Anthony Gianatiempo, of Westbury, gets 6 years in prison after guilty plea in drugs, explosives case
Officials said Anthony Gianatiempo, of Westbury, had a variety of illegal narcotics, counterfeit money and explosives. Credit: NCPD
A Westbury man was sentenced on Friday to 6 years’ imprisonment for selling drugs, including fentanyl, and for possessing explosives in his home’s basement, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
The man, 35-year-old Anthony Gianatiempo, had pleaded guilty on June 2 to felony counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance and attempted criminal possession of a weapon, the office wrote in a news release.
His plea was a reversal of his not guilty plea in December to a 32-count indictment for which he had faced up to 25 years in prison, according to previous Newsday reporting.
Nicole Turso, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the case was resolved by a negotiated plea.
A message left with the office of Gianatiempo’s lawyer, Guy J. Allen, was not returned on Friday afternoon.
The district attorney’s office said the fentanyl Gianatiempo sold was cut with the veterinary tranquilizer xylazine, also known under its street name "tranq," which is not itself illegal, even for improper purposes, but it is if mixed with certain controlled substances.
The case dates back to June 18 of last year when Gianatiempo left his home, on Cantiague Lane, on an e-bike and went to sell drugs in the park to someone, the release says. That someone was an undercover cop, Newsday previously reported.
In August, the authorities raided the house and arrested him and found heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine, explosives, such as cardboard tubes with fuses, and counterfeit currency, the release says.
The Nassau district attorney, Anne T. Donnelly, says she wants substances like xylazine to be illegal except when authorized. Other officials around the county also have called for stricter regulation.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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