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Ammunition Expert Experienced EXPERT WITNESS and CONSULTANT
Malfunction Investigation Expert
Military ordnance Expert and Expert Witness
Ammunition Expert and Expert Witness
Munitions Expert and Expert Witness
* Project and Team Leader for 38 years at the Army Research Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, working with the many engineering and scientific disciplines required to design, develop, manufacture, field, and maintain Dept. of the Army conventional ammunition, with emphasis on Malfunction Investigations.
* Ammunition Expert in a broad range of Army conventional ordnance, both lethal and non-lethal, used all over the world by all services, as well as foreign countries.
* Certifiable expert at investigating and resolving Ammunition Malfunctions, having successfully conducted hundreds of malfunction investigations, both in the U.S. and in foreign countries, that have saved soldier's lives and salvaged millions of rounds of ammunition that otherwise would have had to been destroyed.
* Broad and thorough technical knowledge of military ammunition items, as well as related aspects such as TDP (Technical Data Packages), munitions manufacturing processes, Quality Control procedures and problems, military soldier training and combat doctrine, field logistical readiness ideology, demilitarization, Safety, and much more.
* Additionally served post-retirement from ARDEC for 6 years as Senior Technical Expert for the Dept. of the Army Project Manager's Office for Maneuver Ammunition Systems (2008 to 2014) for Small Caliber, Medium Caliber, and Tank Ammunition.
* Excellent writing, speaking, and cognitive skills to go with extensive knowledge (technical and corporate) on a wide array of ammunition and ammunition issues.
* Initiated Expert Witness and Ammunition Consulting Service in 2003, and has successfully provided technical consultant and expert witness services to military, legal, private, and corporate clients, both in the United States and Oversea foreign countries. Activities range from the largest corporations and manufacturers of ammunition, defending themselves from multi-million dollar lawsuits, to private individuals with ammunition and explosives legal or technical problems, both plaintiff and defendant, on a variety of ammo.
* Demonstrated Expert Witness capabilities via cases that required giving Depositions, preparing Expert Witness papers/documents, preparing Technical papers and analyses for use in legal arguments, and being involved in actual trial as Expert Witness.
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Specializing In
| Hand Grenades > Fragmentation > Concussion > Diversionary > Flash Bang > Non-lethal | Small Caliber > 5.56mm to .50 Cal > Handguns > Automatic weapons | |
| Rockets > Anti Tank > Aircraft fired | Pyrotechnics > Signals > Flares >Simulators | |
| 40mm Ammo > Rifle fired > Cannon fired | Non Lethal Ammo > Military > Police > Commercial | |
| Other Ammunition > Artillery > Mortars > Explosives |
CONSULTING service provided to military legal counsel at U.S. Marine Corps, Miramar MCB, California regarding prosecution of criminal charge of attempted murder via Hand Grenade by a Marine. Legal Counsel needed an expert determination as to whether fragments recovered at the crime scene (overseas) were from an American M67 Hand Grenade or a foreign made grenade. This was conclusively determined on-site by Mr. Di Ricco in a short period of time, and the analysis/conclusion was used to address the Military Court inquiry in its proceedings.
EXPERT WITNESS with TECHNICAL ANALYSIS and DEPOSITION provided for a German manufacturer being sued in a civil action by a member of the U.S. Navy Seals for injury sustained using a purported unsafely designed flash-bang hand grenade commercially made by that company. In order to address this charge, the design and manufacturing elements of the German product, a Flash-Bang Diversionary Device, had to be technically compared to the comparative U.S. item, a current use military Stun Grenade, along with an analysis for each regarding their propensity for Human Error to occur. The favorable analysis and the Expert Opinion prepared was instrumental in a successful result for the manufacturer.
EXPERT WITNESS with DEPOSITION and FEDERAL TRIAL SUPPORT services for defendant (one of the largest manufacturers of military ammunition and weapons in the U.S.) provided in an extended and technically complicated civil case by multiple litigants (including 2 deceased) suing the manufacturer of an 81MM Mortar involved in a premature detonation within the mortar tube itself. The successful defense of the case centered on multiple analyses prepared by Mr. Di Ricco involving manufacturing processes and quality control, soldier training, human factors, compilation and summation of historical similar events investigated and their data and conclusions, as well as subject case methodology, findings of the on-site malfunction investigation conducted, program engineering testing, and conclusions made by Dept. of Army engineers and scientists. Mr. Di Ricco was the lead Expert Witness at the federal trial conducted, and, throughout the trial, provided constant opinion of technical aspects of testimony presented by plaintiff counsel's many witnesses as to credibility and scientific fact.
CONSULTING service for plaintiff attorney in civil case filed against the Los Angeles police department for wrongful death of a child in sensational hostage situation with major news coverage involving alleged misapplication and reckless use of commercial Flash-Bang Grenades in closed quarters during rescue attempt. Plaintiff lawyer alleged that use of flash bangs in small enclosed room obfuscated the hostage and kidnapper (her father) and facilitated the accidental shooting and death of the girl in the rescue assault. Consultant services of Mr. Di Ricco were contracted to design and conduct a recreation of the hostage event in detail, and to record via photography and video the effects of smoke produced by the flash bangs in the room, and its possible contribution to the accidental death of the child.
EXPERT OPINION Document provided to a Hong Kong law firm for use in their legal system's civil trial representing a National Chinese mariner severely injured in an accident at sea involving the Hong Kong Marine Police in Hong Kong waters. Police had attempted to intercept the Chinese mariner in rough seas in the dark of night, and fired several commercial Signal Flares in his direction, one of which hit him in the head at close range, severely injuring him. An analysis was made and an Expert Opinion document provided by Mr. Di Ricco to their Legal Court as to the propriety of the use of the flares and the considerations and judgment that should have prevailed in their use under the conditions of the sea at that time, the adequacy of the training provided to the police and the guiding documents that are on board police vessels, as well as alternate choices that could have been made to successfully achieve their objective safely without the devastating result to the Chinese mariner.