18-year sentence called gift in shooting

Mother of Preston man killed by rival motorcycle gang brings son’s ashes to courtroom

Susan Thompson of Preston was in tears on Thursday as she stood in a New London courtroom just a few feet away from her son’s killer, saying it is “unbearable” for her to think the man would eventually get to see his family again.

She turned to the courtroom gallery and directed her attention to the family of Francis Giannelli, the man who fatally shot her son.

“I bring my son with me wherever I go. This is my son,” Thompson said, holding out a pouch with her son’s ashes.

Giannelli, 28, of Glastonbury was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday for shooting and killing Robert Thompson of Preston in the early morning hours of Oct. 26, 2019.

Thompson was shot at 1:22 a.m., while a passenger in a pick-up truck driven by Randy Deveau was stopped at the red light at the intersection of Routes 12 and 2A in Preston.

Police said Giannelli fired six shots from a gun he had taken without permission from his father. He claimed it was self-defense and that Deveau had motioned as if reaching for a gun.

Susan Thompson said Giannelli had received a gift of a lenient sentence for a “cowardly act,” but thanked and hugged prosecutors Stephen Carney and Paul Narducci for their work on the case.

The 18-year sentence was a plea agreement worked out between the defense team and state prosecutors on the eve of trial. Giannelli, initially charged with murder, pleaded no contest in November to the reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm.

Police said Thompson and Giannelli were members of rival motorcycle gangs and among two groups of people involved in a confrontation at Mohegan Sun casino earlier on the night of the shooting.

Narducci, the New London County state’s attorney, on Thursday detailed the facts of the case along with some of the possible difficulties for the prosecution should the case have gone to trial.

Narducci said a 911 caller reported seeing multiple vehicles behind the pick-up truck that

night. The defense team for Giannelli — attorneys Kevin Barrs and Michael Miller — had previously filed motions raising the idea of “third-party culpability” or the idea that Giannelli was not the only one involved in the killing. The case had previously drawn attention from the FBI because of a pending investigation into rival motorcycle gangs known as the Mongols, Ruthless 4 Life and Hell’s Angels.

Several minutes after police received a 911 call reporting the shooting, Ledyard Police officer Gary Butters, who was performing routine patrol about 6.5 miles away on Route 12 near Inchcliffe Drive, pulled over a black pick-up truck with windows smashed out and saw that Thompson, the passenger, was unconscious and bleeding. Butters escorted the truck to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London, where Thompson died of a single gunshot wound to the neck.

Three days later, while state police continued to interview possible suspects and examine casino surveillance video, Giannelli turned himself in to police.

“Yeah, I’m the one who shot the truck. I’d like to state it was self-defense,” Giannelli told police, according to the arrest warrant affidavit in the case.

In advance of a trial, Giannelli’s public defenders had argued in motions to the court that an incriminating statement Giannelli made to an undercover police detective at

Troop E in Montville should be suppressed. Miller argued the statements, in which he admitted to the shooting, were made after Giannelli had already invoked his right not to speak to an attorney.

Giannelli had allegedly told an undercover officer that he was a member of Ruthless 4 Life but was going to become a member of a different gang.

Narducci on Thursday revealed that the six spent shell casings recovered from the scene of the shooting were all the same size, .380 caliber, but from three different manufacturers. Forensic examination of the casings could not determine conclusively whether they were fired from the same gun, Narducci said.

Narducci said the .380 ammunition from Giannelli’s home did not match the shell casings. The gun used in the killing was never recovered.

Susan Thompson called it a “senseless execution” of a man who may have looked imposing because of his muscular physique and tattoos, but was a well-loved family member who doted on his niece and nephew.

She said Thompson was excited about his new union job as a pile driver working at Electric Boat, an opportunity for financial stability that had him thinking about buying a home. Sadly, Susan Thompson said she never got to continue that conversation with her son.

Giannelli, before being led out of the courtroom, apologized to Thompson’s family and his own.

“I don’t know what else I can say but I’m sorry,” Giannelli said. “It’s never going to cut it.

I hope I can try to make up for this one day.”

Thompson’s death is the subject of a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Susan Thompson, against Gary Giannelli, Francis Giannelli’s father and owner of the gun used to kill Thompson.