Reputed N.J. mobster admits road-rage assault caught on tape
Jerry Balzano, 54, was on supervised release for a racketeering conviction when he allegedly hit a motorist in a curse-filled rampage.
A reputed New Jersey mobster faces two years in federal prison after admitting he hit a motorist during a foul-mouthed road-rage incident captured on a dash cam in New York.
The New York Daily News reports that Jerry Balzano appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday and acknowledged during a hearing on violating the terms of his supervised release from an earlier racketeering conviction that he "struck the driver."
Balzano, 54, a reputed soldier in the North Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family, still faces state charges in the November 2016 road-rage incident on Route 17 in Walkill, N.Y.
The video from a dash cam in the victim's car shows Balzano's Lincoln pulling in front of the victim's car in the left lane of the highway and forcing the vehicle to a stop.
As Balzano jumps out of his car, a can flies out and rolls onto the highway. Balzano then charges toward the car, unleashing an expletive-peppered tirade, much of it recorded while Balzano is at the driver-side window and out of the camera's view.
The driver's wife can be heard calling 911 and telling the dispatcher that the man who stopped them was hitting her husband.
Balzano drove off after an unknown motorist pulled over and escorted him back to his car.
Sentencing in the federal probation-violation case is set for May 16 before U.S. District Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn. Balzano has been in custody since March 8, according to court records.