TUCKAHOE – A Great Neck, Long Island man was arrested in Westchester County on weapon possession charges following an investigation into threats made by Matthew Bonanno, 47, against his estranged wife, a Tuckahoe resident, and her family.
The police were contacted by someone who heard the threats and believed Bonanno to be armed. That person may have averted another deadly mass shooting.
On Monday, police responded to the man’s location, Growler’s Beer Bistro at 25 Main Street in Tuckahoe where he was found to be illegally in possession of a loaded semi-automatic handgun. He was taken into custody without incident.
A search of his vehicle turned up five assault rifles, fully loaded with high capacity magazines; three handguns; 29 high capacity loaded magazines; over 1,600 rounds of ammunition; a stun gun; heavy ballistic body armor; ballistic helmet; handcuffs; full head cover face masks; several military-style knives; four sets of brass knuckles; pepper spray fogger; scopes, binoculars and other paraphernalia.
Tuckahoe Police, working with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, obtained search warrants for Bananno’s residences – one in the Town of Mount Pleasant and one in Great Neck.
Three additional unlicensed handguns were recovered in Mount Pleasant. In the Long Island residence, police found another large cache of assault rifles, a shotgun, handguns, high capacity magazines, body armor, hundreds of rounds of ammo, smoke grenades and other weapons. Those weapons were turned over to Nassau County Police.
Bonanno was remanded to the Westchester County Jail without bail.
