Nassau County District Attorney Denis Dillon announced that Joseph Cucciniello, 32, of East Meadow was sentenced to nine years in prison by Nassau County Court Judge Joseph Calabrese. Cucciniello was arrested in July 29, 2003 for a series of transactions in which he illegally sold semi-automatic weapons to an undercover detective.

Cucciniello had pled guilty to the top count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, a D Violent Felony and Attempted Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, an E Violent Felony on September 29, 2004. He received five years imprisonment for the D Violent Felony and four years imprisonment for the E Violent Felony with sentences to run consecutively, making it a nine year sentence.

"The proliferation of illegal firearms continues to pose a very serious threat to the safety of our communities," Dillon said. "For his own financial gain, this defendant was jeopardizing the lives of Nassau County residents by putting more illegal weapons on our streets. At significant risk to their own safety, undercover detectives will continue to work with our office to infiltrate the illegal weapons market.

"The case began when my office developed information that the defendant was dealing in illegal weapons," Dillon said. "As a result, we began an investigation that led to three separate transactions in which the defendant sold a total of six semi-automatic weapons to an undercover detective from the District Attorney's Squad of the Nassau County Police Department. On April 8, 2003 the defendant sold the undercover detective an InterTec 9mm Leger semiautomatic pistol, ammunition and three clips, for a price of $1,100. On May 12, 2003 the defendant sold the same undercover detective a 9mm Ruger P94 semi-automatic pistol, along with three ammunition clips, two boxes of ammunition and a gun cleaning kit for a total of $750. On June 9, 2003 for a total price of $3,500 he sold the detective four more guns: a .40 caliber Taurus semi-automatic with one ammunition clip; a .40 caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol with one ammunition clip; a 9mm Cobray semi-automatic pistol with one ammunition clip; and a 9mm InterTec Luger semi-automatic pistol with three ammunition clips. The defendant also sold the undercover detective a box of ammunition he described as 'cop-killer bullets.' The serial numbers were defaced on all but the Glock weapon.

"On July 28, 2003 the defendant agreed to sell the same undercover detective a .45 caliber handgun and discussed selling him bulletproof vests. A .45 caliber handgun and ammunition were recovered from the defendant's house on the night of his arrest."

Dillon thanked Director of Probation John Carway and the Probation Department for their assistance in this investigation.