A veteran NYPD detective was busted this week for manufacturing ghost guns – and stashing “a small army’s worth” of unregistered weapons inside his Staten Island home, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Det. Third Grade Anthony Sciortino, 35 – a 13-year veteran now assigned to the department’s 120th Precinct – was arrested Tuesday and arraigned on a 16-count indictment, with allegations dating back to 2020, the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office said.
During a raid of Sciortino’s Prince’s Bay home, officers found 19 illegal firearms – including a machine gun and an assault weapon, according to prosecutors.
Four of the weapons were untraceable ghost guns without serial numbers on their lower receivers, the DA’s office said.
Sciortino also allegedly did not report the make, model, caliber and serial number of the other 15 guns to the NYPD within 10 days of obtaining them – which is required by law, officials said.
“Purposefully failing to report these firearms to the NYPD, these illegal and dangerous weapons could have exacted untold amounts of harm to our fellow Staten Islanders,” District Attorney Michael E. McMahon said in a statement.
“As Mr. Sciortino knows well, ghost guns are illegal, are incredibly difficult to track by law enforcement when used in the commission of a crime, and have no place on Staten Island.”
Sciortino also allegedly used “his position as an NYPD detective to access personnel records for unauthorized, unofficial, and nefarious purposes,” the DA charged.
Sciortino faces raps including manufacture of weapons and dangerous instruments and appliances; failure to report the sale or registration of a firearm; falsifying business records; and computer trespass, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors requested that he be held on $50,000 cash or $150,000 bond at his arraignment Wednesday — but Judge John McPadden instead granted him supervised release.
Sciortino joined the NYPD in July of 2011 and ascended to the rank of detective in December of 2017, department records show.
He was suspended without pay following his arrest, an NYPD spokesperson said. He is due back in court Jan. 16, records show.
“While all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Sciortino is alleged to have deceitfully amassed a small army’s worth of unregistered weapons in addition to personally manufacturing multiple unlicensed, unregistered, and untraceable ghost guns and assault weapons,” McMahon said.
“Simply put, this brazen act of misconduct undermines the noble mission of law enforcement, weakens the public’s trust in the criminal justice system, and makes those we are sworn to protect and serve less safe.”
