Grippo Sentenced to 20 Years for 2019 Murder in Montauk

“There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about my son, Robert.”

Those words were written last week by Benny Garces, who was standing about 20 feet away from Joseph Grippo, a fellow Montauk resident who murdered his son, Robert Casado, on the morning of June 6, 2019.

Grippo, 50, was about to be sentenced to 20 years in state prison on September 7.

The statement from Garces was read into the record by prosecuting attorney Eric Aboulafia.

“The loss of Robert has left a hole in our family,” it continued. “There will be no more birthday parties, backyard gatherings, holiday celebrations to share.”

At that point, Grippo, shackled and handcuffed, wearing a white dress shirt, could be heard across the courtroom saying under his breath, “All lies.”

Aboulafia continued as the dead man’s father stood behind him, grief stricken, his head bowed.

“The death of your child is the worst life can throw at you. Words cannot express the pain and anguish that our family and friends have endured since Robert was killed.” Garces said in his statement that his son had “died in horrible circumstances. Robert was on his way to work when he was ambushed and attacked by a killer that laid lying in wait like a coward.”

Before the murder, Casado had moved into the Sands Motel in downtown Montauk with a woman with whom Grippo had previously been involved.

Grippo was filled with a jealous rage, Aboulafia said during the trial. The morning of June 6, he had a friend drive him from his home on Old Montauk Highway to downtown Montauk. At first, Grippo may have been targeting the woman, as he asked his friend to drive him to the Sands, Aboulafia stated previously.

But Grippo changed his mind at the last moment, and, instead, had the friend leave him at Kirk Park, where he concealed himself in the dense thicket of reeds and bushes on the west side of the park, knowing that Casado took a shortcut down a narrow path through the thicket on his way to work.

There, he ambushed Casado, bludgeoning him repeatedly with a pickaxe handle, swinging it like a baseball bat.

He called the friend to come back and pick him up. Grippo emerged from the thicket on Second House Road, dripping with blood, prosecutors said. His blows had crushed Casado’s skull.

As Aboulafia continued reading, it became clear that Benny Garces was a second victim of Grippo’s crime.

“I lay awake at night thinking about the horrible way in which the defendant took my son’s life,” the statement read. “The sadness and anger I have has affected every single part of my life.”

Garces said in his statement that his “health has declined, and doctors say I will lose my vision.”

When Aboulafia finished reading, Benny Garces addressed Grippo directly. He said that the murder had left Casado’s five children without a father. “Nobody deserves to die the way he did,” he said.

He said he hopes Grippo thinks about what he did every single day.

Justice Stephen Braslow then asked Grippo if he had anything to say. Grippo said he did not. The judge pronounced the 20-year sentence, and Grippo was taken away.

Though Grippo has been convicted and sentenced for the killing of Robert Casado, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office may not be done prosecuting him.

In June of last year, Grippo was charged by the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department with felony harassment, for allegedly dousing a corrections officer with a container of urine. That case has been adjourned repeatedly, allowing the prosecution of the murder charge to proceed.

Grippo is due back in Suffolk County First District Court in Central Islip on the harassment charge on September 23.

A felony conviction on the harassment charge would likely not add any time to Grippo’s stay in prison. Since he was already incarcerated, he has been getting credit toward any additional time if convicted on the new charge on which he was arraigned July 1, 2021.

However, such a felony conviction could count against him when he becomes eligible for parole 15 years from now, as could past convictions.

His first stay in state prison was in 1990. He was 18 years old and was sentenced to four years on a felony attempted burglary charge, before being paroled in 1992.

Six years later, at 26, he was convicted of a series of felonies, including armed robbery, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.

He was found not eligible for parole and served his full 15- year sentence in the Collins Correctional Facility near Lake Erie.

Grippo’s time in county jail since his arrest by East Hampton Town Police in 2019 counts toward his 20-year sentence, of which he must serve at least 85 percent, or 17 years.

He will remain in county jail until the harassment charge is dealt with, after which he will be transferred to the state prison system.

Before Garces left the courtroom, Braslow asked to speak to him. The judge expressed his sorrow for Garces’s loss and said that he felt that justice had been served. He also complimented Tierney’s office, saying that prosecutors had done “an admirable job.”

Garces, in turn, thanked Aboulafia and the D.A.’s office.