Hit man suspect's friend: 'He thought I was joking'

When a friend called Anthony Battisti with news of an attack on his ex-wife, Battisti expressed disbelief, his friend testified Tuesday though prosecutors have charged Battisti was the one who hired a hit man to kill her in their Franklin Square home.

Battisti was sick of paying alimony and tired of fighting for custody of his children and wanted his ex-wife Patricia dead, according to prosecutors.

Under questioning by prosecutor Carolyn Kelly, Dante Valentini, a friend of Battisti's who like him is an NYPD detective and volunteer firefighter with the Franklin Square-Munson Fire Department, testified that on the evening of Jan. 23, 2009, he received a dispatcher text message about an incident at an address that he recognized as Battisti's home address.

"I called Anthony," Valentini said. "I advised him what I heard. 'Supposedly Patty's been attacked.' He said, 'Get out of here . . . ' He thought I was joking."

Battisti, 42, of Franklin Square, accused of promising to pay Timothy Gersbeck, 37, of Levittown, $5,000 to kill his ex-wife, is charged with first-degree attempted murder and second-degree conspiracy. If convicted, Battisti could face life in prison. He is free on $500,000 bail.

Gersbeck was caught only moments after he tried to stab Patricia Battisti with a sharpened screwdriver outside her Franklin Square home, prosecutors said. Patricia Battisti's boyfriend and 19-year-old son were inside the house at the time, and chased and caught him. Patricia Battisti, 44, sustained minor wound but survived the attack.

Prosecutor Melissa Lewis showed the jury Tuesday clips of a security video taken inside the Franklin Square-Munson firehouse on Jan. 16, 2009, a week before Patricia Battisti was attacked.

Nassau County police officer Natalie Coppola testified that she stopped by the firehouse that day to use the restroom and walked by Gersbeck sitting at the firehouse bar, with Battisti standing behind the bar. In the silent video, the two men are seen chatting with each other and passerby, including other police officers at the fire house, for at least half an hour.

Coppola's testimony will resume Wednesday with cross-examination by Battisti's lawyer, Stephen Scaring of Garden City.

Gersbeck, who is expected to testify for the prosecution at the trial, pleaded guilty and will be sentenced to at least 8 years in prison, according to Lewis.