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Thread: Christopher Londonio and Terrance Caldwell Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2013 NY Slaying of Michael Meldish

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    Christopher Londonio and Terrance Caldwell Sentenced to Life in Prison in 2013 NY Slaying of Michael Meldish


    Christopher Londonio, 43, and Terrance Caldwell, 58, allegedly shot Michael Meldish in the head while he sat in his car in the Bronx, which prosecutors attribute to beef between 'families' of La Cosa Nostra - also known as the Italian Mob.


    Michael Meldish, 62, was shot execution-style inside his parked car at an Ellsworth Avenue crosswalk on Friday, November 15, 2013.


    By Robert Wirsing
    The Bronx Times

    Two men have been arrested and charged in connection to a brazen 2013 mob hit that rocked a quiet, tight-knit Country Club street.

    On Tuesday, May 5, police arrested Terrence Caldwell, 57, of 129 W. 147th Street for the execution-style shooting of Michael Meldish, 62, an infamous Bronx hit man allegedly responsible for more than a dozen contract killings.

    Caldwell was arrested on murder, manslaughter, and criminal possession of a weapon charges and has over 20 prior arrests dating back to 1973.

    According to an NYPD spokesperson, Christopher Londonio, 41, of 753 Revere Avenue was also arrested in connection with the hit on Monday, May 11 and is charged with murder and manslaughter.

    The NYPD added Londonio and Caldwell have had a long standing relationship.

    On Friday, November 15, 2013 at 10:30 p.m., police discovered Meldish shot execution style inside his Lincoln LS sedan parked in an Ellsworth Avenue crosswalk.

    Meldish, who had 18 prior arrests dating back to 1971, appeared to have pulled up to the crosswalk and was exiting his vehicle when the hit occurred.

    It was believed the assassin had either ambushed Meldish at this location or perhaps was his passenger.

    Further investigation determined Meldish was shot in the right side of his head from a short distance due to the lack of gun powder residue.

    It was previously reported that neither a bullet nor shell casing were recovered at the scene.

    “I’m thrilled to hear law enforcement is helping to finally close this case and it just goes to show that they won’t stop until they catch those responsible for committing such heinous crimes,” Bob Beider, 45th Precinct Community Council president expressed.

    Both Meldish and his younger brother, Joseph were leaders of the notorious ‘Purple Gang’ which conducted their heroin drug trade in the Bronx and Harlem during the 1970s and 1980s in addition to performing contract killings for the Bonanno, Lucchese, and Genovese crime families.

    The gang’s namesake was an alleged homage to a Prohibition-era Detroit gang with the same name and this more recent incarnation became well-known for often dismembering their rivals.

    It was believed the Purple Gang had alleged ties to Latin American terrorists who they traded firearms to in exchange for narcotics.

    By the late 1980s, the gang faded into obscurity when its members were apprehended in drug busts and the few remaining remnants joined the 116th Street Crew.

    Joseph Meldish, 60, is currently serving a 25-year to life sentence at Shawangunk Correctional Facility after being arrested and charged with murder in the 2nd degree for the 1999 mistaken identity execution of Joe Brown inside Frenchy’s Bar, formerly located in Throggs Neck.

    Meldish’s girlfriend, Kimberly Hanzlik, 50, is serving 20-years to life at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women and charged with murder in the 2nd degree for her involvement in the 1999 Brown execution.

    Back then, Hanzlik entered Frenchy’s searching for Brown’s brother Thomas who owed Meldish money, but mistook Brown for him.

    Concealing his identity behind a ski mask, Meldish approached a back table where Brown was sitting and executed him.

    The couple was arrested in 2007 and convicted of this crime in 2011.

    According to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Meldish will be eligible for parole on September 22, 2032 and Hanzlik will become eligible on February 14, 2031.

    http://www.bxtimes.com/stories/2015/...-05-15-bx.html

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    Michael Meldish's brother and partner-in-crime Joseph is currently serving 25 years in prison for a murder in 1999 - but is suspected of committing more than 70 contract killings.


    Two mobsters face multiple life sentences for the execution-style murder of rival 'Mafia hitman' who cops called a 'stone-cold killer'

    By Anna Hopkins
    The Daily Mail

    Two mobsters face three life sentences and number of additional charges in the execution-style death of a rival gangster in 2013.

    Christopher Londonio, 43, and Terrance Caldwell, 58, allegedly shot Michael Meldish in the head while he sat in his car in the Bronx.

    Prosecutors say the slaying was a result of a beef between 'families' of La Cosa Nostra - also known as the Italian Mob.

    The two New York natives were apprehended in 2015 for the killing, but now face trial for a slew of charges announced on Monday.

    They include racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and firearms offenses.

    The indictment, which was filed on Wednesday in White Plains, New York federal court, alleges that on November 15, 2013, Londonio and Caldwell murdered Michael Meldish in the vicinity of Baisley Avenue and Ellsworth Avenue in the Bronx.

    His body was discovered by a resident of the family neighborhood, Janet Forbes, who noticed the car door ajar and found 62-year-old Meldish inside, with 'blood coming out of his ears,' the New York Daily News reported.

    Meldish's death was met with celebration from law enforcement officers, who called him a 'stone-cold killer,' believing him to have carried out at least 10 murders on the orders of the Mafia throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

    Joseph Coffey, former commanding officer of the NYPD's organized crime homicide task force, said at the time: 'It should have happened a long time ago,' he added. 'I call it vermin killing vermin — poetic justice.'

    Meldish was reportedly the co-leader of The Purple Gang - and controlled drug trade in the Bronx and Harlem during the 1970s and 1980s.

    The colorfully named gang was allegedly known for killing and dismembering their victims - dominating the heroin industry in New York at the time.

    Michael Meldish's brother and partner-in-crime Joseph is currently serving 25 years in prison for a murder in 1999 - but is suspected of committing more than 70 contract killings.

    Londonio and Caldwell face three charges that carry life sentences - two which could earn them the death penalty: murder in aid of racketeering and firearms charges that resulted in the death of another.

    Caldwell also faces additional charges in the attempted murder of the Bonnano crime family 'soldier' in the vicinity of First Avenue and 111th Street, in Manhattan in 2013 - assault and attempted murder in aid of racketeering.

    According to the US Attorney's Office, La Cosa Nostra operates through entities known as 'Families.' In the New York City area, those include the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, Colombo, and Decavalcante Families.

    Each Family operates through groups of individuals known as 'crews' and 'regimes.' Every 'crew' has a leader, known as a 'Caporegime,' 'Capo,' 'Captain,' or 'Skipper,' who is responsible for supervising the criminal activities of his crew.

    They also provide 'soldiers' and associates with support and protection. In return, the Capo typically receives a share of the illegal earnings of each of his crew's Soldiers and associates, which is sometimes referred to as tribute.

    Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: 'The mob continues to kill and maim in the name of La Cosa Nostra, and as alleged, Christopher Londonio and Terrance Caldwell did just that.

    'In a misguided show of allegiance to this violent way of life, Londonio and Caldwell allegedly murdered Michael Meldish and attempted to kill a Bonanno Family soldier.

    'We thank the FBI, the NYPD, and the Bronx County District Attorney's Office for their dedication that led to the federal racketeering charges announced today.'

    FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said: 'Hollywood and popular fiction almost romanticize the mob, so much so the general public may not know it exists in real life anymore.

    However, the crimes members are accused of taking part in are violent and all too real for their victims. The men charged in this case allegedly committed murder, robbery, dealing illegal drugs and extortion to only name a few.

    The FBI Organized Crime Task Force investigates these families and their string of criminal behavior each day, proving the mob is still a legitimate threat to the community.'

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz4YfTMGni5

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    Inside the wild attempted jail escape of Luchese mobster Christopher Londonio

    By Jerry Capeci
    New York Post

    “The Shawshank Redemption” has nothing on this tubby Luchese mobster.

    Christopher Londonio’s 2017 plan to escape the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn called for enlisting a wide array of characters, including his mother, his father, his estranged wife, a bookie from the Bronx and a priest, based on a just-unsealed FBI report.

    It needed bedsheets, braided dental floss, a hacksaw blade, a safe house in Brooklyn and a hideout in Monticello.

    And then there was the toughest goal of all: a crash diet-exercise regimen to ensure that the 350-pound mobster could squeeze through the prison’s window.

    According to the November 2017 FBI report, the wiseguy allegedly figured he had “nothing to lose” by trying to escape from the MDC because at the time he was facing the death penalty for the 2013 murder of gangster Michael Meldish.

    Londonio confided in another inmate, bank robber David Evangelista, after learning he also faced heavy time for a previous escape attempt.

    He told Evangelista that he had used a razor to “cut the caulking around” an MDC window and had used “braided dental floss” to begin “perforating the glass.” He also showed Evangelista a box “filled with bed sheets” that he had been storing under his bed to lower himself down to the street from his eighth-floor cell.

    Londonio said that he had asked the prison chaplain to allow his local priest to visit him.

    The priest’s mission was to smuggle “a diamond-tipped hacksaw blade” into the MDC that Londonio could use “to cut through the steel window guards” of his cell.

    The report also detailed Londonio’s diet efforts.

    “A central element of Londonio’s plan involved losing enough weight to insure he fit through the opened window,” wrote agents Theodore Otto and Christopher Munger.

    “Toward that end, Londonio began eating lots of bran, and had been exercising feverishly — running up and down the stairs separating the tiers in his unit and doing chin-ups — as of the last time Evangelista saw him.”

    Londonio had “considered” trying to “make his way to the roof” through an air duct but canned that idea when “he quickly realized he wouldn’t be able to fit into the duct.”

    According to the report, Londonio told Evangelista that his mother, father and estranged wife were all part of the intricate, detailed plan that he had worked out with a Bloods gangster from Newburgh who had been convicted of murder and was facing a life sentence.

    “A close friend,” whom Londonio described “as a big bookmaker from the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx,” the agents wrote, “was going to provide $150,000 to sustain them while on the lam” in a home that “the Londonio family owned in Monticello” that was “not traceable to his family.”

    His mother had smuggled in the dental floss that Londonio would use to cut through the window after using a homemade tool to punch two holes into the sides. He planned to use a second tool “fashioned out of an electrical clamp” to “snake” the dental floss “through the two holes in the sides of the window,” the agents wrote.

    “The floss would then be pulled back and forth, creating a sawing effect on the glass,” which would enable Londonio, his Bloods partner and Evangelista to begin their escape out of the MDC and down into a parking lot below in the middle of the night, when security was lax at the facility in Sunset Park, the agents wrote.

    Londonio’s wife and his father confirmed the lax security. Following one prison visit, his wife danced around in the MDC parking lot “for a while but was never observed or escorted out,” leading Londonio “to believe that there was no security camera coverage inside the lot,” the agents wrote.

    Their initial plan called for them to “wait there for several days while news accounts of their escape died down” before heading to Monticello.

    They planned to remain there for a year “while Londonio’s father obtained false documentation for them and Londonio was able to have his appearance changed through cosmetic surgery,” the agents wrote.

    But Londonio changed the plan when the wife of one of his alleged co-conspirators, Matthew (Matty) Madonna, showed “disrespect” toward him and his parents during a court appearance.

    “Madonna didn’t acknowledge Londonio’s parents and Madonna’s wife shook hands with several FBI agents in the courtroom, while ignoring his parents.”

    “Londonio’s revised plan involved stopping in the Bronx,” the agents wrote, “to kill both Madonna’s wife and his unidentified partner in a loansharking business” who had stolen $200,000 from him. Londonio told Evangelista, they wrote, that “his designs on Mrs. Madonna were a result of the disrespect Madonna had shown him and his family, particularly after, ‘all [he] had done for [Madonna.]’ ”

    The escape plan all fell apart when Evangelista, who has a history of mental health issues, feared he would be arrested as a “co-conspirator.” Evangelista blabbed about the would-be jailbreak to the prison’s Psychological Service Unit on Aug. 1, 2017.

    Last week, Londonio’s lawyer John Meringolo told jurors that “the government created a crime of attempted escape” against his client and argued that his cross examination of Evangelista would convince them of Londonio’s innocence.

    Evangelista, 44, is slated to testify next month at the racketeering and murder trial of Londonio and co-defendents Madonna, Steve “Stevie Wonder” Crea and Terrence Caldwell in White Plains federal court.

    Their initial plan called for them to “wait there for several days while news accounts of their escape died down” before heading to Monticello.

    They planned to remain there for a year “while Londonio’s father obtained false documentation for them and Londonio was able to have his appearance changed through cosmetic surgery,” the agents wrote.

    But Londonio changed the plan when the wife of one of his alleged co-conspirators, Matthew (Matty) Madonna, showed “disrespect” toward him and his parents during a court appearance.

    “Madonna didn’t acknowledge Londonio’s parents and Madonna’s wife shook hands with several FBI agents in the courtroom, while ignoring his parents.”

    “Londonio’s revised plan involved stopping in the Bronx,” the agents wrote, “to kill both Madonna’s wife and his unidentified partner in a loansharking business” who had stolen $200,000 from him. Londonio told Evangelista, they wrote, that “his designs on Mrs. Madonna were a result of the disrespect Madonna had shown him and his family, particularly after, ‘all [he] had done for [Madonna.]’ ”

    The escape plan all fell apart when Evangelista, who has a history of mental health issues, feared he would be arrested as a “co-conspirator.” Evangelista blabbed about the would-be jailbreak to the prison’s Psychological Service Unit on Aug. 1, 2017.

    Last week, Londonio’s lawyer John Meringolo told jurors that “the government created a crime of attempted escape” against his client and argued that his cross examination of Evangelista would convince them of Londonio’s innocence.

    Evangelista, 44, is slated to testify next month at the racketeering and murder trial of Londonio and co-defendents Madonna, Steve “Stevie Wonder” Crea and Terrence Caldwell in White Plains federal court.

    https://nypost.com/2019/10/17/inside...pher-londonio/
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    November 15, 2019

    Leaders And Members Of Mafia Family Convicted Of Murder, Racketeering, And Other Crimes

    U.S. Department of Justice

    Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MATTHEW MADONNA, STEVEN L. CREA, CHRISTOPHER LONDONIO, and TERRENCE CALDWELL, were convicted today, after a six-week jury trial, of murder, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and other felonies. Fifteen other defendants have previously pled guilty to related charges.

    U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “The violent and disturbing acts of these four organized crime figures included the brutal murder of associate Michael Meldish. Fittingly, all four defendants have been found guilty of their heinous acts of fraud, extortion, and murder on the six-year anniversary of Meldish’s death. Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, we will continue our commitment to making organized crime a thing of a bygone era.”

    According to the evidence presented at trial, and other court documents:

    Until his arrest in this case, MADONNA was the Acting Boss of the Luchese Family of La Cosa Nostra, one of the “Five Families” that constitute the Mafia in the New York City area. In 2013, MADONNA became displeased with Michael Meldish, a longtime organized crime associate who had refused to collect debts owed to MADONNA. MADONNA ordered Meldish killed, leading to Meldish’s murder on this date six years ago. As the Acting Boss of the Family, MADONNA also received payments from a host of other illegal activities, including the extortion of labor union members, loansharking, illegal gambling operations, and drug-trafficking.

    CREA is the official Underboss, or second-in-command, of the Luchese Family. As the Underboss, he participated in MADONNA’s decision to kill Meldish, and relayed the order to lower-ranking members of the Family. As a member of the Family’s leadership, or “administration,” CREA also profited from the same illegal activities as MADONNA. CREA was personally involved in several criminal schemes, including fraud and extortion in a large construction project at a public hospital, the extortion of one of his subordinates, and ordering the assault of a relative.

    LONDONIO is a made member of the Luchese Family. Acting under the orders of MADONNA and CREA, LONDONIO helped setup Meldish—a personal friend of LONDONIO’s—to be killed, and acted as the getaway driver for the murder. LONDONIO also carried firearms and other weapons, beat an associate of a rival crime family with a baseball bat, and personally participated in extortion, operating illegal gambling businesses, and drug-trafficking, among other crimes.

    CALDWELL is an associate of the Luchese Family, who participated in its crimes but was not formally inducted as a member. On May 29, 2013, CALDWELL ambushed a member of the rival Bonanno Family in Manhattan. CALDWELL fired several shots into the victim’s car at close range and struck him once in the chest, but the victim survived. On November 15, 2013, CALDWELL carried out MADONNA’s and CREA’s orders to kill Michel Meldish. CALDWELL met Meldish and drove with him to a Bronx neighborhood to meet LONDONIO. As Meldish got out of his car, CALDWELL shot him once in the head, killing him instantly. CALDWELL then drove off with LONDONIO.

    * * *

    MADONNA, 84, of the Bronx, New York; CREA, 72, of Crestwood, New York; LONDONIO, 45, of Hartsdale, New York; and CALDWELL, 61, of Manhattan, New York, were each found guilty of one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison; murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison; and use of a firearm in furtherance of murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

    CREA was acquitted of one count of attempted murder and assault in aid of racketeering and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of attempted murder and assault in aid of racketeering.

    LONDONIO was also found guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. LONDONIO was acquitted of one count of attempting to escape from the Metropolitan Detention Center.

    CALDWELL was also found guilty of one count of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, and one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

    Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI, the NYPD, the Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Investigations, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and the Bureau of Prisons.

    The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Hagan Scotten, Celia V. Cohen, Alexandra N. Rothman, Scott Hartman, and Jaqueline Kelly are in charge pf the prosecution; paralegal specialist Shannon Becker provided additional support.

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...d-other-crimes

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    July 27, 2020

    Leader And Members Of Mob Family Sentenced To Life In Prison For Murder, Racketeering, And Other Crimes

    Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MATTHEW MADONNA, the Acting Boss of the Luchese Family, CHRISTOPHER LONDONIO, a soldier in the Luchese Family, and TERRENCE CALDWELL, an associate of the Luchese Family, were sentenced today to life in prison following their conviction for the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and other felonies. A jury convicted MADONNA, LONDONIO, CALDWELL, and Steven L. Crea, the Underboss of the Luchese Family, on November 15, 2019, following a six-week trial before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, who also imposed today’s sentences. CREA will be sentenced at a later date.[1]

    Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “Matty Madonna, Christopher Londonio, and Terrence Caldwell – respectively, the Acting Boss, a soldier, and an associate of the Luchese Family – were responsible for the execution-style murder of Michael Meldish seven years ago. Madonna ordered it, Londonio set it up, and Caldwell pulled the trigger. Now all three have been sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in federal prison. Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, we continue our commitment to render La Cosa Nostra a thing of the past.”

    According to the evidence presented at trial, and other court documents:

    Until his arrest in this case, MADONNA was the Acting Boss of the Luchese Family of La Cosa Nostra, one of the “Five Families” that constitute the Mafia in the New York City area. In 2013, MADONNA became displeased with Michael Meldish, a longtime organized crime associate who had refused to collect debts owed to MADONNA. MADONNA ordered Meldish killed. Acting under the orders of MADONNA and Crea, LONDONIO helped set up Meldish – a personal friend of LONDONIO’s – to be killed, and acted as the getaway driver for the murder. CALDWELL carried out MADONNA’s and Crea’s orders to kill Meldish. CALDWELL met Meldish and drove with him to a Bronx neighborhood to meet LONDONIO. As Meldish got out of his car, CALDWELL shot him once in the head, killing him instantly. CALDWELL then drove off with LONDONIO. For their participation in the Meldish murder, MADONNA, LONDONIO, and CALDWELL were each convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, murder in aid of racketeering, and use of a firearm in furtherance of murder in aid of racketeering.

    In addition, MADONNA, 84, of the Bronx, New York, LONDONIO, 45, of Hartsdale, New York, and CALDWELL, 61, of New York, New York, were also convicted of racketeering conspiracy; CALDWELL was convicted of attempted murder in aid of racketeering and discharging a firearm in furtherance of attempted murder in aid of racketeering arising out of his May 29, 2013, ambush of a member of the rival Bonanno Family in Manhattan; and LONDONIO was convicted of conspiracy to distribute narcotics.

    Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

    The case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Hagan Scotten, Celia V. Cohen, and Alexandra N. Rothman, were in charge of the trial and sentencings.

    Like MADONNA, LONDONIO, and CALDWELL, Crea is subject to a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...ring-and-other

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