Thomas Trantino (born February 11, 1938) is an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to life in prison for the execution style shooting deaths in 1963 of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey.
He was expelled from school for truancy, became a drug addict in his early teens and served the remainder of his teenage years in jail for robbery.
Voto entered the bar — leaving behind Tedesco, a probationary officer who could not carry a weapon — and was immediately ambushed by Frank Falco and Thomas Trantino, who were there to celebrate a successful robbery.
[2] On August 29, a funeral for the 21-year-old Tedesco was held at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Roman Catholic Church in Garfield, New Jersey and a separate service for 40-year-old Sgt.
Voto was held at St. Joseph's Church in Lodi, with more than 1,000 officers representing 40 different departments in attendance, a memorial described as the largest such funeral in New Jersey police history.
[3] Trantino was transferred from New York on September 26, 1963, after an extradition hearing, transported in leg irons and accompanied by Bergen County first assistant prosecutor Fred C.
[4] In his summation at the February 1964 trial, held at the Bergen County Court House, prosecutor Guy W. Calissi said that Trantino had pistol whipped Sgt.
Trantino's attorney argued that both officers had been shot and killed by Falco and that Trantino—who had been previously jailed on a robbery charge and had a history of addiction to narcotics—had been too drunk to have committed the crime.
"[5] On February 28, Bergen County Judge Joseph W. Marini sentenced Trantino to death in the electric chair to take place in the week of April 5.
[8] Judge Trautwein refused to set a restitution amount, saying, "It would be a gruesome, illogical, self-evident act of futility to order the restoration of the victims' lives.
[19] In his fourth appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court, its members voted in January 2001 by a 4–1 margin (with two justices not participating because of potential conflicts in the case) that he should be sent to a halfway house in advance of his ultimate release, calling it long overdue and the result of public pressure to keep him in jail.
In its ruling, the court stated that Trantino had satisfied the terms of release and did not pose a danger to commit any further crimes once paroled.