New Jersey Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For Robbing And Murdering Ossining Resident

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ANTHONY GRECCO was sentenced today to life in prison for robbing and murdering Ryan Ennis, a resident of Ossining, New York, and conspiring to distribute marijuana and heroin.  In January 2016, following a nine-day trial in White Plains federal court before the Honorable Kenneth M. Karas, a jury found that on August 26, 2014, GRECCO traveled from New Jersey to Ossining, where he robbed and murdered Ennis in furtherance of GRECCO’s narcotics trafficking activities.  Judge Karas imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stated:  “Anthony Grecco violently murdered Ryan Ennis, repeatedly stabbing him and slashing his throat, all for a few thousand dollars Ennis had for marijuana he thought Grecco was delivering.  The significant sentence imposed on Grecco today reflects the horrific and cold-hearted nature of his crime.”  

As established by the evidence at trial: 

GRECCO was a marijuana dealer based in New Jersey.  As of the spring of 2014, one of his customers was Ryan Ennis, 25, who had been purchasing marijuana from GRECCO and reselling it in the area around Ossining, New York.  By late summer 2014, GRECCO’s marijuana supply had dried up and he became desperate for cash. 

GRECCO set up a meeting with Ennis, on the pretense that he would be bringing more marijuana for Ennis.  In fact, GRECCO intended to rob Ennis, and kill him if necessary, in order to get money.  He wanted that money not only because he was strapped for cash, but because he intended to invest in the heroin business of another drug dealer in New Jersey.  In preparation for the meeting with Ennis, GRECCO obtained a knife and stuffed a backpack full of linens so that Ennis would not realize that GRECCO had arrived without any marijuana.

On August 26, 2014, GRECCO drove with two accomplices from New Jersey to an apartment complex in Ossining, where Ennis was waiting alone in his father’s apartment.  After arriving in Ossining, while the other two individuals waited outside, GRECCO went into the apartment and robbed Ennis.  In the course of the robbery, GRECCO stabbed Ennis repeatedly and slashed his throat, killing him.  GRECCO took $8,900 – the cash that Ennis had prepared for the marijuana deal – as well as a cellphone and a hat, from Ennis.  After the murder, GRECCO returned to New Jersey, where he showered and threw away the blood-stained clothes that he had been wearing in an attempt to cover his tracks. 

*                      *                     *

GRECCO, 35, is from Manville, New Jersey.

U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the outstanding work of the Village of Ossining Police Department and the FBI’s Westchester County Violent Crimes Task Force, which is comprised of investigators from the FBI, the Westchester County Police Department, the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, the City of Peekskill Police Department, the New York City Police Department, and the City of Yonkers Police Department.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Gerber, Scott Hartman, and George Turner are in charge of the prosecution.

16-220                                                 ###