and dumping his body in a shallow New Jersey Grave after a night of partying in 2016.
James Rackover, 27, was sentenced to 28 and 2/3 years-to-life in prison on Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court for the murder of Joseph Comunale. He will be eligible for parole in 2047.
Comunale's emotional parents were in court for the sentencing, before which grieving father Pat Comunale delivered a searing statement calling Rackover 'monstrous' and proof that there is 'pure evil' in the world.
Before delivering his sentence, Justice James Burke berated Rackover and said he was deserving the maximum penalty available.
James Rackover awaits sentencing in front of Judge James Burke at Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday. Rackover was sentenced to 28 2/3 years to life in prison
Rackover was sentenced to 28 2/3 years to life on Wednesday after he was convicted last month of second degree murder, concealing a human corpse and tampering with evidence
Victim: Joseph Comunale's (left and right) body was found in a wooded area behind a flower shop in New Jersey in November 2016
Grieving parents Lisa and Pat Comunale address the media after Rackover's sentencing
'This is precisely the rare kind of case that maximum consecutive sentences are reserved for, and no other lesser sentence would make much sense,' Burke said, according to the New York Post.
District Attorney Cy Vance in a statement: 'James Rackover committed a brutal and unconscionable crime when he killed Joey Comunale and abandoned him at a makeshift gravesite in New Jersey.'
'The judge's sentence of 28 and 2/3 years-to-life in prison — the maximum permitted by state law — was the only appropriate sentence to address the pain and loss that Joey's murder inflicted on the Comunale family,' Vance added
'I think it sends a message to the other two defendants,' Pat Comunale told reporters after the verdict. 'The judge made the right decision.'
Still facing trial are Larry Dillione, charged with murder, and Max Gemma, charged with lesser crimes of covering up the murder.
Last month, Rackover was found guilty on four counts for the death of Comunale.
A supporter and friend of Joseph Comunale wears a pin in tribute to him at New York Supreme Court for the sentencing of James Rackover on Wednesday
Rackover, Comunale and his friend Larry Dillione had been at Rackover's Upper East Side apartment after a night of drug-fueled partying.
The pair met Comunale at a Greenwich Village nightclub and the trio had returned to Rackover's home but got in a fight in an apparent row over cigarettes.
Other reports indicated at the time that it was because Comunale had rejected their sexual advances.
Comunale, a Hofstra graduate, was stabbed multiple times, strangled and beaten.
His body was found in a shallow grave in Oceanside, New Jersey, after being burned.
Police were led to Rackover and Dilione after reviewing surveillance cameras which picked up Rackover's car. His EZ Pass also showed him traveling through tolls which led to the site.
They first threw the body out the window of Rackover's 2nd floor apartment and left it in a garbage bag outside the building but thought better of their plan, drove it to New Jersey, set it on fire and buried it.
The victim's father Pat Comunale broke down in tears during jury deliberations last month. He said afterwards that neither Dilione nor Rackover deserved to walk the streets again
The victim's mother Lisa is pictured in court last month during jury deliberations which lasted four hours over two days
Rackover's defense was that it was Dillione who beat Comunale to death and that he only helped him dispose of the body the next day in New Jersey.
A jury convicted him of second degree murder, hindering prosecution and concealment of a human corpse.
Dillione's trial is yet to begin. He is due in court in 2019.
The conviction comes days after the jury was told by the son of Good Day New York anchor Rosanna Scott that Rackover confessed to the killing in 2016.
Louis Ruggiero testified that Rackover confessed not only to killing him but to driving his body out to New Jersey afterwards then coming home and ordering pancakes from a diner.
'I slit his throat and I stabbed him and we wrapped the body up in a comforter and threw it out the window so the cameras wouldn't see,' Louis Ruggiero recalled James Rackover saying.
'James looked at me and said, 'I did something really bad,' Louis Ruggiero testified Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Ruggiero, the District Attorney's star witness in the murder trial, said Rackover told him that Lawrence Dilione, one of the other men in his apartment during the incident, got into a fight with Comunale and knocked him unconscious.
A once white bedsheet splattered with blood was also shown to the jurors. A gold chain necklace was caught inside the sheet. Joey's friend said he was wearing the chain the night he was killed
The clothes Rackover was wearing were also submitted as evidence during trial
Rackover blamed his friend Larry Dilione (left), saying he only ever helped dispose of the body but it was Dilione who killed him. They are shown together in a pretrial hearing in June 2017
Prosecutors say the men first threw the body out of the window of Rackover's second floor apartment and it landed, in a garbage bag, next to other piles of trash
'I gave [Comunale] a few lickings as well, and I didn't want a dead body in my living room, so I slit his throat and I stabbed him and then we wrapped the body up in comforters and threw the body out the window,' Ruggiero testified, quoting what Rackover told him.
James was described as the 'adopted son' of jeweler Jeffrey Rackover (pictured)
The jury was also shown evidence including the bloody clothes he was wearing on the day of the attack.
The attack, Dilione said, happened after a fight over cigarettes.
Claiming that he was responsible only for punching the young man, Dilione told a court in March how he watched Rackover stab him once the fight got out of hand.
'I turned around and that's when I saw the knife being pulled out of Joey's head,' he said.
Dilione claimed that the fight started when Comunale accused him of taking free alcohol and drugs from him and Rackover without paying his way.
He allegedly said: 'James is bringing cocaine, I've got cigarettes, what the f*** are you bringing to the table.'
It was previously reported the fight was over Comunale rejecting the pair and their sexual advances.
Furious, he lunged at him and began beating him, he said.
'I said, 'I'll take the blame,' but he said 'Look at my hands,' and they were covered in blood. At that point [Rackover] started to strangle him,' he said.
Rackover was arrested in November 2016 after police traced him to the crime. They found surveillance footage of his car in New Jersey and were able to track his EZ Pass
Rackover was born James Arthur Beaudoin and is a Florida native.
He had been arrested multiple times for burglary, armed robbery, and drug possession before Comunale's death.
At some stage afterwards, he met Jeffery Rackover, and moved to New York City where they each held apartments in the same building.
'Jeffrey never had children, he developed a relationship with this young man and introduced him to his family,' private detective Bo Dietl, a friend of 30 years, told DailyMail.com in 2016.
'Jimmy was a troubled young man and Jeffrey hoped to get him back on his feet.'
Jeffrey, whose A-list clients include Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez and Melania Trump, even got James a job at Willis Towers Watson insurance company along with his own apartment.
'Jeffrey was on the 32nd floor and James on the fourth floor,' said Dietl.
'They first met, I believe, at a health club about three-and-a-half years ago.
'Jimmy moved into the apartment about a year ago. Jimmy changed his name to James Rackover because Jeffrey liked this kid so much.'
Comunale's father claimed 57-year-old Jeffrey provided cleaning supplies to Rackover and claimed the pair were in a sexual relationship.
The lawsuit also says that Jeffrey let Rackover borrow his Mercedes-Benz to dispose of the victim's dismembered remains on the Jersey Shore.
Jeffrey's lawyer John Rosenberg has denied the claims in the lawsuit and said that the suit was 'grasping at straws'.
The murder happened at Rackover's Upper East Side home in November 2016
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/12/06/playboy-james-rackover-gets-the-maximum-sentence-for-murdering-joseph-comunale/
Main photo article A Manhattan playboy has been sentenced to consecutive maximum prison terms for slicing a man’s throat and dumping his body in a shallow New Jersey Grave after a night of partying in 2016.
James Rackover, 27, was sentenced to 28 and 2/3 years-to-life in prison on Wednesday in Manhattan S...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/12/05/19/7054974-6464447-image-a-12_1544036967898.jpg
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