Insane Throttle News | October 31, 2026

Vincent Romanino, 45, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Pinellas County Jail on the afternoon of Thursday, October 29, 2026, with a bedsheet tied around his neck and secured to a stool. Detention deputies had checked on him roughly 25 minutes earlier, at 3:14 p.m., and observed him showering inside the cell. At 3:39 p.m. they discovered him unresponsive. Staff and medical personnel began life-saving efforts. Romanino was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office stated that surveillance footage showed Romanino was alone in the cell. Detectives determined the circumstances were consistent with suicide by hanging. He had been booked into the jail on October 16 after his arrest on a first-degree murder charge. Next of kin were notified. The investigation into the death continues.

Romanino’s murder charge stems from the killing of Dominick Paternoster. Authorities have said Mongols motorcycle club members believed Paternoster was a police informant. In 2023, Romanino and another man, Joshualee Garcia, were arrested and charged as accessories after the fact to first-degree felony murder in the same case. Both were identified at the time as members of the Mongols. The later first-degree murder charge that put Romanino back in custody this month is tied to the same underlying killing, according to reporting on the case.

The Mongols have long been treated by law enforcement as one of the more violent outlaw motorcycle clubs operating in the United States. Cases involving alleged informants have repeatedly produced deadly results inside that world. When club members conclude someone has talked to police, the response has often been swift and permanent. Paternoster’s death fit that pattern according to the earlier accounts from investigators. Romanino’s 2023 accessory charge placed him in the aftermath of that shooting. The upgraded murder charge that led to his October booking indicated prosecutors believed his role went beyond covering tracks after the fact.

Jail suicides among defendants facing serious charges are not uncommon, but the timing here is narrow. Romanino had been in the Pinellas County Jail for about two weeks. The well-being check at 3:14 p.m. and the discovery 25 minutes later leave a short window. Officials have not released additional details about his mental state, any prior suicide watch status, or statements he may have made to staff or other inmates. The sheriff’s office has treated the death as an apparent suicide based on the physical evidence and the surveillance confirming he was alone.

For the local motorcycle scene and anyone following Mongols cases in Florida, the sequence closes one chapter while leaving the original killing unresolved in court. With Romanino dead, any testimony he might have given about the Paternoster shooting is gone. Other defendants or potential witnesses in the case remain subject to whatever charges are still active. The club itself has faced repeated federal and state prosecutions over the years for racketeering, drug trafficking, and violence. Individual members continue to cycle through local jails on charges tied to those activities.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Robbery/Homicide Unit is handling the investigation into Romanino’s death inside the jail. No further public statements have detailed the status of the underlying murder case against him or the broader investigation into Paternoster’s killing. The facts that are public remain limited to the booking date, the first-degree murder charge, the earlier accessory arrest, the belief that the victim was an informant, and the determination that Romanino hanged himself alone in his cell on October 29.

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