State Watch

New York mafia hitman escapes custody with less than a year left before expected release

Dominic Taddeo, a convicted mafia hitman, escaped from federal custody earlier this week with less than a year left before his expected release.

Taddeo, 64, escaped from custody on Monday, according to an inmate tracker from the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

The inmate, who had been transferred from a prison in Florida to a halfway house in the state, failed to return from an authorized medical appointment, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

The U.S. Marshals Service is looking for him in Florida and in Rochester, New York, per the local outlet.

Taddeo was a hit man in the Rochester, N.Y., area. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to killing three people and other mob-related activities in the ’80s, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.


This is not the first time the mobster has fled from authorities.

Taddeo took off in the late ’80s while he was out on bail for federal weapons charges, launching a two-year manhunt, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.

He had been imprisoned at a medium-security facility in Wildwood, Fla., before he was transferred to the halfway house, the outlet noted. Taddeo had made a bid for a COVID-related release from custody, but a judge denied the request.

Taddeo would likely have been released from prison in less than a year.