NEW YORK — A man who stabbed a Stamford man to death at a party inside a Manhattan luxury apartment building then buried his body in a shallow grave has been was sentenced Wednesday according to WPIX.
James Rackover of Manhattan, will serve 25 years to life for second-degree murder, two 1/3 to seven years for hindering an investigation and one 1/3 years for concealing a corpse.
The sentences, adding up to 28 and 2/3 years-to-life in prison, will be served concurrently.
Last month, Rackover became the first suspect to be convicted in the murder of 26-year-old Joey Comunale.
Rackover and Lawrence Dilione, of Jersey City, are accused of fatally stabbing the Hofstra graduate in November 2016.
Authorities say Comunale was in Manhattan Saturday, Nov. 13, 2016, to party with friends. After a chance encounter at the club, he was invited to Rackover’s East 59th Street apartment, where the night took a deadly turn.
Comunale was stabbed 15 times in the chest following an argument, authorities say.
The two tried to dismember Comunale’s body, pushed him out a window, stuffed him into a suitcase and then drove his body to Oceanport, New Jersey, where they set the body on fire and buried the man in a makeshift grave.
“A very disturbing crime scene a shallow grave with Comunale stabbed 15 times in the chest and there is an effort to burn to his body,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said.
Rackover, who was born James Beaudoin, was in and out of jail while living in Florida. He moved to New York for a new life and a new name. He met Jeffrey Rackover – a prominent East Side jeweler, who became a father-figure and funded his lavish lifestyle.
A third person, 26-year-old Max Gemma, of Oceanport, New Jersey, has been charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence.
