ON THE LOOSE

Notorious New York Hitman Escapes Custody in Florida

Dominic Taddeo, who killed three people and tried to whack a mob boss twice, was a year away from release.

A hitman who killed three people in upstate New York and tried twice to kill a mob boss has escaped federal custody in north central Florida. Dominic Taddeo, 64, had gone out for a pre-approved medical appointment while staying at a halfway house in Coleman, Florida, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. However, he never returned. Taddeo was transferred to the facility in February, two years after he asked for—and was denied—a compassionate release and a year before he was scheduled to be released. Taddeo pleaded guilty in 1992 to RICO charges and was sentenced to 54 years in prison after he fatally shot three men between 1982 and 1983 in Rochester, New York, and tried twice to kill mob boss Thomas Marotta.