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Homicide: New York - Season 3 - Episode 01: Party Monster
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02:12As the day progressed since the early afternoon and there was still no sign of Joey is when I started
02:19to get a little nervous and worried.
02:22As the day was going by, we were hoping we were going to hear from him. We were just waiting,
02:27just waiting, but never happened.
02:36Our job is to make sure you can go home and sleep at night.
02:41It's so important for a family to know who murdered their relative.
02:46Compassion for the victims, that's the most important thing.
02:50I've always liked the peak behind the curtain. You want to find out the truth. That's what detectives do.
02:59Your instinct is to help people.
03:04In New York City, the NYPD.
03:27I was a prison detective in the 17th prison detective squad.
03:31On November 14th in 2016, we received a phone call from the desk downstairs in regards to a father who
03:40was there, whose son had come to the city to party and he hasn't heard from him yet.
03:45Detective Yeoman Castro and I are in the office and the uniform officer is accompanying two gentlemen, Pat Caminale and
03:53his brother, Joe Caminale.
03:55They had a sense of urgency.
03:57You know, you could tell by the look on both of their faces that they were very concerned. They were
04:02very worried.
04:04Pat tells us, my son, Joey's been missing for approximately 16 hours and he's attempted to reach out to him
04:12multiple times and was unable to.
04:15And I asked his father, is this unusual of him to not speak to him?
04:20And Pat tells me, I speak to my son regularly.
04:28To me, I was like, all right, it's Manhattan. The kids come to party here. They're known to stay at
04:33people's homes, hotels. Some get drunk. They pass out on the streets. We'll find him.
04:40At that point, Yeoman and I kind of fork. So Yeoman has Pat at his desk and I'm running everything
04:47in the computer. I'm checking every single system for Joey's name.
04:51Date of birth, different variations, John Doe's. He wasn't in any hospital. He wasn't in any jail cell. He was
04:59just off the radar.
05:01I told Detective Castro that the night before, I got a call from Joey's friend who said, hey, I know
05:09you're trying to get a hold of Joey. I have his phone.
05:12I said, well, what are you doing with his phone? And he told me the story about what happened the
05:17night prior.
05:18That they had gone into the city to go to the Gilded Lily, which I had never heard of.
05:25There was a nightclub. And as they were leaving the Gilded Lily, Joey was talking to three girls.
05:34At the same time, his friend took Joey's phone to call his girlfriend to see where she was.
05:41I guess as that was going on, these two other guys came up and said, hey, do you guys want
05:47to go to an after party?
05:49Two cabs pull up and Joey's friend says, I have your phone.
05:55Joey says, well, just give it to me tomorrow.
05:58And so they all jump into the cab and they went to this after party.
06:03And that was the last time we saw him.
06:06After I had spoken to Pat, I went to Instagram and I clicked on the Gilded Lily.
06:14I just started looking at tagged photos, which there are hundreds of them, just to see if I could find
06:19Joey in the background of somebody's picture or, you know, get a clue because we had nothing to go off
06:24of.
06:26So I saw this one and there was three girls and a guy that I know.
06:30So I called him.
06:32He was like, those are the girls that Joey was with last night.
06:35Gave me this girl's number. Her name was Jenna.
06:39Texted her and I asked her what happened with Joey last night.
06:42Do you have any idea where he is? Is he with you?
06:44She said, no, we were at this party.
06:47And then a few hours after, Joey and this guy, whose name was Larry, walked the girls to an Uber
06:53and waved them goodbye.
06:57Pat was actually able to give me the name and phone number of the last person Jenna saw with Joey.
07:04And his name was Larry DeLeon.
07:08So I called Larry and I explained that we're looking for Joey Cogninale, who he was partying with at the
07:14after party.
07:15She says, yeah, I met him outside of Gilded Lily.
07:18Invited them to this after party for this rich kid that lives on the Upper East Side at the Grand
07:24Sutton apartment building.
07:28Larry told me the last time he had seen Joey was when he left the building to walk Jen and
07:34her friends to an Uber.
07:36to send them back to New Jersey.
07:38It was 6.30 in the morning.
07:40And all he remembers is he walked back into the building alone.
07:45So then I gave Jenna a call.
07:48And Jenna described the after party in apartment 4C.
07:52And the host was James Rackover.
07:56According to Jenna, when the group arrives, she gets into the apartment.
08:00And there was a male in there.
08:03His name was James Rackover.
08:05And James was shirtless.
08:10And according to Jenna, he never bothered to put a shirt on the entire night.
08:16At one point, she said James claimed to have been a male stripper.
08:20And he wanted to give Jenna a lap dance.
08:25And fortunately, you know, one of the girls videotaped it.
08:31You know, James has no shirt.
08:33He's giving one of the girls a lap dance.
08:36He's competing with Larry DeLeon.
08:38Who gives the best lap dance?
08:42She said that Larry DeLeon was in possession of a folding knife that he was snorting cocaine off of.
08:52And she kept noticing that Joey's calm, but he appeared to be extremely inebriated.
08:59That he was consuming a lot of whiskey and beer.
09:03But he wasn't having any issues with any of the people inside the apartment that evening.
09:10Jenna does recall that after the party, once she got to the Uber, they get inside.
09:16I guess she's looking back to say bye.
09:17And she sees that Larry and Joey fist bump each other.
09:22And then she assumed he either walked off or went back inside to the party again.
09:27So Jenna painted a great picture of what was going on in the after party.
09:32But she never answered the crucial question, which is, where is Joey?
09:39So I could tell that Pat was concerned.
09:41And I have sons of my own.
09:42So I'm like, you know what?
09:43Let's go take a ride to the building.
09:47Detective Castro really was conscientious.
09:51He took an interest.
09:53And no bullshit.
09:54He wanted to know what was going on.
09:57And he knew there was a problem here.
09:59We jumped in his patrol car and went over to Grant Sutton.
10:03So the Grant Sutton Apartments is located on East 59th Street.
10:09For those people that aren't aware of that area, that is known as Sutton Place.
10:14And it's not for the rich.
10:17It's for the filthy rich.
10:21So at 11 a.m., we arrived in front of the Grant Sutton.
10:25When you walk in, it's almost as if you're walking into a hotel.
10:28They've got a doorman, concierge.
10:31We decided, let's go to 4C, James Rackover's apartment.
10:36We knock on the door.
10:37The cleaning lady opens the door.
10:39James wasn't there.
10:41So I said, listen, there was a party here last night.
10:44There was a kid that's missing.
10:46Do you mind if I come and just take a quick look?
10:47She goes, no problem.
10:48She opens the door.
10:51It's a small apartment.
10:52It's not very big.
10:53We went in.
10:55It was very clean.
10:57We didn't see anything that would have raised any flags.
11:02We didn't find Joey in there, and we exited the apartment.
11:07So I called James Rackover.
11:09He says he doesn't know Joey Caminale.
11:12He's a stranger.
11:13He came for the after party with Larry and one of Larry DeLeon and James Rackover's friends, Max Gemma, and
11:23the three girls that he had met at Gilded Lily.
11:26All he knows is Joey walked out of the building with Larry and never came back.
11:33And when we spoke to Max Gemma, he says, yes, he's at this after-hour party, but he gets tired,
11:39and he basically falls asleep on the couch.
11:42He wakes up.
11:43He doesn't see Joey.
11:45He doesn't see anybody else.
11:46He just goes home.
11:49So I decided to go back to the lobby to start looking at video surveillance from the Grant Sutton, just
11:56looking for any evidence, any clues to let us know where Joey may be.
12:03And from time to time, he would call me over and say, is that Joey?
12:08So we're watching the video.
12:10Nigos, that's Joey right there.
12:14You see the group arrive at about 4.30 in the morning and go in to the Grant Sutton and
12:21go up to the fourth floor.
12:22And then at 6.30, you see Joey Caminale, Larry DeLeon, and the three girls.
12:31And they come down the elevator.
12:33We switch the camera angle.
12:35We go to the exterior.
12:36We see them walking out, and they walk to the curb line.
12:40Perfect.
12:42If he makes a left, if he makes a right, then we'll know we have to get more video from
12:47next door, and we can start tracking him.
12:49And as we're watching the video play, we see Larry DeLeon walking back in, and Joey is with him.
12:57And I was like, wait, you told me he didn't come back.
13:04At that point, I knew there was a problem.
13:08And I said to my brother, you didn't walk out of here alive.
13:20I don't know why.
13:25Excuse me.
13:27It was just the hunch I had.
13:33Joseph was my first son, and he was always a great kid.
13:40Joey and I always got along because of our love for sports.
13:43I was a big hockey fan, and I took him to his first hockey game, and he caught the bug.
13:50And he started skating at five years old, and he started playing competitive hockey at eight.
13:57Every year we took a trip, whether it was a New York Giant football game or a Ranger game, a
14:02Yankee game.
14:04We always connected through sports.
14:07Joey loved his food, Italian food.
14:10Even after he moved out, most nights he was here for dinner.
14:14And he was a big, even though he loved his sports, he would always put on the food network to
14:19see what was good to make and what was, what I could make for him.
14:25Joey graduated Hofstra with a business degree.
14:29Fortunately for Joey and his friends, I owned a security business on Long Island.
14:35And if you talk to his friends, they'll tell you he was the HR director.
14:39He placed all of his friends in my company, knowing that they would get a start there.
14:47He used to bring a lot of girls over to see if I'd give him the thumbs up.
14:51Every one I gave the thumbs up, I was hoping he'd get married.
14:54But if Dad didn't tell him, I'm 35, is what he'd always tell me.
15:01You know, one of the qualities about Joey is when I talk to his friends, they always told me that
15:05Joey was their best friend.
15:06And I was like, well, how is it possible that one kid could have 40 best friends?
15:12You know, I think they always say, you know, you never judge a man by how much money he has.
15:22But by how many friends he has.
15:27He had a lot.
15:30He had a lot.
15:38Pat was visibly upset.
15:41So at this point, I just paused the video, and I asked his brother, Joseph, to take Pat and go
15:48back to my precinct and just wait for me there.
15:52Once the detective's suspicion level starts getting raised, that's when they call the homicide squad.
15:58Detective Castro was the assigned detective from the 17th detective squad, and I was the detective from the homicide squad
16:03that caught this case.
16:05But it's not just us.
16:07All the detectives in that squad and all the detectives in the homicide squad, they work together to investigate the
16:13case.
16:16The man calls me, and he goes, Marty, come over here.
16:20Help me with this.
16:21So I go over to the building.
16:24There's really only two options.
16:26Either Joey's still in the building, or he left the building.
16:30You need to search the building from top to bottom.
16:35I grab the building super, and I'm like, let's go to the roof.
16:38We'll start at the roof and come down.
16:40We'll go upstairs, exit the elevator.
16:45But I'm afraid of heights.
16:48I could see in the corner of my eye the 59th Street Bridge, Ed Koch Bridge, and I'm trying not
16:54to look over to realize exactly how high I am off the floor.
17:01And then once I was satisfied that Joey was not on the roof, we started doing the searches floor by
17:08floor, down 36 flights of stairs, down into the basement, into the cellar, into the courtyards.
17:16And I'm hoping to run into Joey, and be like, hey, wake up, go home.
17:21And, uh, it never happened.
17:27I go to the parking garage, and I ask the parking attendant, I go, hey, James Rackover, apartment 4C, does
17:34he park his, uh, car here?
17:36He goes, oh, yeah, he drives a big black Mercedes.
17:39I go, is that the car that's parked over there?
17:42He goes, yeah, that's the car.
17:44Looked pristine, clean, except that it was covered in dust, brown dust, maybe a little, like, dirt.
17:51I took a look around, and, uh, I noticed that there was, like, brown smudges, like, fingerprint smudges on the
17:57rear trunk lid.
17:59And I'm like, something didn't sit right with me at that point.
18:03And I said, we're securing this car until we can figure out what went on.
18:07But the parking attendant says, James Rackover, he doesn't own this car.
18:12It's owned by a gentleman who lives in apartment 32B, Jeffrey Rackover.
18:19So the name Jeffrey Rackover kind of rang a bell because he has a billboard when you come outside of
18:25the Midtown Tunnel going into Queens.
18:27He would sell jewelry to Oprah.
18:30He helped Trump get his engagement ring for Melania.
18:34So he was known to be the jeweler to the stars.
18:37I'll be honest with you.
18:39Everyone was like, oh, yeah, Jeffrey Rackover is the jeweler to the stars.
18:43I don't know who he is.
18:45Yeah, I don't buy jewelry in that, uh, income bracket.
18:48I, uh...
18:53The concierge, Edward Souza, told us James Rackover was the long-lost son of Jeffrey Rackover,
19:00who recently, over the past few years, had come back into his life.
19:06Around 2014, James started to come around the building with, uh, Jeffrey.
19:11And then he started spending more time there.
19:15After about two years, Jeffrey was looking to get James his own place.
19:20So he came down and inquired if there was any apartments available.
19:24And then he officially moved in.
19:26And then that's when we learned that he was the long-lost son.
19:31He had had a relationship with a woman in the late 80s or early 90s
19:36that had resulted in a mystery son who had mysteriously appeared at his doorstep.
19:43I found it strange.
19:45But as a concierge, we don't want to delve too much into people's personal lives.
19:50Once James moved into his own apartment in 4C, the party's ramped up considerably.
19:58We watched hours and hours of video, just hoping to see Joey appear on one of the screens.
20:05While we're still reviewing the video surveillance, the concierge, Edward Souza,
20:10taps me on the shoulder and says,
20:12that's James Rackover coming in.
20:15So I peek up, I see him.
20:18As he's walking by, he makes a statement,
20:21good luck getting the video, and keeps walking.
20:24So now I was called by surprise.
20:26I'm like, wait, what?
20:29I looked over at Detective Cash.
20:31What the fuck is that?
20:32He looks, I mean, he gives me a single look.
20:34I thought, what the fuck is that?
20:36I was so shocked, like, he was that cocky.
20:38And I was like, why is he so fucking cocky?
20:39Like, walking through there with his shoulders back, cockier than I had ever seen him.
20:44That's when the concierge says to me,
20:47you know, James had called me yesterday.
20:51The night before, James had called me and asked me about the length of time that the cameras record for.
20:58And I said, that's a strange question.
21:00You know, why would you ask that?
21:03And he told me that he had had an argument with his girlfriend
21:06and suspected her of stealing something, and he wanted to check the tapes.
21:11And I had told him that they record for 24 hours, and then we changed the tape.
21:16I think maybe James understood that after 24 hours, that that tape was, like, taped over.
21:22But we wouldn't erase them.
21:24We would just change the tape, and that would be the record for that day.
21:28So I think his assumption was that the video for the past 24 hours had disappeared,
21:34when, in fact, we had access to that video.
21:37So that just was throwing off alarms.
21:43So my phone rang in with Detective Castro, and he said, look, I need you to bring me some of
21:50Joey's clothes.
21:52We're going to get some dogs to see if we can pick up Joey's scent to see where he may
21:56have gone.
21:58I went to Joey's place.
21:59I grabbed a towel and some of his other clothes.
22:03And I remember, I held out a sliver of hope.
22:08Maybe.
22:09It's not what I think it is.
22:15I was requested to search inside of a garage area of the grandson.
22:19I put the collar on my dog, and I'm like, you want to work?
22:21He looked at me, and his ears went up.
22:23I deployed him.
22:26So the dog took himself to the back, and all of a sudden he started working.
22:29Like, I know my dog, when he works, like, his tail just keeps going.
22:33And then all of a sudden I see his tail going faster and faster and faster.
22:36So me, he's on odor.
22:40He went to the four-door black Mercedes Benz.
22:43He threw his nose right into the trunk area, and he went, like, he barked.
22:48Like, real, like, you know, like, it came out.
22:52He's telling me that he has an odor of some sort of human decomposition, blood,
22:58anything that indicated human decomposition.
23:02But you'll have to get a search warrant to go into that vehicle
23:05and check out to see if there actually is evidence or a body inside that trunk.
23:13After the garage, the detectives asked me,
23:16could we do the apartments to see if he indicates I don't have an apartment?
23:18I grabbed the dog.
23:20We went up to the fourth floor.
23:21I gave him the word search.
23:24He went to the left, down the hallway.
23:27And then the dog indicated he scratched really hard on the door jamb.
23:31We'll see.
23:33And then James opens the door, James Rakhover.
23:37He's like, fuck you, you scumbags, you cops.
23:40You come in and you need a warrant.
23:42You fuck you, fuck you.
23:45And to me, I'm like, this guy, you jerk off.
23:49Once I learned that the dog had given an active alert,
23:51I knew that he was given an active alert on blood.
23:55And something had occurred in there.
24:00Meanwhile, other members of the 17th Precinct Detective Squad from my office
24:04began sifting through the garbage from every apartment.
24:09So we put the dog on the bags so that we can identify bags that he gives an alert
24:15and we'll search those first.
24:21And the dog hits upon a bag that had not been opened yet.
24:24Inside the bag is like a comforter cover.
24:27And it also has the name James Rakhover on it.
24:33Crime scene starts finding, like, paper towels and towels that appear to be soaked in blood.
24:40They open up a second bag.
24:42Then we find, covered in blood, articles of clothing that belong to Joey
24:46that match the video surveillance.
24:49His gold chain is in there.
24:51His bank card.
24:52And they found Joey's ID in that bag as well.
24:58Once you find all of those things,
25:00you need to get that search warrant
25:02and you need to go back with the crime scene unit
25:04and you need to go into that apartment.
25:10While Yeoman goes down to get a search warrant,
25:12I'm back at the office doing computer checks
25:15on James Rakhover, Lawrence DeLeon, and Max Gemma.
25:20What we learned about Max Gemma is he comes from basically privilege.
25:24You know, his father was the mayor of Oceanport, New Jersey at one point.
25:29He lives in an apartment with Larry DeLeon.
25:34Larry DeLeon, he basically is very much like Max Gemma.
25:38He comes from a good family in New Jersey.
25:41They had owned thoroughbred horses.
25:44There were some stories that he had gotten in some fights at certain times,
25:48but other than that,
25:49he didn't have what you would consider
25:51any kind of substantial criminal background.
25:56When we looked into James Rakhover,
25:58it turns out he's not James Rakhover.
26:01His name is James Bodine,
26:03and he doesn't come from New York.
26:06He comes from Florida,
26:07where he had numerous arrests
26:09and had done time about a year and a half in jail
26:11for burglary down in Florida.
26:14We found that he was given bail,
26:18left Florida,
26:19and ended up in New York.
26:22After digging a little bit more
26:23into James Rakhover's background
26:25and his name change,
26:28we were able to learn that
26:30Jeffrey Rakhover is not the biological father
26:32of James Rakhover.
26:35And Jeffrey Rakhover had petitioned
26:38to have James Rakhover take his name.
26:46I believe Jeffrey met James
26:47at the neighborhood gym
26:48close to our building.
26:54They became friends
26:55and was introduced over the weeks
26:58as first my friend
27:02and then my nephew
27:03and then my son.
27:07We didn't know what to make
27:09of the relationship
27:09between Jeffrey and James,
27:11quite frankly.
27:12The story that James
27:15is the long-lost son of Jeffrey
27:17and somehow they found each other
27:19after all those years
27:20and it's not the truth.
27:23And you start to look at it
27:25and you're like,
27:25well, what is the truth
27:27about this relationship that they have?
27:31They did not in any way
27:33resemble father and son.
27:36The way they would act
27:37with each other,
27:38you know, I love my father,
27:40but there were ways
27:42that they were affectionate
27:42with each other
27:43that I wouldn't be with my father.
27:48When you look at everything
27:50involved with James,
27:51it definitely raises the level
27:53of red flags.
27:57James comes from almost nothing,
27:59is working a menial job in Florida
28:02and in a relatively short time
28:05is transformed into James Rackover.
28:09and he's living in this building
28:11and he's driving this car
28:12and he's at these clubs
28:13and there's restaurants
28:14and, you know,
28:15you don't want to lose that
28:17if you're James.
28:21Everyone else is still
28:22going to have their family,
28:23they're still going to have
28:24the money that their family's in,
28:25but James could lose everything.
28:27He's, I think,
28:29willing to do anything
28:29to maintain his life
28:32and the style he has going on.
28:40While we're waiting
28:40for the search warrants,
28:41we looked at video
28:42from the garage
28:43and we know that James leaves
28:45at about 9.45 on Sunday night,
28:47the night after the party,
28:49and takes Jeffrey Rackover's car.
28:55When we did the background check
28:56on James,
28:58we were able to determine
29:01that he had a suspended license.
29:03So that gave us an avenue
29:04to be able to place him under arrest
29:07for driving without a license.
29:11James, why did you kill him?
29:13What happened in there, James?
29:15But unfortunately,
29:16once we placed him under arrest,
29:17he immediately invoked
29:18his right to counsel,
29:19so we weren't allowed
29:20to speak with him.
29:21That little glimmer of hope
29:23that we had
29:24that he might tell us
29:25where Joey is,
29:26we weren't getting it.
29:37So on Tuesday the 15th,
29:39we had the search warrants
29:40for apartment 4C.
29:43Crime scene comes in.
29:45As they start conducting
29:46their search,
29:47they're processing the scene
29:49with luminol.
29:50So under certain light,
29:52you can see blood.
29:55When a crime scene unit
29:56processes the bathroom,
29:57the entire bathroom lights up
30:01all over on the walls,
30:02in the bathtub,
30:03and on the floor.
30:05Indications that there's been
30:07a lot of blood cleaned up.
30:10The same thing
30:11in the living room.
30:11They spray luminol
30:13by the sofa,
30:14by the floor,
30:15and they find drops of blood.
30:18They test it so they see
30:20if they can determine
30:21who that blood belongs to.
30:23So the crime scene team
30:25had collected steak knives
30:27that were inside the dishwasher
30:29that had been run and cleaned.
30:31Those kitchen knives
30:32were then taken to the lab
30:35to see if there was any blood
30:36that would have seeped in
30:38to the handle itself.
30:42When you have
30:43what you found
30:44in the garbage
30:46and then what you have
30:47at the scene,
30:48you know
30:50something bad
30:51has happened to Joey
30:52and we know
30:53that he's probably dead.
30:56You can't be alive
30:57at that point.
30:59With all of the things
31:00that we've found so far,
31:02James not telling us anything,
31:04and Max Jim has
31:05no information
31:06to give us
31:07about where Joey may be
31:08because he's claiming
31:09he was asleep on the couch.
31:10We focus our attention
31:12on Larry DeLeon.
31:14Being that we already
31:15have James in custody,
31:17maybe Larry now
31:18wants to get his opportunity
31:20to maybe speak first
31:22and tell us what happened,
31:23not knowing
31:24what James may be saying.
31:27And he came in.
31:32So once Larry came in,
31:34we asked him
31:35if he could shed some light
31:36onto why we found
31:38so much blood.
31:40You know,
31:40he's keeping the same story
31:42that he had said earlier,
31:43not knowing where Joey is.
31:47You can accuse someone
31:49all you want
31:49or, you know,
31:50you might be guilty of this,
31:52but he's more guilty
31:53and try and get
31:54a statement out of him
31:56that way,
31:56but Larry didn't want
31:59to answer
31:59those kinds of questions.
32:00So we tried to appeal
32:02more to his human side
32:03saying Joey Cominale's family
32:05is concerned about him
32:07and they want
32:07to bring him home
32:08and how would you feel
32:09if this was somebody
32:10in your family?
32:13Once Larry heard that,
32:15he decided to tell us
32:17that he could lead us
32:18to where Joey is.
32:22Well, he wouldn't tell us
32:24how the incident occurred.
32:27He gave us an address
32:29behind the florist shop
32:30in the town
32:31where he used to live
32:32in Oceanport, New Jersey
32:33and that's where
32:34we used to look.
32:36We caravanned
32:38with lights and sirens
32:39and we're doing
32:4080, 90 miles an hour
32:42out to this location.
32:47We arrived
32:48at this florist shop
32:51and we headed
32:52to the open area
32:54at the back
32:55where Larry had given
32:57a description
32:57of where we would be able
32:58to locate Joey.
33:00We approach over
33:02and the crime scene detectives
33:05begin to move dirt slowly.
33:13and the first thing
33:14that I see
33:14is a hand
33:18kind of like
33:19a half fist
33:21the way you kind of see
33:22in the movies
33:23where it's coming
33:23out of the ground.
33:27And as they continue
33:28to move dirt
33:29you start to see
33:31Joey's face,
33:33you start to see
33:33his chest
33:34and you can tell
33:36that he was charred
33:38so
33:39he was lit on fire.
33:43At this point
33:44we haven't really slept
33:46in days.
33:48You know,
33:49we were exhausted.
33:50We were exhausted
33:50but this is something
33:51that we needed to do.
33:53We needed to tell the parents
33:55before anyone else did.
33:59Myself
33:59and Detective Chen
34:00get in the car
34:02to go from
34:03Oceanport, New Jersey
34:04to Stanford, Connecticut
34:06to go and speak
34:07to Pat Cominale
34:08and let him know
34:11that we located
34:13Joey.
34:17No one said a word
34:19on that car ride.
34:24You feel the emotion
34:25but you have a job to do.
34:27So you just push it aside
34:31and you keep going.
34:37We were sitting right here
34:38I heard the car doors
34:48I heard the car doors
34:51and I knew why
34:52they were coming.
34:58We walk into the house
34:59and Lisa comes down.
35:01They're hanging on
35:01to every word.
35:02They're just looking at you.
35:06The two detectives
35:08told us they
35:11found him.
35:17And it's our worst nightmare.
35:22I've never seen so much hurt
35:23in someone's eyes
35:25mother and father.
35:31That type of pain
35:32you never want to wish
35:32upon anybody.
35:34Joe!
35:36Joe!
35:37Joe!
35:38Joe!
35:38Did you have fun?
35:39All right!
35:43It was, uh...
35:45I already knew
35:47but this was the start
35:48of the next chapter
35:52which was
35:53getting justice for Joey.
36:02And that's all I could
36:03think about now
36:03was
36:04making sure
36:05these three sons of bitches
36:06get everything
36:07that's coming to them.
36:14The medical examiner
36:15in New Jersey
36:16conducted the autopsy
36:17and what he found
36:19was that
36:19Joey Cominale
36:21had 14 stab wounds
36:22some of them
36:23post-mortem.
36:23He had broken bones
36:25he had bruising
36:27on his hands
36:28a large cut
36:29on his shoulder
36:30which we believe
36:32they might have been
36:33trying to
36:33dismember him
36:36and
36:37his body
36:38had been burned.
36:40I can't make
36:41rhyme or reason
36:41why this would have
36:42happened.
36:43It was inhumane
36:45it was vile
36:46it's disgusting
36:48to think that
36:49they
36:50would treat
36:52another human being
36:53like garbage
36:59after testing
37:00those kitchen knives
37:02that were found
37:02in the dishwasher
37:03they were determined
37:05to have
37:06Joey's blood
37:07inside of the handles.
37:11Also
37:12it was determined
37:13that the blood
37:14in the apartment
37:15was Joey's blood.
37:17Fighting the murder weapon
37:18coupled with the autopsy report
37:20matching to the evidence
37:22in the apartment
37:23gave us answers
37:24to how
37:26he would have been
37:27murdered
37:28but now
37:29the key question was
37:31how did they get him
37:32out of the building?
37:36We pulled so much video
37:38that we had to
37:38sift through
37:39and we still couldn't see it.
37:44the one video
37:45that we couldn't get
37:46was a video camera
37:48that belonged
37:49to the building
37:50next door
37:50that coincidentally
37:52was corrupted.
37:55Finally this video
37:56gets recovered
37:58and it answered
38:00a huge part
38:01of our question.
38:05As we begin to review
38:07that video surveillance
38:08you can see
38:09James Rackover
38:10park
38:11the black Mercedes
38:12in front
38:13of the Grand Scyon.
38:21Rackover
38:22takes the luggage cart
38:23then he leaves
38:25the camera frame
38:28and when he reappears
38:30there's a large
38:30buffle bag
38:31on the luggage cart
38:33which then he places
38:34inside
38:35of the trunk
38:36of the black Mercedes.
38:37And if you look
38:39out the window
38:40of apartment 4C
38:41you look towards
38:4259th Street
38:43and the front
38:45of the Grand Scyon.
38:47When I saw that
38:48and I spoke
38:50with Yeoman
38:50I went
38:51holy fuck
38:54these guys
38:57pushed him
38:58out of the window
38:59so it wouldn't
39:00be suspicious
39:02coming out
39:03of the front lobby
39:03which was the only
39:04exit out of the building.
39:06When you see
39:07the video
39:08they're in it together
39:09they're both
39:10acting together
39:12to take that body
39:13and to hide it.
39:24Did you do it?
39:27What happened
39:28in the apartment?
39:29What happened
39:30that night?
39:31Did you do it?
39:33Did you stab him?
39:34On May 10th
39:36both Larry
39:36and James
39:38were arrested
39:38for murder
39:39in the second degree
39:40hindering prosecution
39:41and concealment
39:42on the corpse.
39:43James was already
39:44in custody
39:45before driving
39:45on a suspended license
39:46and Jeffrey
39:47didn't put any money
39:48up for him
39:49to get out.
39:50I do think
39:51that at some point
39:52he realized
39:52he'd made a mistake
39:53having this son
39:55that was
39:56a murderer.
39:59We didn't have
40:00any cause
40:01to believe
40:01at that time
40:02that Max Jemma
40:02had anything
40:03to do with the homicide.
40:04We actually
40:05had statements
40:06from Larry
40:07saying that Max
40:09had nothing
40:09to do with it.
40:10He was arrested
40:11for hindering
40:13prosecution.
40:16Ultimately
40:16it was clear
40:18to us
40:18that he'd been
40:19involved
40:19nearly trying
40:20to obstruct
40:21essentially
40:21the ability
40:22for the police
40:23to get evidence
40:25but I don't think
40:26that the senior lawyers
40:28or myself
40:29were convinced
40:29that we could prove
40:30Max beyond a reasonable
40:32doubt
40:32was involved
40:32in the homicide.
40:34Once the murder
40:35charges came
40:36it became
40:37a finger pointing
40:38he did it
40:39he did it
40:39he did it
40:40back and forth
40:40at each other.
40:43We still have to
40:44try and determine
40:45who did the stabbing
40:47and we don't know
40:49what the role
40:49of James was
40:50or what the role
40:51of Larry was.
40:53You just need
40:53the doubt
40:54of one person
40:54on a jury
40:56to not have
40:57the conviction.
41:01So while James
41:02is waiting
41:02for the trial
41:03we got
41:04jail calls
41:05from James
41:06speaking to
41:07a friend of his
41:08and in these calls
41:09he's very confident
41:12he's getting off.
41:13I start trial
41:14in September
41:14so I'm looking
41:15at being home
41:15around October-ish.
41:17My breath's
41:17going to be up there
41:18bro.
41:19Like my weight's
41:19going to hit the street
41:20they're going to be like
41:21yo this kid just
41:22beat this
41:23rocky and he's home
41:24oh my god.
41:25Yeah it's me.
41:26He seems fine
41:28but yeah
41:28I'm going to get off
41:29I'm going to be out soon
41:30and you know
41:32everything's going to be great.
41:35Towards the end
41:36of the investigation
41:38and getting ready
41:39for trial
41:41we were able
41:42to locate
41:43a witness
41:44and his name
41:45was Louis Ruggiero.
41:47He was a friend
41:48of James Rackover.
41:52Louis Ruggiero
41:53states that
41:54on the day
41:54that we're searching
41:55the building
41:56he was at the gym
41:57and that James Rackover
41:59came up to him
42:00and told him
42:00that he really needs
42:01to speak to him
42:02he's got to tell him
42:02something to happen.
42:04Louis tells us
42:05the story that James
42:06had told him
42:07which was that
42:08on the day
42:09of the murder
42:10while they're sitting there
42:11in the apartment
42:12and Larry
42:14has a dispute
42:15with this guy
42:17turns out to be Joey
42:18and Larry gets so upset
42:20he punches Joey
42:22and knocks him
42:23to the ground
42:24knocks him out.
42:26James then says
42:27I'm not going back
42:28to jail
42:30and gets a knife
42:31from the kitchen
42:32and stabs Joey to death.
42:36So in this statement
42:38that he tells Louis
42:39he's admitting
42:40he's the one
42:41that actually kills him.
42:44And another amazing statement
42:46that he makes
42:46is Joey's still
42:47in the apartment
42:48and after that
42:49he ordered pancakes
42:50and ate them
42:51without any problems
42:52and then they took
42:53the body down
42:53to New Jersey
42:54and they dumped it.
42:56The evidence showed
42:57that their actions
42:58were intentional.
43:00That attack resulted
43:01in Joey's death
43:02even if they played
43:03different roles.
43:04Two people can be
43:05responsible for the death
43:07of one person
43:08and ultimately
43:10James went to trial
43:10first.
43:23The trial for James
43:25Rack overstarted
43:26in Manhattan courts.
43:29Pat was there
43:30every day
43:30and he would fill
43:32the whole courtroom
43:34with family
43:35and friends.
43:37It was all of us
43:38you know
43:38all the fraternity brothers
43:40as friends from home
43:41colleagues, work
43:42people would come
43:43and support Joey.
43:46The support
43:47we got from
43:49a lot of individuals
43:49was just incredible.
43:52Nobody
43:52on Shame Track oversight
43:55which
43:56spoke volumes.
44:01ultimately
44:02after a lengthy
44:03trial
44:04involving James
44:05the jury
44:05found him guilty
44:06of second degree murder
44:07or intentional murder.
44:09I remember
44:10to this day
44:11Pat
44:12I had to hold him down
44:13me and my lieutenant
44:13are holding each arm
44:15because he sprung up
44:18with like this
44:21joy
44:22that it's finally over
44:24and they're gonna pay
44:25for what they did
44:27to his son.
44:29And I was
44:30very very happy
44:31for them.
44:32Very happy for them.
44:34When I saw James
44:35all I could think
44:36about was
44:38I hope your nightmare
44:39is just starting
44:41because I gotta
44:42take mine
44:44for a lot longer
44:45than him.
44:50James Rack over
44:51was sentenced
44:52to 28 years
44:54which he's still
44:55serving.
44:59We were glad
45:00with the outcome
45:01and we just
45:02wanted it
45:03you know
45:03to be over.
45:05I want to thank
45:06the Manhattan
45:06DA's office
45:07for doing
45:08an incredible job
45:08of the NYPD
45:11who worked
45:13around the clock
45:13and I appreciate
45:15everybody's support
45:16my family
45:17Fred
45:18all right.
45:23I think Larry
45:24could see
45:25that his odds
45:26of conviction
45:28were gonna be
45:28very very high.
45:30Larry chose
45:31to plead guilty
45:32as opposed
45:33to going
45:33to trial.
45:35He ended up
45:36taking a plea deal
45:37to murder two
45:38for 23 years.
45:41February
45:41of 2019
45:42Max Gemma
45:43pleads guilty
45:44to hindering
45:46prosecution
45:47and he receives
45:48a sentence
45:48of six months
45:49in jail.
45:50I think all
45:51the papers
45:52all said
45:53he got a
45:53sweetheart deal
45:56and I actually
45:57agree with him.
45:58I don't know
45:58why.
46:00I don't know
46:01why but
46:03he's gotta live
46:04with himself.
46:06I think Max
46:07Gemma
46:08definitely
46:08has more information
46:10about what happened
46:11in that apartment.
46:22Every detective
46:23has a case
46:24in a lifetime.
46:27In the 19 years
46:28that I've been
46:29in the police
46:29department
46:30this case
46:31has been
46:32the case
46:32for me.
46:34just learning
46:35about Joey
46:36and how much
46:37he was loved
46:38by all his
46:38friends and
46:39family.
46:40Pat misses
46:41Joey every
46:42single day
46:42like if it
46:43was the first
46:44day that it
46:44happened.
46:46And he
46:47has this
46:49love for
46:50Joey that
46:52I can relate
46:53to because
46:54when he speaks
46:55about Joey
46:56and his
46:57daughter
46:59and it's
47:00like they're
47:00his world
47:01and that's
47:03who my kids
47:03are to me.
47:05we think
47:06about him
47:07every day
47:08and
47:10we just
47:11try to
47:11you know
47:12keep his
47:13memory alive
47:15and
47:16tell my
47:17grandson all
47:18the time
47:19this is
47:19Uncle Joey.
47:22His friend
47:23started getting
47:23a tattoo
47:25with
47:26number nine
47:29and that
47:29was his
47:30number.
47:31And the
47:32irony is
47:33I always
47:34said to
47:34him I'll
47:35pay for
47:35your college
47:37under two
47:38conditions.
47:38You graduate
47:39number one
47:39in four years
47:40and you never
47:41get any
47:42ink.
47:43And he
47:44didn't get
47:44his tattoo
47:45but I got
47:45his tattoo.
47:47I thought
47:48it would be
47:48a great
47:49way
47:50to just
47:50be with
47:51him
47:51every day.
47:54Which I
47:54have.
48:07The phone
48:08rang.
48:09Jeff says
48:09is Irene
48:10with you?
48:11He said
48:11she has been
48:12missing since
48:1312 o'clock.
48:14Suddenly
48:14everybody was
48:15at a loss
48:16that the
48:18lady of the
48:19home is
48:19gone.
48:20Irene
48:21Silverman was
48:22an 82-year-old
48:23woman that
48:23was a
48:23sharpest
48:24attack.
48:24She was a
48:25socialite and
48:26if she liked
48:27you you were
48:27part of her
48:28family.
48:29We had
48:30information that
48:31our mother and
48:32son had Irene
48:33Silverman's
48:34identification.
48:35So we do a
48:35background check.
48:36You couldn't
48:37believe the
48:37horrific things
48:38that they did.
48:39We don't know
48:40where she is.
48:41We're innocent
48:41and if just
48:42given our
48:43rights we
48:43will prove it.
48:44It certainly
48:45didn't appear to
48:45be a mother-son
48:46relationship.
48:47They're holding
48:48hands.
48:49Staring into
48:49each other's
48:50eyes.
48:51Are you
48:51fucking
48:52kidding me?
48:53I interviewed
48:54the son and
48:56before I know
48:56it he's across
48:57my neck.
48:59I could feel
49:00his heart
49:00pounding.
49:01He said to
49:02me this is a
49:03hostage situation.
49:05You may think
49:06you know me but
49:07you do not.
49:07he has to
49:37if I
50:06Transcription by CastingWords
50:36Transcription by CastingWords
50:53Transcription by CastingWords
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