Newsday by Carl Macgowan - January 7, 2011
The father of Christopher Giresi said Friday he is "disgusted" that Joseph Grucci, a member of the famous fireworks family, apparently will not serve jail time for shooting Giresi's son - Grucci's own grandson. Dominick Giresi said Grucci, 70, should spend four or five months in jail for the Dec. 30 shooting that wounded Christopher Giresi, 20, in his arm and torso. He is recovering at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue. Grucci is expected to be sentenced to probation after pleading guilty on Wednesday to second-degree assault for the shooting that occurred during an altercation outside hisBellport home. Grucci said he acted in self-defense, and prosecutors said the grandson did not want his grandfather to go to jail. The shooting left a half-dozen shotgun pellets scattered in his son's body, said Dominick Giresi, 43, of Shirley. "He was almost murdered. Another two inches over, it could have severed his spine," Giresi said. "I'm really disgusted. . . . What does this say to people in SuffolkCounty? You can shoot a loved one and get away with it?" Grucci could not be reached for comment. His attorney, William Keahon ofHauppauge, said Dominick Giresi did not raise his son, who spent the past decade living with Grucci and his wife. "How dare he speak out at this time when he took no part at all in the raising of this boy," Keahon said. "The man should be ashamed of himself." Dominick Giresi said he never married Christopher's mother, Christine Grucci, Joseph Grucci's daughter. Christopher was born after the couple broke up and lived mostly with his mother and grandparents, Dominick Giresi said. He said he had gone to court when Christopher was young to get custody, but that the Grucci family was granted custody. Christine Grucci could not be reached for comment. In a statement, District Attorney Thomas Spota said Joseph Grucci was "a remorseful grandfather who must live every day with the knowledge of what he did to his grandson." "Any objective observer understands that further incarceration of this 70-year-old defendant is unwarranted," Spota said. Dominick Giresi said he visits his son daily at the hospital. He said he plans to attend Grucci's March 15 sentencing but does not know whether he will speak in court. He acknowledged that his son did not want Grucci prosecuted and jailed. "Emotionally, he's torn," Dominick Giresi said. "He doesn't even fully understand what happened yet." carl.macgowan@newsday.com
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Grucci kin admits shooting grandson in NY dispute
The Associated Press - January 5, 2011
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — A member of "America's first family of fireworks" has admitted he shot and wounded his grandson during a dispute at their Long Island home. Joseph Grucci pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree assault in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead. He admitted shooting his 20-year-old grandson during an argument last month over noise at their Bellport home. The grandson, who is recovering at a hospital, has reportedly told prosecutors he doesn't want his grandfather jailed. A judge said Grucci may receive probation when he is sentenced March 15. The 70-year-old is a cousin of Felix Grucci Jr., a former congressman and executive at Fireworks By Grucci. Joseph Grucci has no role in the company, which is famous worldwide for its pyrotechnics displays.
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3 comments:
Let me get this straight. A man admits to shooting someone and the Long Island District Attorney says he shouldn't do ANY jail time!?!?!?!?! ( I didn't hear the word accident...)
Granpa Grucci should thank his shinning white stars that there's no black or latino blood is his body. If there was even one drop of non-whte blood, his un-white ass would be sitting in the can awaiting a nice jail sentence.
Who is this prosecutor Thomas Spota? Is his family originally from Alabama?
This story is very alarming.
Has anyone contacted the FBI civil rights division on this?
ALLOW ME TO EXPAND ON THE ABOVE. News reports stated that the grandfather shot his grandson, not once, but twice, the 2nd time he shot him in the back when the grandson was fleeing from the grandfather.
DA Spota made it very clear that the grandson made his intentions known that he didn't want to prosecute his grandfather. The kid's father queried: How could he do that when he was going in and out of consciousness, and under medication.
Information that I have received is that the victim of this shooting is a very bad and troubled young man. He is known to be violent on other occasion. There is no disputing that the grandson was capable of reacting violently to his grandfather.
BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, there is no legal justification for a person to shoot another person in the back while they are fleeing.
Even a police officer with much broader powers to commit deadly physical force would be hard pressed to justify shooting an unarmed man in the back.
IMHO, this is nothing more than a very arrogant District Attorney giving a bitch slap to former Governor Paterson by commuting the sentence of John White, the black man that shot a young white man for coming to his home after threatening White'son with serious bodily harm.
If Mr.Grucci really made that statement that if his grandson was black or Latino and he would have been prosecuted is just another example of the arrogance of the some of the People in suffolk county and the district attorney.
He should have pled insanity.
There is just NO way that a district attorney could resolve such an issue in so short a period of time given the facts related.
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