Warlocks motorcycle gang member gets life in prison for killing a fellow member and leaving his body in a crypt

A member of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for killing an associate member of the gang and leaving his body in an underground crypt at Mount Moriah Cemetery, where his remains lay undiscovered for nearly three years.

Michael DiMauro declined to speak during his sentencing hearing, a decision his lawyer, James Lloyd, suggested was due to the fact that DiMauro, 51, maintains his innocence and plans to appeal the verdict.

But David Rossillo, the father of the man DiMauro was convicted of killing — David Rossillo Jr., 33, a prospective Warlocks member — testified at the hearing, telling DiMauro: “What you did to [Rossillo Jr.] was horrible, and I hope every day it haunts you.”

And although prosecutors have said the motive for the crime remains something of a mystery, Common Pleas Court Judge Charles Ehrlich called the case “a cold-blooded killing among people who knew each other.” He urged DiMauro to find a way to adapt to life in prison and improve on what the judge called a series of poor choices that led to the killing of Rossillo.

“Those decisions will cause you to spend the rest of your life in jail,” Ehrlich said.

Prosecutors said Rossillo’s decomposed remains were discovered in 2020 at Mount Moriah inside an underground crypt where Capt. A.H. Cain and his family had been buried in the 1800s. Investigators were searching the mostly abandoned cemetery that spring looking for Keith Palumbo, another Warlocks associate member who’d also been reported missing.

Rossillo at that point had not been seen since late 2017. And when police saw Cain’s marble slab top slightly ajar, they searched the crypt and found Palumbo’s remains wrapped inside a carpet, as well as a second badly decomposed body with a rope tied around its neck.

DNA testing later confirmed the second set of remains belonged to Rossillo, authorities said.

Investigators ultimately came to believe DiMauro was the killer, charging him in September 2020 with shooting Rossillo in the cemetery in December 2017, then tying a rope around his neck, dragging him across the property, and leaving his body into the crypt.

DiMauro was tried earlier this month and acted as his own lawyer. Assistant District Attorney Bob Wainwright credited resourceful detective work as well as key witness testimony, including from Donna Morelli, who implicated DiMauro in the crime. Prosecutors said Morelli had been married to the former president of the Warlocks and for a time had acted as the group’s de facto leader.

Beyond Rossillo’s case, Morelli and three other club members pleaded guilty in connection with the slaying of Palumbo, the other Warlocks associate whose remains were found in the crypt in 2020. Morelli is also facing charges of witness intimidation for allegedly posting witness testimony online.

Prosecutors have said the arrests and negative attention that came from the killings of Rossillo and Palumbo had led to the diminishment of the Warlocks in recent years. The group was founded in Philadelphia in the late 1960s, and members from the city and other chapters have been charged with various crimes over the years, including drug dealing and the fatal shooting of a South Jersey police officer in 1995.

After DiMauro was sentenced, tensions in his case remained high. As relatives from both sides left the courtroom, one of DiMauro’s family members sought to speak with the elder Rossillo in the hallway, suggesting that someone other than DiMauro — such as Morelli — was responsible for the killing.

But Rossillo declined to engage in the discussion, saying: “He did this,” before walking away.