Staten Island man charged with murder for stabbing victim 22 times during argument

A 41-year-old man is being charged for the fatal stabbing of another man during a fight at a Staten Island industrial yard in January, according to authorities.

Richard Gambale was indicted on Monday on charges of murder in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence.

According to prosecutors, at about 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 14 Gambale had gotten into an argument with 43-year-old Anthony Perretti over finances in an industrial yard near Arthur Kill Road in Rossville.

During the dispute Perretti struck Gambale with a metal fence post one time in the shoulder area, authorities said. Gambale then stabbed the Perretti 22 times throughout his upper body.

Gambale fled the site and left behind Perretti, who was later pronounced dead at Staten Island University Hospital-South.

Members of the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force caught the 41-year-old four days later in Manhattan, according to authorities.

Along with the fatal stabbing, Gambale is also being charged for discarding the knife used in the incident and the bloody jacket he wore that afternoon.

“The defendant in this case savagely stabbed his victim almost two dozen times,” said Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon. “There is no justification for that level of violence and my prosecutors intend to argue that this was an intentional murder, and not self-defense.”

Gambale is expected to be arraigned on March 2.