Posted on: August 10, 2026 08:30 AM

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Westbury man sentenced to six years in prison for selling narcotics and possessing explosives

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Westbury man was sentenced today to six years in prison for selling deadly narcotics, including fentanyl cut with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer also known by its street name “tranq,” and possessing additional drugs and explosives in the basement of his home.

Anthony Gianatiempo, 35, pleaded guilty on June 2, 2026, before Judge Caryn Fink to Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the Third Degree (a B felony) and Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the First Degree (a C violent felony).

The defendant was sentenced today to six years in prison and five years post release supervision.

“Inside Anthony Gianatiempo’s basement was a dangerous collection of deadly drugs and hazardous explosives that had the potential to injure or kill Nassau County residents,” said DA Donnelly. “We have worked with our law enforcement partners for years to end the opioid epidemic on Long Island and save lives. Putting criminals like Gianatiempo behind bars – who value profit above all else while they poison our communities – is a small victory in our continued fight. But that fight also requires decisive legislative action. I once again urge our legislators to revisit New York’s drug laws and finally list xylazine and all nitazene compounds as scheduled controlled substances in the Public Health Law. Give us the tools to stop the spread of these substances in the illicit drug market and hold dealers accountable.”

DA Donnelly said that, on June 18, 2025, the defendant left his residence on Cantiague Lane in Westbury on an electric bicycle and went to Cantiague Park to sell various narcotics to an individual in the park.

In exchange for $820, the defendant sold a package containing a small clear plastic bag of a green powdery substance, later confirmed to contain heroin, cocaine, and other cutting agents; one clear plastic bag containing a white and gray powdery substance determined to be fentanyl, ketamine, and heroin; one clear plastic bag containing a white powdery substance, later confirmed to be cocaine; and several white tablets containing alprazolam.

A very dangerous veterinary tranquilizer, xylazine, also known as “tranq,” was also present in the white and gray powdery substance that tested positive for fentanyl.

Based on the investigation, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s residence on August 5, 2025, by NCDA, the Nassau County Police Department (“NCPD”), and the DEA, which recovered:

63 grams of heroin

39 grams of fentanyl

69 grams of methamphetamine

Cocaine

Ketamine

Brown cardboard tubes with fuses wrapped in blue and black tape and a bottle wrapped in black electrical tape with a fuse found in the defendant’s basement bedroom

Smokeless powder attached to the defendant’s bedroom door; and

Counterfeit U.S. currency

The narcotics were found throughout the basement, in Gianatiempo’s room, and in the workstation area outside of his bedroom door in the basement.

Along with the illegal narcotics found in the defendant’s home, 15 grams of N-Pyrrolidino Isotonitazene, a nitazene compound that is a dangerous and powerful synthetic opioid, was recovered in a black handbag on the floor near the defendant’s bedroom.

Under New York State’s Public Health Law, N-Pyrrolidino Isotonitazene is not listed in the Schedule I through IV, and therefore, cannot be charged unless it is found mixed with another already scheduled substance. Three other nitazenes – Clonitazene, Etonitazene, and Isotonitazene – are currently listed in the Public Health Law. Several other known substances classified as nitazenes are also excluded from the current law.

Gianatiempo was arrested in Hicksville by members of the NCPD on August 5, 2025.

From DA