Sentencing for banana mogul from Long Island postponed

The sentencing of Long Island Banana Co. owner Thomas Hoey for assaulting his girlfriend was postponed until Dec. 19 by a state judge in Manhattan who said he wants Hoey sentenced on a pending federal drug case first.

Hoey, 46, of Garden City, was convicted in May of assault, despite the girlfriend's refusal to testify against him, and of tampering with evidence. Last week, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to distributing drugs at a 2009 sex party where a woman died of an overdose, and suborning perjury.

The ex-mogul, whose family company was a major produce distributor on Long Island, has been held without bail in a federal jail since December. His federal sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Dan Fitzgerald said the length of Hoey's federal sentence will help determine the need for a protective order that might prohibit contact with the girlfriend in the state case.