Man with a long history of criminal acts found dead in apartment Thursday
HAMILTON - Authorities Thursday identified the man shot to death inside a Hamilton apartment as Michael "Mickey Rome" DiMattia, a convicted killer with a long list of arrests.
Hamilton police officers found DiMattia dead inside his Estates Boulevard apartment shortly after 7 a.m. Thursday in response to a 911 call, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said later Thursday.
A preliminary assessment of his injuries suggests he suffered multiple gunshot wounds, the prosecutor's office said. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
DiMattia, a former McCorristin High School football and baseball star, pleaded guilty in 1990 to manslaughter in the Trenton shooting death of James Howard, 17.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but served less than three. Over the years DiMattia has had numerous run-ins with the law, including four 1998 weapons convictions.
DiMattia was charged in 2009 with federal firearms possession and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison, with 3 years of supervised release.
He had been arrested during a motor-vehicle stop on Chambers Street in Trenton.
The officer saw a crack pipe in DiMattia's hand and ordered him out of the car, officials said then. While patting him down, an officer found three loaded handguns and saw that he was wearing what looked like body armor.
When the officer questioned DiMattia he said, "Yeah, what do you think? They all want to kill me after I killed that kid."
Man shot to death in Hamilton apartment
In the past several years, DiMattia, free from federal prison, violated the terms of his release at least twice by testing positive for using dugs, court documents show.
Following a 2013 arrest, he was once assigned to a local drug treatment program, but failed to show up for meetings.
DiMattia was arrested again in July 2015 for testing positive for cocaine during a drug screening, as part of his supervised release.
Jerome Ballarotto, a Hamilton attorney who defended DiMattia often, said his client was a really nice guy that everybody loved being around.
"It's unfortunately an American story," Ballarotto said, referring to DiMattia's drug problem.
"This monkey, once it gets on your back, its really had to beat," he said.
DiMattia had been a client representative for a local check-cashing and finance business that supported him through his issues, Ballarotto said. "He had a future there."
The investigation into DiMattia's death was ongoing Thursday morning by Hamilton police and the Mercer County Prosecutor's Homicide Task Force.
Keith Brown may be reached at kbrown@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBrownTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.