UES Party Murder Accomplice Sentenced To 23 Years, DA Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A man involved in a 2016 murder that occurred after a night of partying on the Upper East Side is facing decades in state prison, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced Wednesday.

Lawrence Dilione, 30, was sentenced to 23 years in prison Wednesday, prosecutors said. Dilione pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in January after initially being charged with second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse and hindering prosecutors in relation to the death of Connecticut resident Joey Comunale.

"This is another major step forward on the road toward justice for Joey Comunale. I thank our prosecutors for ensuring not only that this defendant will serve significant prison time for his role in this unconscionable crime, but also for sparing the Comunale family the agony of reliving their son’s death in yet another murder trial," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., said in a statement.

James Rackover — an 27-year-old ex-con who became a surrogate son to a jeweler who counted the Trumps and Oprah among his clients — was sentenced to 28-years-to-life after being convicted on murder charges.

During the investigation into Comunale's death, Dilione told investigators that he and Rackover brought the man's body to Oceanport, New Jersey to bury it in a makeshift grave, prosecutors said.

Dilione met Comunale while out partying the night of Nov. 12, 2016 and brought him and three other women to a 4 a.m. party at Rackover's condo in the glitzy Grand Sutton tower — located on located on East 59th Street near First Avenue, prosecutors said.

Comunale's body was dug up from a shallow grave in a remote, wooded area of Oceanport, New Jersey, on November 16, 2016. The Stamford native, reported missing days before he was found, suffered at least 15 stab wounds, a broken pelvis and evidence indicated that Rackover attempted to burn his body, according to police and the DA's office. A large duffel bag was discovered near the burial site, prosecutors said.

Photo by AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews