[imagesource: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle via, USA Today Network]

New York mobster, Dominic Taddeo only had to wait a few more months to be released from prison after spending most of his young life behind bars.

In February, he was transferred to a halfway house from a medium-security prison in Florida and was supposed to be released in February of next year.

But I guess he just couldn’t wait that extra bit of time, bolting on March 28 during an “authorised appointment”. This forced the authorities to place him on escape status.

A dangerous man and a threat to society, Taddeo was convicted for fatally shooting three people and attempting to kill two others.

His crimes were enough for a federal judge to deny an early ‘compassionate’ release in 2020 (Taddeo was apparently concerned about COVID-19) citing the runaway hitman’s past crimes. These include convictions for assault, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and, fittingly, “possession of machine guns”.

Fitting in that he was also taken away due to a “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation conspiracy arising from his employment and association with Rochester’s La Cosa Nostra organised crime family,” reported CNN:

Taddeo pleaded guilty in January 1992 to the shooting deaths of three people in 1982 and 1983, and also for twice attempting to fatally shoot a mob leader and plotting to kill another mob figure, according to the Democrat and Chronicle archives.

Taddeo admitted in court that a crime organization known as “La Cosa Nostra” that existed in Rochester had paid him to kill certain people, according to news reports. La Cosa Nostra — or the Mafia — has been operating in New York since roughly the 1920s, according to the FBI.

Taddeo’s life of crime began when he was only 16 and now he is a mildly unhealthy 64-year-old – overweight with bad blood pressure, according to court documents:

Image: Bureau of Prisons

Certainly a far cry from that “smirking, cigarette-smoking character” that we see in the photos of his young self (the image right up top).

He was initially sentenced to 30 years in prison for drug conspiracy, bail jumping, and illegal weapons possession, and then a further 24 years was added to his sentence for other serious crimes.

Jerry Capeci, who writes a weekly mafia column at GanglandNews, is flabbergasted by Taddeo’s choice, per The New York Times:

“It’s the dumbest thing he could have done: He was already out of prison,” Mr. Capeci said, referencing Mr. Taddeo living at the halfway house.

“Either there’s something wrong upstairs, or something bad happened to him.” Escape from a halfway house can result in substantial additional prison time or fines.

Although, Taddeo has made a run for it in the past.

He had disappeared while out on bail in 1987 and was found two years later after a national manhunt.

Alongside being described as “one of the most vicious hitmen of the Rochester family,” there are also some people who reckon Taddeo will prove rather difficult to find.

[sources:cnn&nytimes]