2 more Pinellas biker gang members arrested in slaying of man believed to be informant

Two members of the Mongols biker gang were previously arrested in the fatal shooting of Dominick Paternoster. Tuesday’s arrests make four arrests in the case so far.

Both men were arrested after a lengthy investigation. Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office

More than a year after authorities said more arrests would be coming in the April 2022 killing of a man that Mongols motorcycle gang members believed was a police informant, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office announced two additional arrests Tuesday.

Vincent Romanino, 42, of Lutz, was booked into a Hillsborough County jail Tuesday and is being held without bond, jail records show. Joshualee Garcia, 33, was booked into a Pasco County jail, according to the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office. His booking photo and information were not available Tuesday night. Each faces a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree felony murder in the fatal shooting of Dominick Paternoster, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Both men were members of the Mongols when Paternoster was killed, the agency said.

Paternoster, 46, was shot multiple times in his home, located at 104 Dunbridge Drive in Palm Harbor, sometime between 10:20 p.m. on April 27, 2022, and 1 a.m. the following morning, according to court documents. His body was found around 4:30 p.m. on April 28.

Around four months later, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri called a news conference on Aug. 29, 2022, to announce the indictment of Paul Mogilevsky on a first-degree murder charge in Paternoster’s death. He said Paternoster, now 49, had been a member of a feeder group for the Mongols called the Raiders. The Mongols are based in California but have a Tampa Bay chapter.

The Mongols and the Raiders share a clubhouse in Tampa, according to Gualtieri, and Paternoster and Mogilevsky both were there the night of April 27, 2022. Later, they left with another person and went to Paternoster’s house.

During an April 29, 2022, interview, Dylan Pascale told detectives that he and another person had taken Paternoster home, and when they left, Paternoster was asleep in a recliner, the Sheriff’s Office previously said.

As the investigation progressed, detectives said they found evidence that Pascale, now 36, had lied about that night. In addition, spent shell casings located next to Paternoster’s body had DNA that belonged to Pascale, the agency said.

Pascale was arrested Oct. 12, 2022, on a first-degree murder charge.

Detectives said members of the Mongols biker gang believed Paternoster was a “snitch,” but authorities would not confirm whether Paternoster was an informant or not.

“Paternoster was not just killed. He was executed,” Gualtieri said at the Aug. 29, 2022, news conference.

Multiple guns were used in the killing, he said at the time, and added that Mogilevsky would not be “the last person arrested in this case. More arrests will be made.”

The investigation remains ongoing, the Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

Source: Yahoo News