News · Press Release

“Young Gun” D’Esposito Under Fire

New reporting today from the New York Daily News revealed that a Republican House candidate put Long Islanders in danger due to his inability to follow NYPD rules of conduct.

Republican candidate Anthony D’Esposito “failed” to secure his loaded department-issued firearm, leading to a criminal being able to steal it. 

“The NRCC might’ve shot themselves in the foot by choosing Anthony D’Esposito as one of their ‘Young Gun’ candidates,” said DCCC spokesperson Nebeyatt Betre. “Long Island voters want a responsible representative in Congress, not a reckless GOP extremist with such little regard for people’s safety.”

Read the key highlights from report below:

Daily News: Retired NYPD and GOP congressional hopeful Anthony D’Esposito is in the hot seat again for losing his gun
Michael Gartland, New York Daily News
Oct 10, 2022

Meet the “Young Gun” cop who couldn’t pack his piece straight.

A retired New York City police detective running for Congress on Long Island was disciplined by the NYPD for leaving his gun unattended in a car and working as a DJ without police department permission, the Daily News has learned.

Anthony D’Esposito, a Republican, is vying to fill the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Kathleen Rice, who announced earlier this year she would not seek re-election. His main opponent is Laura Gillen, a Democrat and former Town of Hempstead supervisor.

The former cop has made law and order a centerpiece of his campaign and was named a “Young Gun” by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, according to his campaign website.

But according to NYPD records obtained by The News, D’Esposito struggled to follow the department’s own internal rules on more than one occasion.

In 2015, the former detective in Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct “failed to safeguard” his department-issued firearm, which was stolen from a vehicle he left it in.

D’Esposito was later found guilty of failing to secure the gun and forced to forfeit 20 vacation days as a result, records show.

That wasn’t the only internal NYPD probe he was subjected to, though.

An internal report noted that he “wrongfully” worked as a disc jockey and served booze at an establishment licensed by the New York State Liquor Authority “without authority or permission to do so.”

Gillen suggested in a statement to The News that such a claim is laughable in light of his past internal violations.

“Who leaves a loaded gun in an unlocked car, unattended, for a criminal to steal?” she said. “D’Esposito is proclaiming himself to be an ‘expert’ on crime, yet he can’t even keep his own gun out of the hands of a criminal.”

Gillen went on to tar her rival’s conduct as “reckless,” saying it “makes it clear that he does not take gun safety seriously and would be just another extreme Republican who votes with the NRA and against common sense gun safety laws.”

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