42°
Exactly five years later to the day, the 73-year-old’s killer, Benjamin Lopez, of Levittown, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday, Sept. 13, months after a Nassau County jury convicted him of first-degree murder.
Lopez was “out for revenge” when he and a co-defendant, Deangelo Gill, forced their way into Pizzichemi’s Levittown home on Sunday, Sep. 13, 2017, to steal their former friend’s marijuana and cash, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.
When he encountered the woman inside, Lopez “took his rage out on her,” hacking her to death with a machete in a fit of “ruthless violence,” Donnelly said.
Still weakened from chemotherapy treatments, Pizzichemi was unable to defend herself from his blows.
Her grandson, Mark Depperman, arrived home while the pair was still inside.
Lopez and Gill began beating him up, with Lopez slashing at his arms with the machete, causing serious injuries, prosecutors said.
Lopez threatened Depperman with a handgun, forcing him to remove money from a safe.
Depperman was able to place a call to 911 before one of the defendants smashed his cell phone, prosecutors said. The call went through and police responded.
After seeing an officer approaching outside, Lopez and Gill took off out a back door with cash and marijuana.
They tried fleeing the scene in a car, but were arrested by Nassau County Police not far away, prosecutors said.
In December 2019, Gill pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life in prison.
In addition to first-degree murder, a jury convicted Lopez of a host of crimes, including two counts each of robbery, burglary, and first-degree assault, all felonies.
The jury rejected his lawyer’s insanity defense, which claimed that Lopez was unable to tell right from wrong because he suffered from schizophrenia, according to reports.
“This vicious killer showed no remorse and will now pay for his crimes with a life sentence,” Donnelly said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Nassau and receive free news updates.
