Last month, a Staten Island man was fatally stabbed outside of a restaurant where he and his high school sweetheart had been celebrating their recent engagement. A grand jury voted yesterday to drop all charges against suspect and reputed gangster Redinal Dervishaj in the death of Antonio Lacertosa. "He obviously testified to the grand jury about self-defense. The video proved his claim, and the grand jury did the right thing," Dervishaj's lawyer Thomas Reilly said. "He's not happy how the situation played out that night, because it ended in the death of a young man who was engaged. At the time, he felt he had no other choice but to defend himself."
Lacertosa, fiancee Bridgette Schneider, his brothers and their friends had been out celebrating the engagement on March 17; they went to España Restaurant for end-of-the-evening drinks around midnight. Two of the brothers were allegedly kicked out (possibly for drunkenness), and they retaliated by urinating on the side of the restaurant. A fight started with restaurant workers—manager Ridi Zeneli allegedly tried to shoot at them, but his gun's trigger jammed.
A cop who saw surveillance video said, "The video was like a WWF Royal Rumble...People were being tossed on top of cars; it was crazy." Police sources said Dervishaj could be seen on a surveillance tape running back into the restaurant after getting tossed over a parked car. He allegedly grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen, and stabbed Lacertosa around 2 a.m. during that melee.
The jury believed that Dervishaj was indeed acting in self-defense the night of the stabbing. “You clearly see my client getting beaten, thrown over a car," Reilly said, describing the surveillance footage. "He then runs to his own car to escape and is chased down by six guys who are throwing bottles at him.” Reilly said the stabbing was an act of desperation: “He reacted how anybody would react when they fear they’re about to be beaten within an inch of their life”
Dervishaj, a reputed Albanian gangster who previously pled guilty to attempted grand larceny, is expected to be let free from Rikers in the next few days after the removal of an “immigration hold.”
Richmond County district attorney, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., said in a statement on the case: “My thoughts and prayers go out to Antonio Lacertosa’s family and to his fiancée as they try to cope with the pain of their loss. His death was a tragic and senseless end to a night that began as a celebration of a young couple’s new life together.”
