Philly attorney joins defense team representing Cosmo DiNardo in Bucks County missing men case

The Intelligencer

By James Boyle

A Philadelphia defense attorney confirmed to reporters in Doylestown Borough on Thursday afternoon that he is representing a Bensalem man considered a person of interest in the disappearance of four men.

Fortunato Perri Jr. said he is representing Cosmo DiNardo, the 20-year-old Bensalem man who’s being held in Bucks County’s prison in lieu of $5 million cash bail following his arrest Wednesday for allegedly stealing and attempting to sell a car owned by Tom Meo, one of the men reported missing last week.

County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub has repeatedly stated that DiNardo is a person of interest — and not a suspect — in the disappearance of Meo, Mark Sturgis, Dean Finocchiaro and Jimi Taro Patrick.

Late Wednesday night, Weintraub announced that a roughly 12½-foot “common grave” with human remains had been found on a property in Solebury owned by DiNardo’s parents, Antonio and Sandra DiNardo. He said some of the remains are that of Finocchiaro, of Middletown. Cadaver dogs found the remains, and authorities are working to identify them, the district attorney said.

A managing partner at McMonagle, Perri, McHugh and Mischak, Perri joins a defense team that already includes Michael Parlow and Paul Lang of Bucks County. Parlow and Lang represented DiNardo when he appeared for his arraignment before District Judge Maggie Snow on Wednesday.

Reporters swarmed outside the Bucks County Justice Center all day Thursday after reports claimed that DiNardo’s parents had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. The DiNardos had not been seen around the courthouse all morning and into the afternoon.

Bucks County First District Attorney Gregg Shore, who has been by Weintraub’s side for press conferences during the search for the four missing men, would not confirm that a grand jury has been called when approached in the Justice Center stairwell.

Citing state law, Weintraub declined to speak about whether or not a grand jury has convened, but he did say that authorities are using “every” type of investigative tool to find the missing men.

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