BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Erie County District Attorney's Office announced that 34-year-old William J. Giambelluca of Hamburg was sentenced Thursday in Erie County Court to 23 years to life in prison.
The district attorney's office said on November 22, 2021, 67-year-old John E. Rados, Sr., was leaving a bar on Lake Shore Road in Blasdell when he was attacked in the parking lot by Giambelluca. According to the DA, Giambelluca hit Rados on the head with a piece of wood during the robbery and fled after he stole $60 which he then used to purchase heroin. Rados drove himself home after the assault.
A family member found Rados, who suffered a fractured skull, unconscious inside his home the next morning. He was taken to ECMC where he died on November 24, 2021. According to the district attorney's office, the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Rados died from blunt force trauma to the head.
A jury found Giambelluca guilty of one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree robbery in August 2023.
