32°
James Rackover, 27, was found guilty last month on charges that include second-degree murder, concealing a human corpse and tampering with evidence for his role in the 2016 murder of 26-year-old Joseph Comunale. This week, Rackover was sentenced to a term of between 28 and two-thirds years to life in prison.
Investigators said that Communale attended a party at Rackover’s luxury Manhattan apartment on Nov. 13, 2016. It’s not clear what incited violence, but a fight broke out and Comunale was stabbed more than a dozen times in his chest and torso.
In an effort to conceal the murder, Rackover and a second suspect, Larry Dilione, shoved the body out of a window and threw it in a trunk. They then reportedly attempted to burn the body in a makeshift grave.
Dilione and a third suspect are also facing charges. They are expected to be tried early next year.
“James Rackover committed a brutal and unconscionable crime when he killed Joey Comunale and abandoned him at a makeshift gravesite in New Jersey,” Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said in a statement. “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.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice New Canaan and receive free news updates.
