The second charge that Santo Petrocelli Sr., of the Petrocelli Lighting Company of Long Island, Queens, was convicted of and sentenced to three months in prison for was conspiracy (The New York Times). His New York criminal defense lawyer did what he could, but the evidence was overwhelming, and the 74-year-old criminal will have to serve time behind bars. To better understand his crime I did some research to find out what exactly conspiracy meant.
A criminal conspiracy, it is when "two or more people agree to commit almost any unlawful act, then take some action towards its completion" (FindLaw). One of the main components is that you can't work alone. And even if you don't commit the intended criminal act, you are committing a crime just by taking steps towards completing it.
For example, if you and your friend plan on robbing a woman, and you scope out her house, buy a ski mask, and make note of when she's home, you have committed a crime even though you haven't robbed her... yet. Just the intent to rob coupled with evidence that you plan on doing it is conspiracy.
In Petrocelli's case, he and McLaughlin, the president, teamed up to commit bribery. They made a deal that Petrocelli would get special treatment if McLaughlin received the money. As discussed before in the section about bribery, we know that that is an illegal act (New York Criminal Law Blog).
The prison time can range between three months to 25 years depending on how egregious the crime was. Also, the fine can be between $500 and $100,000 based on the Penal Code of New York.
- Do you need a New York criminal defense lawyer? (FindLaw)
