Cop Killer Living Locally On Parole

Collingswood officials are dismayed that convicted cop killer Thomas Trantino has moved to town, but his lawyer says it may only be a temporary situation. Trantino, 64, moved to a transition home on Magill Avenue after being released from a Camden halfway house on Monday. He was freed after serving 38 years in prison for killing police officers Gary Tedesco and Peter Voto in a Lodi bar in 1963.

"There's no connection to Collingswood, there's no benefit to Collingswood," Police Chief Thomas Garrity told the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill for Wednesday's editions. "It's going to cost Collingswood in (police) resources and it's going to cost Collingswood in serenity."

Garrity said he is not too concerned about Trantino, but rather the potential trouble his presence could cause. His officers have also complained about potentially having to protect a cop killer. Trantino's lawyer, Roger Lowenstein, said his client expects to stay at the house while an application to have his parole transferred to New York is processed.

"He's very capable of earning a living and keeping out of trouble. He's a very good prospect for a next door neighbor," Lowenstein said. "I wouldn't worry at all."

Meanwhile, about 200 people gathered in Lodi on Tuesday to protest Trantino's release and show support for the slain officers' families.

Andrew Voto, brother of the slain sergeant and a former Lodi police chief, said it hurt to see the published photograph of a smiling Trantino after his release.

"This is a close-knit town," Voto told The Record of Hackensack. "It's a community where everybody knows everybody else. This is something that's been burning in them for years."

Trantino initially was sentenced to die for the 1963 slayings, but his sentence was changed to life in prison in 1972 when New Jersey abolished the death penalty.

He was denied parole nine times before the state Supreme Court ordered that he be moved to a halfway house last year. The court found the parole board lacked proof that he would be a threat to society.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP