Retired NYPD Detective Charged in Manhattan-to-Staten Island Drug Ring

A retired NYPD detective was among four people charged in a drug trafficking operation accused of moving fentanyl, heroin and crack cocaine from Manhattan to Staten Island, New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday.

Philip Pietrunti, 60, a former member of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit, was arrested along with 44-year-old Shanta Sawyer, identified as the operation’s alleged ringleader, his wife Sophia Abinacer, 37, and 35-year-old Michael Giordano. Prosecutors say the group conspired to supply illegal narcotics to buyers in Staten Island.

The arrests followed a six-month wiretap investigation that ended last week with raids on the defendants’ homes. Investigators say they found at least 13 unlicensed firearms inside Pietrunti’s house, according to a report by the New York Post.

At Sawyer and Abinacer’s residence in Washington Heights, where two young children were present, authorities reported finding large quantities of fentanyl, crack cocaine and heroin, along with a pill-pressing machine. A search of Giordano’s home turned up a small lockbox of crack cocaine, 40 envelopes containing heroin and cocaine, two scales and drug packaging materials.

Wiretapped calls described in the Post’s reporting allegedly capture Sawyer discussing a cocaine sale with Pietrunti for resale. In one exchange, Pietrunti allegedly asked, “You can’t wait until you get off from work?” to which Sawyer replied, “No, because I’m selling to someone at work.”

In late August, Sawyer and Pietrunti were allegedly overheard planning to meet at a Wendy’s to sell cocaine and Xanax pills, with Sawyer reportedly telling Pietrunti the pills were fake. In early October, investigators intercepted a call in which Sawyer allegedly arranged for Abinacer to meet a buyer for a deal involving drugs referred to by the street terms “dog food,” “G’s,” “Hard,” “Candy” and “Pebbles” — slang for heroin, crack cocaine and fentanyl. The next day, police reportedly observed Abinacer arrive in Huguenot, Staten Island, to meet the customer before driving back to Manhattan.

Separate calls allegedly revealed plans between Sawyer and Giordano to sell cocaine and fentanyl from Giordano’s home. Police reportedly watched a customer pull up to the residence, with Giordano leaning into the vehicle before Sawyer left the scene.

Richmond County District Attorney Michael McMahon said the case involved a conspiracy spanning multiple boroughs.

“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,” McMahon said.

“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,” McMahon added.

Pietrunti has previously faced legal trouble. In 2015, he was accused of firing a gun at an excavator during a dispute with a construction company he had worked for — his third arrest that year, according to a report by the Staten Island Advance.

Pietrunti was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Friday and ordered held on $100,000 bail. Sawyer’s bail was set at $250,000. Abinacer and Giordano were released without bail.