Queens Man Sentenced For Charges Stemming From Teaneck Killings

A Queens nightclub owner was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for a drug conspiracy that left two men shot to death on a street in Teaneck three years ago, NorthJersey.com reported. 

Nicholas Kiriakakis, 29, must serve 6 1/2 years of the sentence before being eligible for parole. Superior Court Judge Liliana De-Avila Silebi sentenced Kiriakakis to eight years for a conspiracy charge and another five years on a hindering apprehension charge. 

Prosecutors had charged with Kiriakakis with the February 2010 murder of Michael Mirasola, 27 and Jonathan Beneduce, 28, both of Queens. The men were found fatally shot in an SUV parked on Oakdene Avenue. A Bergen County jury acquitted Kiriakakis on the murder charges, but convicted him on the lesser offenses. 

Kiriakakis went into debt after opening his club and scammed Beneduce and Mirasola out of thousands of dollars, prosecutors argued at trial. According to prosecutors, Kiriakakis tricked his associates into meeting in Teaneck for a drug deal before they were shot, the report said. 

Marc Agnifilo, Kiriakakis' defense attorney, argued the trio was involved in a criminal transaction, but described them as "small timers" who got caught up with serious criminals possibly involved with counterfeit money and drugs, the report said. 

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