The 48 Hours episode “What Happened in Apartment 4C?” investigates the 2016 murder of Joseph “Joey” Comunale of Stamford, Connecticut. On November 12, 2016, the 26-year-old Hofstra grad spent the night partying (alcohol and cocaine) in Manhattan. He and a group of other people ended up at the Sutton Place apartment of James Rackover, an ex-con from Florida (burglary and drug charges). According to witnesses, Comunale and Lawrence Dilione got into a physical altercation over cigarettes. Prosecutors claim Dilione knocked Comunale unconscious, and then he and Rackover allegedly beat, stabbed, and tried to dismember Comunale before burying his body in a shallow grave in Oceanport, New Jersey. Rackover’s attorney claims Dilione did the killing. However, earlier this month a jury found Rackover guilty on all four charges including murder and concealment of a human corpse. Dillione will be tried in early 2019. Note: A third man, Max Gemma of Oceanport, NJ, is charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence in connection with Comunale’s murder.
At Rackover’s murder trial, NYPD Detective Yeoman Castro, who led the missing persons investigation before Comunale’s body was found, testified. In court, Castro said that while he was reviewing surveillance footage at the front desk of the building where Comunale was last seen, Rackover walked over to him, laughed and said, ‘Good luck getting that video’, before entering the elevator. Later that day, Castro said Rackover returned to the lobby a number of times, heckled him, and began making “bizarre jeers” in the lobby. Hours later, the NYPD’s K-9 unit found a bloody sweatshirt, bloody paper towels and Comunale’s driver’s license and credit cards in the building’s trash next to a plastic container with Rackover’s name and address on it. 48 Hours airs Saturdays at 9 pm and 10 pm on CBS.
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