GUILTY VERDICT IN TRIAL OF BRONX MAN WHO KILLED AND DISMEMBERED HIS BOSS BEFORE DUMPING THE BODY PARTS IN GARBAGE BAGS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 46-year-old roofer was found guilty of murdering his boss in May 2006. Victor Gonzalez was convicted on one count of Murder in the 2nd degree in the death and dismemberment of Wilfredo Pinto Jr. The jury deliberated for about five hours before returning the guilty verdict.
State Supreme Court Justice Caesar Cirigliano set May 28, 2009 in Part T5 for decisions on defense motions to set aside the verdict Gonzales, of 923 Kelly Street, is facing a maximum sentence of up to 25 years to life imprisonment.
The murder occurred on May 9, 2006 and was the culmination of an argument that escalated, became physical, and ended with the defendant striking the deceased in the head multiple times with a hammer. There had been a history of “bad blood” between Gonzalez and Pinto who worked together as roofers at two different companies. Pinto was Gonzalez’ foreman on one job and also was dating a woman who rented one of the bedrooms in her apartment to Gonzalez. Gonzalez claimed that he had acted in self defense and that the deceased had repeatedly bullied, mistreated and disrespected him. The jury rejected the defendant’s claim of self defense and found that the brutal murder was intentional.
After the murder, Gonzalez, who had worked as a butcher in Puerto Rico before moving to New York, dismembered Pinto’s body and placed the body parts in several plastic garbage bags which were left on the sidewalk for collection at various locations in the neighborhood.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Gary Weil and Assistant District Attorney Latrice Walker.
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