Carlo "Cutter" Berintino, 58, was found in an alley near 103rd street on February 14th by a passing pedestrian. He was associated with the Gambino crime family and was a one time associate of John "The Dapper Don" Gotti. His last arrest was in 1991 when Berintino was charged under the RICO statute with 12 other reputed mobsters. All charges were later dismissed.

Carlo Berintino's body as found by police on February 14th

What interests authorities most is how the body was found. Berintino was laying behind a transit authority office with a red cross marked on his forehead and the amputed leg of a chicken in his breast pocket. NYPD lab analysis confirmed that the cross was made of chicken blood.

The coroner's office listed cause of death as "severe hypertension of the descending aorta which lead to myocardial infraction and heart failure." James Olterago of the New York City Medical Examiner's office assisted with the coroner's report and said "The case was unique in the way that the descending aorta shut down. In most cases the aorta becomes progressively narrowed over a period of time. This aorta looked like it had just collapsed in one swift motion. In fact during the autopsy we had to use clamps to reopen it. There was no indication of drugs or chemicals in the body to make it react like that."

Berntino's personal physician declined to be interviewed but his medical file on Berintino was subpoenaed by the NYPD. It states that Berintino's last physical was in September of 1998. No degradation of heart function is mentioned.

New York police officials are hesitant to rule the death a murder since the coroner's office still list the case as 'open.' A source within the NYPD states "If the guy was laying in his bed it would be a open and shut case of a heart attack. Finding him behind the 103rd Street transit office raises a few more questions. Maybe he died and somebody took the body there. The chicken foot and blood could be voodoo or it could be a prank. We're keeping an open mind."

The Miami Florida Medical Examiner's office confirmed that they had been contacted about the death but refused to comment. That office is one of the only government offices in the country which employs an expert on the voodoo religion to assist in investigations.

Susan Rogerson of the New Orleans Voodoo Society was also hesitant to make a connection with the death and the use of voodoo. She did state that the use of a chicken foot is a common practice in voodoo rituals. It is often part of an offering to the loa (ghost spirits) in exchange for their help.

Philias Sonno, a Brooklyn based voodoo "priest" theorized that the chicken foot could be part of a spell designed to keep the victim from revealing information. "If he was killed to keep his mouth shut, then tying his spirit to the foot means he can't tell what he knows even in the afterlife." Sonno would not say if he thought that the death was a murder caused by voodoo but did say that, "Voodoo can do things like that but anyone messing around with bad loa (spirits) like that be messing around with more than they know."

If Berintino was murdered it could be in connection with Sicilian Mafia fugitive Rosario Spatola, 60, who was arrested on January 25th in New York. Spatola was tried in absentia in Palermo Italy on June of last year and convicted of exporting 100 kilos of heroin to New York in 79 and 80. Both men were 'employed' by the same construction company and were known to associate.

sources

-NYPD report 54-02-14-99

-interview with James Oltergo, New York City Medical Examiner's Office; February 17th, 1999

-interview with unknown spokesperson Miami Medical Examiner's Office; February 18th, 1999

- phone interview with Susan Rogerson, New Orleans Voodoo Society; February 19th, 1999

-interview with Philias Sonno on February 19th, 1999

-interview with anonymous NYPD source; February 17th, 1999

-crime scene photographs courtesy New York City Medical Examiner's Office