Oyster Bay man admits at trial to fatal stabbing but says it was in self-defense

An Oyster Bay event promoter on trial for manslaughter took the stand in his own defense Friday, acknowledging for the first time that he feared for his life when he stabbed a New Jersey teen outside a Manhattan ax-throwing club in 2023 during a drunken melee.

Gianluca Bordone, 21, told the court that he waved his knife at a group of advancing teens in the early morning hours of Nov. 23 outside the venue Live Axe in TriBeCa, warning them not to come closer after he and his friends had been beaten during a bar brawl.

When they continued to advance on him, he stabbed Rocco Rodden, 17, of Warren, New Jersey, killing him.

Bordone has been charged with manslaughter and two counts of assault.

Bordone, who went to Roslyn High School, had taken the Long Island Rail Road into the city the night before Thanksgiving, a reunion for the group, most of whom were in their freshman year in college. They had been drinking a high-proof alcohol concoction called a BORG — a black out rage gallon — consisting of liquor, water and fruit juice in a plastic gallon jug.

Rodden had joined his older brother and sister on New Jersey Transit, coming into the city with a group of upper-middle-class teens also back from college for the first time.

His friends testified they also had been drinking heavily.

A fight broke out around 1:30 a.m. as both groups started leaving the club, it’s unclear what prompted the violence, but Ace Burns, 39, who worked as a bodyguard for Bordone that night, said he saw members of the groups doing body slams, punching and kicking each other and a young woman get shoved to the ground.

Bordone and his friends testified that they left the area, some beaten and bloodied, and decided to go to another bar, but one of the friends had left his phone behind. They agreed to return together, figuring their numbers would deter the New Jersey group from starting up with them again.

But when they got back to the front of the club, the fighting started back up.

Jonathan Guetta, a Roslyn High School graduate, was knocked to the ground and kicked by members of the other group.

Cellphone video taken that night shows Rodden standing over Guetta as someone else grabs his leg.

Looking to protect his friend, Bordone said, he threw a roundhouse punch at Rodden, which seemed to glance off the side of his head. Rodden turned on Bordone and threw a few of his own punches without connecting and then he and others started to chase the Oyster Bay youth down the street.

Bordone said he was out of shape and feeling like he would pass out after running a block, so he turned to stand his ground.

"I ran to the end of the block, and I turned around. I saw all these people coming into my view, and I screamed, 'Stop!' I don’t know how many times. I yelled I have a knife."

Rodden, a 6-foot, 280-pound high school football player, was leading the charge and ignored Bordone’s caution.

"I was afraid that they would get me to the floor, stomp me, kill me, hit me with the bottle that I had seen before," he said.

Bordone said he swung his knife wildly as Rodden caught up to him.

"I stabbed him," Bordone told the court, though he could not remember stabbing him twice.

Manhattan prosecutor Alfred Peterson said the knife plunged six inches into Rodden’s chest, puncturing his heart. He also suffered a five-inch gash on his back.

"The last thing that I wanted to do was kill a 17-year-old kid," Bordone said, noting how alike his suburban family is to Rodden’s. "I see so many similarities, and it breaks my heart."

Closing arguments will begin in the case next and the jury will begin deliberations Wednesday.