An ex-NYPD detective was among four people busted in a conspiracy to funnel hoards of drugs from Manhattan to Staten Island, according to authorities.
Alleged ringleader Shanta Sawyer, 44, is charged with conspiring with his wife, Sophia Abinacer, 37, Michael Giordano, 35, and retired detective Philip Pietrunti, 60, to supply illegal narcotics to dozens of Staten Island customers, the city’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday.
The crew was arrested last Thursday after a six-month wiretap investigation and a raid of Sawyer and Abinacer’s Washington Heights residence and the Great Kills and Eltingville homes of Giordano and Pietrunti, investigators said.
Cops uncovered large quantities of fentanyl, crack cocaine, and heroin from a backpack and safe, and a pill-pressing machine while searching the couple’s Washington Heights abode, where two young children were also present.
Inside Giordano’s house, cops also discovered a small lockbox of crack cocaine, 40 envelopes with heroin, cocaine, two scales, and drug packaging materials.
Officers then recovered at least 13 unlicensed firearms inside the home of Pietrunti, a retired NYPD Emergency Service Unit member.
Investigators unveiled the drug conspiracy through intercepted phone conversations, including one on May 18, in which Sawyer spoke with Pietrunti about selling cocaine to him for resale.
“You can’t wait until you get off from work?” Pietrunti allegedly asked. “No, because I’m selling to someone at work,” Sawyer said.
In late August, the pair also discussed meeting at a Wendy’s restaurant to conduct a sale of cocaine and “Xannies,” or Xanax pills. Sawyer allegedly informed the ex-cop that the pills were counterfeits.
On Oct. 2, investigators intercepted a call in which Sawyer planned to send his wife, Abinacer, to meet a buyer for a narcotics transaction of “dog food,” “G’s,” “Hard,” “Candy,” and “Pebbles” — known to refer to heroin, crack cocaine, and fentanyl.
Cops spotted her the following day arriving in Huguenot, Staten Island, to meet with the customer before driving back to her Manhattan home.
Multiple phone calls also revealed that Sawyer and Giordano planned to sell cocaine and fentanyl to another customer from Giordano’s Great Kills house.
Police later saw the customer pull up in front of the residence, while Giordano came out and leaned into the vehicle. Sawyer later left the house.
“The defendants involved in this takedown are alleged to have participated in a multi-borough criminal conspiracy that sought to flood our borough with dangerous narcotics, including large quantities of fentanyl, heroin and oxycodone,” Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon said in a statement.
“One of the defendants, Philip Pietrunti, a Staten Islander and retired NYPD Emergency Service Unit member, is accused of amassing a small army’s worth of illegal firearms, jeopardizing our borough’s public safety and betraying his oath to protect the community he once served.”
Last week’s bust wasn’t Pietrunti’s encounter with the other side of the justice system.
In 2015, he was accused of shooting a gun at an excavator vehicle over a job dispute with a construction company he formerly worked for — his third arrest of the year, the Staten Island Advance reported.
The four alleged dealers were arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday, where Sawyer’s bail was set at $250,000. Pietruniti was ordered to be held on $100,000 bail.
Abinacer and Giordano, however, were released without bail, police said.
“This six-month investigation is a reminder of the NYPD’s relentless efforts to get guns and drugs off our streets,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said.
“These defendants flooded Upper Manhattan and Staten Island with dangerous drugs, but thanks to the tireless work of NYPD investigators, this trafficking network has been shut down for good. We appreciate the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office and the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office partnership in making our communities safer.”
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