A Philadelphia motorcycle gangster has been found guilty of fatally shooting a prospective member of the Warlocks biker gang in a cemetery and leaving his body in a crypt in 2017.
Michael DiMauro, 51, who represented himself at trial, was convicted by a jury on a litany of charges, including first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, connected to David Rossillo Jr.'s death, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
The two men met at Mount Moriah Cemetery in southwest Philadelphia, where DiMauro shot the 33-year-old man, tied a rope around his neck and dragged his body to a crypt that was pried open by a car and dumped his body, prosecutors said.
Two cooperating witnesses implicated DiMauro, according to a press release by District Attorney Larry Krasner, and the jury returned the verdict "after only several hours of deliberation."
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What sparked the deadly confrontation is still unknown, Krasner said.
DiMauro is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by Judge Charles Ehrlich this month, the DA said in the press release.
Rossillo Jr. was missing for almost three years before investigators found him and another victim in the same crypt in April 2020.
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"Then the crypt was opened, that's when I got a phone call," Krasner said during a press conference after Tuesday's guilty verdict. "They had not only found the body of the murder victim they were seeking, but they had found a second murder victim."
The other victim was later identified as 36-year-old Keith Palumbo, a musician from Delaware County, Pennsylvania; another Warlocks gang member, Michael DeLuca, pleaded guilty in January to Palumbo's murder.
The motives for both murders remain unknown, according to Krasner, who used the cases to show his "commitment to bringing justice" in cold cases.
"I believe that these convictions should send a message to any persons who think they can murder others and hide the evidence of their heinous crimes: We will solve these cases, and we will bring you to justice," Krasner said in the statement.
DiMauro and DeLuca were both arrested in September 2020.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Wainwright mentioned now-retired Philadelphia Police Detective Joe Bamberski for his "diligent and tireless" work on this case.
"I’m very pleased that we are able to bring some measure of justice and peace to the loved ones of these two victims," he said.
