Man in mob-related murder from 1981 gets more prison time

Thomas Torpey sentenced to 1 ½ to 3 years for smuggling painkillers into women’s prison at Albion

ALBION – A Rochester man who was released in 2008 after spending 23 years in prison for second-degree murder is going back to prison for smuggling painkillers into the Albion Correctional Facility.

Thomas Torpey, 69, was sentenced to 1 ½ to 3 years in state prison this afternoon by Orleans County Court Judge James Punch. He pleaded guilty to promoting prison contraband in the first degree.

Thomas Torpey

Torpey was arrested on Aug. 23, 2015 by State Police. He admitted to bringing drugs to the women’s prison for Ashley Sizemore, who is serving a 42-month sentence for an arson in February 2014 at the Spencerport residence of a former Irondequoit police officer.

Sizemore, 32, was Torpey’s girlfriend. Torpey’s attorney Nathan Pace said today that Torpey has stayed out of trouble since being released from Attica Correctional Facility in 2008, except for bringing the painkillers to Sizemore.

Pace said she was begging Torpey for the medication. Pace said Torpey “has the worst criminal record imaginable,” but had made a change since being released eight years ago.

Torpey, a former bodyguard for a Mafia crime boss, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1985 for ordering the killing of a rival mobster in December 1981. Torpey declined to speak during his sentencing this afternoon in Orleans County Court.

“You certainly have a long criminal career,” Punch told Torpey. “What a bad way to go out.”

The judge urged Torpey to serve the sentence and then commit to obeying the law when he is released.

“You’ve certainly had quite a life of violating other people’s rights,” the judge said.