Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Point Boro Man Guilty in Brick Man's Death Liked Guns, And Gun Songs

Brick man died in December of drug overdose, authorities said

Guns, guns and more guns. And lots of street talk.

"Bang, bang" says the gun at the top of the Facebook page. After that, the guns are in videos and pictures. With songs and real sounds - like that of a machine gun.

All from a man named Nick Ippolito who says he "studied at Point Pleasant Boro High School." Now he's heading to jail for manslaughter and heroin distribution.

"He had a lot of questionable things on that Facebook page," said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office. "But he won't be able to do anything for a while."

Now Nicholas Ippolito, 22, of Point Pleasant Boro is heading to prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and drug distribution charges stemming from an investigation into the overdose death of a Brick man, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Friday.

The death happened shortly after he added a You Tube link to his page called *NEW* Gucci Mane-Lets Go To War. Various automatic or semi-automatic weapons are shown, with a song that plays the sound of bullets, mentioning: "I don't give a damn about starting a war."

Ippolito admitted his role in the death of Joseph Piezzo, 35, who died in his home in Brick on Dec. 13, 2013.

Piezzo died after being rushed to Ocean Medical Center, prompting an investigation by the Brick Township Police Department and the prosecutor's office. On Dec. 20, the county medical examiner found the cause of death was a negative reaction to prescription and street drugs, according to Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

On Jan. 24, Della Fave said, investigators found a "critical piece" of evidence in the case, linking Piezzo's death to Ippolito.

Della Fave said prosecutors will seek concurrent three-year sentences on the manslaughter and drug distribution charges, subject to the state's No Early Release Act, under which Ippolito would not be eligible for parole until he served 85 percent of the three year sentence.

Ippolito has been incarcerated in the Ocean County Jail since Feb. 9, 2014 on a parole violation. His bail was set at $200,000 cash at the time of his arrest on March 7, 2014, Della Fave said.

Coronato's office credited the Major Crimes Unit and High Tech Crime Unit of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, the Brick Township Police Department and the Point Pleasant Borough Police Department, all of which participated in the investigation.

Ippolito is one of seven suspected drug dealers to have been charged by Coronato under the state's Strict Liability statute in the deaths of their customers. The statute was rarely enforced in the state until Coronato began charging dealers in Ocean County last year. So far, three of the seven facing charges have pleaded guilty.

“The Strict Liability Statute, as a tool to hold dealers accountable and to fight back against our county’s heroin epidemic, has proven tremendously successful,” Coronato said in a statement on Friday's guilty plea.


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