A Manhattan jury acquitted an Oyster Bay event planner who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old high school football player outside an ax throwing club during a drunken brawl involving college students.
Gianluca Bordone, 21, claimed he acted in self-defense when he thrust his pocket knife six inches into the chest of Rocco Rodden, of Warren Township, New Jersey, on the night before Thanksgiving 2023.
Bordone was cleared of manslaughter and two counts of assault, which could have landed him in prison for up to 25 years.
“The truth has been told,” said Bordone’s mother, who only gave her first name, Gerrianne. “We’re going to continue to pray to God for everybody to be safe. This was a tragic night, a tragic event. The truth is the truth.”
Surveillance and cellphone footage showed the melee outside Live Axe between friends of Rodden and friends of Bordone.
Both groups consisted mostly of very intoxicated high school friends from New Jersey and Long Island, united for the first time since many had gone to college.
The Long Island group had concocted a large cocktail of alcohol, water and fruit juice in a plastic jug, referred to as a BORG — a blackout rage gallon — to drink on the ride in on the Long Island Rail Road.
Rodden’s friends testified that they took New Jersey Transit, drinking heavily along the way.
Neither group could recall how the fight started, but it was clear that Rodden’s crew had bloodied and beaten Bordone’s group before they separated and contemplated their next move.
One of the Oyster Bay group members had left his phone back at the bar, so they decided to return together to deter another fracas. Instead, the two groups fought again. Bordone testified in his own defense, saying he ran from the crowd, believing Rodden and the group would have killed him.
“I thought he would get me to the ground and his friends would come and beat the [expletive] out of me and kill me. And crack a bottle over my head,” he told the court.
To ward off the advancing group, Bordone stopped running and waved his knife at the teens, warning them not to come closer. When they continued at him, he testified, he stabbed Rodden.
“The last thing that I wanted to do was kill a 17-year-old kid,” he said on the stand. “That’s the last thing I wanted to do.”
During cross-examination, Manhattan prosecutor Alfred Peterson revealed that Bordone refused to cooperate with police and said, “This is the worst day of my life, but at least this is a good story.”
He also sent a text that said: “You have no idea what just happened outside lol.”
Prosecutors declined to comment.
Bordone’s mother and sister broke into tears as the verdict was announced. Rodden’s parents, who sat across the aisle in the courtroom throughout the trial, showed no emotion.
The Oyster Bay man’s mother said her family feels for the Rodden family.
“We feel terrible for them. We mourn for them, we grieve for them,” she said. “This is a terrible tragedy.”
Defense lawyer Anthony Ricco echoed her thoughts.
“When a young person, a teenager, loses their life, it’s a tragedy of enormous proportions,” Ricco said. “The verdict is not a reflection on this young man, no reflection on their families, no reflection on the defendant. It’s just what the proof shows. Now, the process begins of how Gianluca reconciles the life that’s ahead of him. And the young people that were out there that night have a long road ahead of them, but if they keep their faith, they’re going to be all right.”