Matthew Nilo, a lawyer from New Jersey, appeared in court regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault involving several women in Boston over 17 years ago. The focus of the court session was the attempt by his legal team to suppress DNA evidence obtained during a secret FBI operation in a Manhattan restaurant.
Nilo, now 38, attended the Suffolk Superior Court hearing alongside his fiancée, Laura Griffin, who continues to support him. Prosecutors claim the DNA evidence ties Nilo to multiple assaults in Boston from 2007 to 2008, when Nilo was about 19 or 20 years old. His defense contends that FBI agents seized this evidence without a proper warrant.
The commonwealth is claiming that they have some connection between Mr. Nilo and DNA from 15 years ago, but that evidence was presumably taken from tableware in New York without a warrant and searching it for DNA,Nilo’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, argued.
The FBI gathered the DNA during a 2023 surveillance operation at the Oscar Wilde Restaurant and Bar in Manhattan. Agents trailed Nilo from his home in New Jersey to the eatery after receiving a tip from Boston officials. The agents, assisted by restaurant staff, collected items Nilo used, such as glasses, a fork, and a napkin.
Nilo’s lawyers claimed the items weren’t abandoned but were inadvertently left behind, meaning he didn’t willingly forfeit his privacy rights to those items. Prosecutors argue that restaurant staff clearing the table in the regular manner results in relinquishment of any privacy expectation.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge, Joe Bonavolonta, noted in May 2023 that Nilo’s arrest stemmed from investigative genetic genealogy, a method used for new leads in unsolved violent crimes. Prosecutors explained in a June hearing that investigators matched DNA from three victims to Nilo via a public genetic genealogy database. This match was later confirmed with DNA from a glass used by Nilo at a corporate event in New York.
Nilo remains out on bail, charged initially in May 2023 with several offenses, including aggravated rape, kidnapping, and assault. Additional indictments in July 2023 include further rape and assault charges. Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, his fiancée continues to support him closely.
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