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Federal Inmate Confesses to 2012 Murder of Queens Shop Owner, Sources Say

By  Paul DeBenedetto and Murray Weiss | December 3, 2016 11:53am | Updated on December 4, 2016 11:58am

 Demaso Llano, 89, was found bound and dead in his Corona home on March 26, 2012.
Demaso Llano, 89, was found bound and dead in his Corona home on March 26, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Tuan Nguyen

NEW YORK CITY — An inmate currently serving time in a New York federal prison has confessed to the 4-year-old murder of a beloved Queens supermarket owner, police and sources said.

Harry Pacheco, 40, was charged with murder after his March testimony during another trial implicated him in the slaying of 89-year-old Demaso Llano, among other crimes, according to sources.

Pacheco and another man allegedly broke into Llano's Corona home on March 26, 2012, where they bound his hands and then assaulted him before fleeing. 

Llano, who emigrated from Cuba and co-owned the El Mundo Supermarket at 42-16 Junction Blvd., was found lying on his back in the house's foyer by his caretaker about 8:30 a.m. the next morning. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Pacheco was arrested in September of 2012 after a string of at least 14 robberies in which he was dubbed the "Snub-Nose Bandit," a name given to the suspect based on his choice of a silver snub-nose revolver in each of the crimes. 

He was charged Friday, and was still in federal custody Saturday, police sources said.

Pacheco's testimony in federal court lays out the grim details of Llano's death. 

According to his testimony, Pacheco and another man dressed as police officers and gained access to Llano's apartment building through a backyard basement entrance. They then knocked on Llano's door, saying they were the police, according to the court transcript.

Once inside, Llano immediately realized they weren't police, Pacheco said. His accomplice put the shop owner in a choke hold, while Pacheco searched the house, according to the transcript. 

"I tried to tie his hands and I couldn't control his hands, so I Tasered the man approximately two or three times," Pacheco said. "I still couldn't get him to stop screaming or hold his hands together. So, I hit him about the face two times. Then he laid still, moaning."

The two men left, and Pacheco said he later found out about the man's death by watching the news.

Pacheco also confessed to a Manhattan revenge shooting, a Long Island City home invasion in which he helped rob a drug dealer, and an attempted burglary in which Pacheco and an associate allegedly dressed as maintenance workers from the cable company, according to the transcript.