Great Neck Doctor Sentenced in Connection to Murder-for-Hire Scheme

UPDATED at 4:15 p.m with revisions: Nassau County District Attorney's Office released a correction stating that the Sands Point doctor was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiring to seriously injure, not kill, the rival cardiologist. Revisions have been made where they apply:
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A doctor from Sands Point who authorities say conspired to assault and possibly kill a rival doctor in a reported murder-for-hire scheme was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

Dr. Anthony Moschetto, 56, will also serve five years of post-release supervision. The NCDA first recommended that Moschetto serve 12 years in prison. The sentencing will lead to the suspension of his medical license and DEA-prescribing privileges.

Moschetto was called a “wannabe mafioso in a doctor’s jacket" by U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent Special Agent in Charge James Hunt following the sentencing.

Moschetto was first under investigation by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 2014 for selling Oxycodone pills out of his office in Great Neck, but the investigation escalated into a case involving arson, the sale of drugs and assault weapons, a murder plot and a room filled with weapons that was hidden by a moving bookshelf inside the doctor’s million-dollar home, Nassau County District Attorney’s office said.

The doctor admitted in court to providing money for the arson and assault, how and where the assault should take place, information on the intended victims whereabouts and possessing more than ten illegal weapons, the DA said.

In a recorded conversation that was quoted in court, Moschetto said, “I think if you put him in the hospital for a few months I think we are done. If he’s stupid enough to come out after that then you’ll make more money ‘cause then you have to kill him.”

Moschetto pleaded guilty in October to four of the 77-count indictment that was unsealed in November 2015. The four charges were:

• First-degree criminal possession of a weapon
• Criminal sale of a prescription for a controlled substance
• Third-degree arson
• Fourth-degree conspiracy

Singas said this country is a safer place with Moschetto behind bars. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we stopped this plot which could have seriously injured or killed an innocent man, we shut down an illegal pill distribution scheme and halted the trafficking of illegal assault weapons in our County,” Singas said in a press release. “[Moschetto] was once a respected doctor, but he destroyed his reputation with this despicable, and potentially deadly, plot against a fellow doctor."

Orders of protection were issued for two victims involved in the case and all illegal weapons in Moschetto’s possession will be destroyed. The legal weapons will be turned over to a federal firearms license holder so Moschetto may no longer possess any weapons, the DA said.

A search warrant on Moscehtto’s Sands Point home in April 2015, recovered hundreds of weapons, including hand grenades, knives and guns inside a basement room hidden by a switch-activated, moving bookshelf, the DA said. The amount of weapons found were enough for a small army, Acting Nassau County Police Department Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said.

Undercover detectives bought drugs from Moschetto’s seller on six different occasions from Dec. 2014 to March 2015, the DA said. The Oxycodone pill investigation led to the additional undercover purchases of heroin and two fully loaded assault weapons, police said. An undercover detective also learned about the seller’s pursuit of dynamite to blow up a property believed to be the office building of a rival doctor, police said.

The dispute between Moschetto and his fellow doctor happened several months prior to his arrest, police said. The two doctors worked in the same office building, located at 38 Northern Boulevard in Great Neck. After the dispute, Moschetto moved his offices to a different location in Great Neck, authorities said.

Authorities did not name the fellow doctor, but in 2014, the website of Heart Diagnostic Imaging listed Moschetto as the partner of Dr. Martin H. Handler. The cached version of the website says Moschetto joined Handler in the practice in 1994.

Authorities believe the business dispute is what caused Moschetto to hire two men, James Chmela, of Selden, and Jack Kalamaras, of Suffolk County, to commit arson to the competing cardiologist’s practice around Feb. 22, 2015. Moschetto first planned to purchase dynamite to blow up the doctor’s office, but he decided to have the office set on fire instead, police said.

Authorities were able to quickly extinguish the fire, which damaged the office but caused no injuries.
Moschetto then hired an individual, who was an undercover detective, to assault and possibly kill the competing doctor, authorities say. The detective was paid with blank prescriptions in addition to $5,000 cash to have the doctor beaten and put in the hospital and was then paid $20,000 in cash to have the doctor killed at a later date, police said. Moschetto also asked for the rival doctor’s wife to be beaten if she was present during the first assault, the DA said.

Authorities “stopped a potential murder plot dead in its tracks,” Singas said at a press conference in April 2015.

Police believe the hit on the doctor was to be executed in May 2015. Authorities say they have a video of Moschetto talking about the hire plot, which has not been released to the public.

Moschetto’s attorney Randy Zelin described his client as a well-respected cardiologist whose hobby is his job.
“What he was most concerned about today was his patients,” Zelin told Patch in April 2105 following Moschetto's arrest. “He was most concerned about their reaction, about them feeling comfortable about going to see him. Patients were calling the office all day asking about him. That speaks volume about his character and how he’s viewed in the community.”

Moschetto has been affiliated with St. Francis Hospital for over 20 years.

According to Zelin, Moschetto has no disciplinary history as a doctor. His client grew up in the community that he now lives and works in. “He is not going anywhere,” Zelin said.

Moschetto is the father of two children. He has a significant other who lives with him in his Sands Point home.
Image via NCDA