Following a night of partying, a Connecticut man was stabbed to death at an East Side apartment after an argument about cigarettes broke out.
Joseph Communale, 26, was allegedly stabbed to death by 25-year-old party boy and con man James Rackover. Another man connected with Communale’s death was 28-year-old Lawrence Dilione who told the police that he helped Rackover dump the body.
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When Communale told Rackover he was going out for a pack of cigarettes, Rackover reportedly refused to let leave. Communale said in response, “What are you going to do about it?”
The sequence of events following this comment are unclear, but police are of the belief that Rackover stabbed Communale to death.
Rackover was indicted by a Manhattan Criminal Court with hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence, concealment of a corpse, and aggravated unlicensed driving. Dilione was found guilty of the same charges, except for the driving rap, according to New York Post.
Neither of the men have been with murder at this time, but both are being held in connection to Communale’s death.
This past Wednesday morning, Dilione was released on a $300,000 bail, according to the New York Department of Corrections.
Communale was laid to rest in Stamford, Connecticut at St. Leo’s church. Over 800 heartbroken family members and friends gathered to mourn and pay their final respects.
At the funeral, Joseph Communale’s father Pat broke down in tears while speaking to everyone in attendance. “Well, Joey’d be mad at me for crying,” he said. “Because he never cried.”
“He loved his friends,” Pat Communale said. “That’s a testament to what kind of kid he was. And he shared everything with his friends, I can assure you.”
Joey Communale’s body was found on Wednesday inside a suitcase that had been buried in a wooded area behind Foggia’s Florist in the town of Oceanport, near where Dilione worked, according to Daily Mail. He had been stabbed 15 times in the chest, and his body was covered in gasoline in an attempt to burn it.
The police said that they found blood on James Rackover’s clothing, and inside his apartment.
“There is blood on clothing . . . also what appears to be bleach on the clothing in an attempt to cover up the blood,” said Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce.
“[There’s] blood splatter in the apartment as well, not a lot, but it’s quite noticeable, visible.”
What are your thoughts about this horrible crime?
[H/T New York Post, Daily Mail]
