Peggy Nadell slaying: Killers sentenced, relative cuffed; video

The son-in-law of Peggy Nadell was thrown out of court and handcuffed after cursing at his sister-in-law as she was sentenced Tuesday morning to a maximum life term for Nadell's murder.

Robert Scaccio had been muttering retorts and laughing during Diana Nadell's sentencing, then cursed loudly at her. Court officers first escorted him out, then shoved him out of the courtroom face-first onto the marble floor when he got physical, and then forced him against a hallway wall.

He continued cursing at the officers, saying: "Get your hands off me. That's my mother-in law she killed," before being taken away out a side door. Officers charged Scaccio, 52, of Airmont, with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest and violations of disorderly conduct and second-degree harassment. He was released without bail.

Minutes earlier, his wife, Susanne Nadell-Scaccio, had raised her voice as she delivered a victim impact statement while Diana Nadell stared straight ahead.

"Look at me," Nadell-Scaccio demanded. "What are you, afraid to turn around and look at me?"

"I hope you stay in prison until you take your last breath," she told Diana Nadell. "My wish for your future is exactly what I feel about you. Absolutely nothing.

"Enjoy prison," she added.

State Supreme Court Justice William Kelly imposed Diana Nadell's agreed-upon sentence of 23 years to life for first-degree murder and a concurrent five-to-15 years in prison for plotting to kill two witnesses from jail. Kelly later sentenced her paid accomplice, Andrea Benson, 26, of Washington, D.C., to 20 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.

Nadell-Scaccio found the body of her mother, Peggy Nadell at her Valley Cottage home hours after Diana Nadell and a Benson killed her early on the morning of Jan. 25, 2014.

Prosecutor Richard Kennison Moran contended the killing was the 51-year-old Diana Nadell's bid to get her hands on a share of the 80-year-old community activist's more than $4 million estate. Diana Nadell, a Jamaican native, has been married for 18 years to Peggy Nadell's son, James; they have two children together.

Moran said the evidence showed Benson choked Peggy Nadell before Diana Nadell beat her with a heavy object and then stabbed her, leaving a knife in her chest at the foot of the steps inside the house.

Diana Nadell's husband, James, 53, is a Florida neuropsychologist who was not charged in the case and had continued to support his wife after her arrest. He was opposed to his sister speaking at the sentencing.

Nadell-Scaccio said Diana Nadell's only interest was her mother's money, even using the two grandchildren to "extort funds from Peggy, knowing it would destroy Peggy if she was not able to see or contact them." She said Diana Nadell would do that by refusing to let Peggy Nadell see her children unless there was money attached.

She said she used the money for fertility treatments and cosmetic surgery, treating Peggy Nadell like a "personal ATM machine to fund her growing lavish lifestyle."

And she said Diana Nadell had the "audacity" to come to New York to mourn Peggy Nadell after engineering and participating in her murder at her Andover Road home.

Diana Nadell pleaded guilty to first-degree murder March 6. She also admitted to trying to hire people to kill two of the witnesses against her as she sat in jail.

Kelly read excerpts from the pre-sentencing report that said Diana Nadell showed "indifference" and no remorse for what she did and blamed it all on Benson – whom she called an "animal" – and claimed to have been a great mother and daughter-in-law.

In court, Diana Nadell spoke briefly.

"I am very sorry for my actions," she said. "I am extremely sorry for any pain I may have caused, especially to my husband."

Benson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in June. Two other women charged in the murder-for-hire case – Eltia Grant and Tanisha Joyner – await sentencing for first-degree hindering prosecution.

Benson's sentencing to an agreed-upon 20 years to life in prison immediately followed Diana Nadell's appearance.

Susanne Nadell-Scaccio had equally harsh words for Benson, calling her the "scum of the earth."

"You helped murder a wonderful woman who didn't deserve to have her life taken this way" then "had the nerve to ask for leniency," she said.

"To me your life isn't worth two cents," she said, adding later, "You deserve to burn in hell."

Benson whimpered and cried throughout the proceeding. When it was her turn to speak, she apologized, blamed the media for how she was portrayed, and said she prayed that someday the family could forgive her.

"I'm so tortured by what I've done," she said. "There's a part of my soul missing. I'm deeply sorry for the pain I've caused, I pray God can help me become the person he wants me to be."

Her lawyer, James Crean, asked Kelly to consider imposing a lower minimum sentence of 18 years.

The Clarkstown police investigation took several months and involved thousands of taped conversations and surveillance footage.

Crean also said the Clarkstown police detectives - Stephen Cole-Hatchard and Earl Lorence - were stymied at first but solved the case by tracing the prepaid phone call to Florida, where Diana Nadell lived. Nadell wanted the woman who bought her the prepaid phone killed.

Kelly, in reviewing Benson's background, noted Benson had been abused throughout her childhood and was the daughter of a crack cocaine addict who served jail time. She is the mother of a 3-year-old daughter with a man who is in prison for robbery and was living on food stamps and working several jobs when she got involved with Diana Nadell for what seemed to her like "easy money."

Kelly said that her life history and eventual cooperation with police in the investigation gave him "pause for thought," but that he ultimately concluded: "No matter how you look at it, she agreed to murder someone for the money."

Twitter: @lohudlegal