Andrew Hatziagelis (right) was sentenced to ten years in prison, and his older brother, Angelo (left), was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for possessing bombs, assault weapons, and ghost guns in their Long Island City apartment. Courtesy of the DA’s office
June 2, 2025 By Bill Parry
Two Long Island City brothers were sentenced in Queens Supreme Court on Monday for possessing bombs, assault weapons, 3-D printed ghost guns, and ammunition in their apartment across Vernon Boulevard from the Ravenswood Generating Station.
Instructions for making a variety of bombs and anarchist propaganda were also discovered during a court-authorized search of the residence in January 2024. Andrew Hatziagelis, 41, and Angelo Hatziagelis, 52, both of 36th Avenue, pleaded guilty last month to multiple criminal possession of a weapon charges and manufacture, transportation, disposition, and defacement of weapons.
The brother’s apartment on 36th Avenue at Vernon Boulevard was raided on Jan. 17, 2024, and anarchist propaganda was found among the arsenal of weapons and instructions for making a variety of bombs. Via Google Maps
Andrew Hatziagelis additionally pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree with intent to use unlawfully.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Toni Cimino sentenced Andrew Hatziagelis to ten years in prison and Angelo to four years in prison, each to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.
According to the charges, members of the Queens District Attorney’s Crime Strategies and Intelligence Bureau launched an investigation into the purchase of firearm component parts and the manufacture of ghost guns by the Hatziagelis brothers, dating back to September 2020.
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz displayed the seized weapons, explosive devices, and 3-D printed ghost gun pistols in January 2024. Courtesy of the DA’s office
Members of the NYPD joined the investigation to help gather additional data, and a search warrant was secured. On January 17, 2024, members of the Queens DA’s office, the NYPD, Homeland Security and the New York State Police executed a search warrant at the apartment the brothers share with their mother and another brother at the intersection of 36th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard across from Big Allis, the name locals use for the massive power plant on the East River.
The brothers were arrested and investigators seized operational improvised explosive devices (IEDs), a partially constructed trip-wire IED, two loaded AR-15 style ghost guns, 9mm ghost gun pistols, 9mm 3D-printed ghost gun pistols, more than 600 rounds of ammunition for each of the firearms, body armor, high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, metal knuckles, a radio set to the frequency of the 114th Precinct in Astoria, nine pyrotechnic smoke bombs, a 3D printer and numerous notebooks containing instruction on the manufacture of explosive devices and anarchist related propaganda. A “hit list.” with “cops, judges, politicians, celebrities” and “banker scum” scrawled on it was also found in their apartment.
A crude hit list was found among anarchist propaganda. Photo courtesy of the DA’s Office
Upon execution of the search warrant at the apartment building, members of the NYPD Bomb Squad were called to respond and subsequently evacuated the building due to the discovery of the live IEDs.
“The investigative efforts of my Crime Strategies and Intelligence Bureau, along with the work of our law enforcement partners at the NYPD, Homeland Security, and the State Police, led to the discovery of an arsenal of weapons inside the defendant’s apartment in early 2024,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “There was even a ‘hit list’ with unspecified ‘cops, judges, politicians, celebrities’ written on it. The seizure of these guns and explosive devices averted a potential tragedy. Today, justice was served, and Andrew and Angelo Hatziagelis will go to prison for their actions.”
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