Pair of cops honored for outstanding arrests at 62nd Precinct’s April meeting

May 2, 2018 Meaghan McGoldrick
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Another pair of praiseworthy police officers were lauded as Cops of the Month at the 62nd Precinct Community Council’s April meeting, held on Tuesday, April 17 at the Federation of Italian American Center (8711 18th Avenue).

The pair – Police Officers George Astaves and Anthony Brucato – were awarded for going above and beyond and for making incredible arrests.

According to Captain Anthony Longobardi, the precinct’s commanding officer, “The commonality in our cops of the month this month are that, one, they went above and beyond; two, each were responsible for getting drugs and weapons off the street and three, the people that they put in jail were like the lowest slime possible.”

First awarded was Astaves who, on March 14 was on routine patrol when he observed three men involved in a street fight. He was able to arrest all three men, Longobardi said, and performed a background check on them, at which time he noticed that one of the perps had 35 prior arrests on multiple charges, among them, weapon charges.

“He then obtained a search warrant to search the man’s vehicle,” the captain said, adding that, when Astaves executed the search warrant, he uncovered five Ziploc bags of marijuana, 10 Ziploc bags of cocaine and 285 Oxycontin pills.

“When you keep these drugs away from the drug dealers, you keep them away from the streets,” Longobardi said.

Next up was Brucato who, on March 3, conducted a search warrant that came from Kings County Criminal Court. Upon executing the warrant, the captain said, four individuals were arrested and contraband was recovered. Amongst the contraband were a semi-automatic handgun, a switchblade, 10 grams of cocaine, eight ounces of marijuana and $5,000 in drug money.

The main individual arrested, Longobardi said, was a 26-year-old man and gang member with 42 prior arrests. The second individual was also 26 years old and had 24 prior arrests.

“Upon further investigation – and I was there, so I can tell you that this person was very, very nervous – this particular person was wanted for the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Tennessee who, the day after she was raped, killed herself,” the captain told the room. “He fled from Tennessee and was hiding in New York City.”

“I’m happy to say that the rapist is in Tennessee facing charges down there,” Longobardi went on, adding that, thanks to Brucato, he will finally be brought to justice.

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