Slay shocker
Killed in Midtown hrs. after he leaves rehab
A man brutally slain in an apparently random Midtown knife attack was struggling to build a better life, battling alcoholism in the wake of his older sister’s suicide, his childhood best friend told the Daily News Monday.
Ronnie Massaro, 39, was fatally stabbed about 9:15 p.m. on Nov. 21 outside 2 Bros. Pizza at the intersection of Eighth Ave. and W. 38th St., according to authorities. Police were searching for a suspect seen fleeing uptown after the bloodshed.
Dealing with crippling grief over his sister Ashley’s suicide death in 2019, Massaro had checked out of a rehab facility in Riverhead, L.I., just hours before the knife-wielding assailant attacked, Massaro’s friend Keith Hanlon told The News.
“He got out of rehab and got on the train. And that was it. Out of a program and on the train, and not even 12 hours later, he was gone,” said Hanlon, 38.
Hanlon said his old friend called him after hopping on the Long Island Rail Road — and that he noticed a new sense of closure in Massaro’s voice. He sounded “uplifted and so ready,” Hanlon said.
“He was ready to live life. Since his sister’s passing, I’d never noticed him have this voice. Something hit him. I really believe he started to accept things and understand what life was about,” Hanlon said.
“‘It finally hit me, and I’m ready. I can do this. We can do this together.’ Those were his exact words,” Hanlon recounted tearfully.
“I lost him in the Midtown Tunnel. His last words were, ‘I’m about to hit the Midtown Tunnel, I’ll call you.’ ”
Approximately 45 minutes before he was slain, Massaro tried to call Hanlon again. Hanlon missed the call. “I had my phone on battery saver, and I missed a FaceTime at 8:30 [p.m.], 8:29. And I feel guilty, because I feel like if I’d gotten him on FaceTime, he could have stopped for a few seconds. A few seconds could have changed everything,” Hanlon said.
In a heartfelt post published to Moloney Funeral Home’s website, Massaro’s girlfriend Carly Marie Delvalle posted a photo of the young couple looking happy and relaxed by the ocean. She described Massaro as a charismatic and sensitive soul.
“His compassion for people was so strong that he hurt when others did. He was brilliant, the stories and history lessons he taught me made me love him even more. Ronnie was artistic, stylish, and could create anything from a scrap piece of wood or metal,” Delvalle wrote.
“He has an amazing family so loving and welcomed me and my daughter with love and grace.”
Another close friend of the victim’s, Doreen Apicella-Marrero, lamented the Massaro family now have two children to grieve.
“This is a horrible time for his family,” she said. “After his sister passed he had it hard adjusting emotionally.”
Apicella-Marrero and Hanlon believe Massaro was a stranger to his killer.
“He must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Apicella-Marrero said.
Rick Doust, 56, a neighbor of the victim’s family, learned about Massaro’s killing Monday.
“I can’t believe what you’re telling me right now,” he told The News. “They’re such nice people. I’m so sorry that their family has had so many troubles.”
A former model with experience working in health care, the handsome Massaro was working in fashion around the time of his death. Hanlon said he was working with a clothes designer in Georgia and hoped one day to start his own brand or business.
“He was really handy with his hands. Artwork, bead work. He had a sewing machine in his room. That was his release,” Hanlon said. Outside of his professional pursuits, Massaro, of Smithtown, was a great support to his parents and a doting nephew to his niece, his friends said.
“He took care of his father and was a huge role model for his niece,” Hanlon said