Anthony Leonardo Jr. was a prominent defense lawyer before entering a federal plea agreement in 2001 and eventally being sentenced to a lengthy prison term in 2005 after being implicated in a web of high-profile crimes. Under his original deal, Leonardo was to serve 12 years for a murder conspiracy and for conspiracies to traffic cocaine and launder money. Later, he contended that he had been entrapped into committing the crimes. Leonardo said he had borrowed money from Albert M.
Ranieri, who robbed an armored car of $10.8 million in 1990 and who murdered Anthony Vaccaro, Leonardo's business partner, in May 2000. Leonardo's 2001 plea agreement helped lead to Ranieri's 2002 guilty plea to racketeering crimes, including the robbery and murder. In December, 2013, Leonardo was released to a federally monitored halfway house in the Rochester area.