Nassau County prosecutor Anne Donnelly said Monday that a Sands Point cardiologist hired James Kalamaras to set fire to his former partner’s medical practice in Great Neck to eliminate his competition.
“Anthony Moschetto wanted to burn his competition, Dr. Martin Handler, out of business. And he was willing to pay to get it done,” Donnelly told jurors, according to Newsday. ““Money was discussed. Money was promised. And money was paid to this defendant.”
Kalamaras, a 42-year-old resident of Suffolk County, is on trial facing charges of third-degree arson, third-degree burglary, and second-degree criminal mischief after he was allegedly hired by Moschetto to set fire to a rival doctor’s office.
County prosecutors said they had been investigating a high frequency of Oxycodone prescriptions Moschetto had been writing when they discovered a link between the cardiologist and an unsolved arson plot in Great Neck in February.
Kalamaras and James Chmela, 43, have been accused of trying to burn down Heart Diagnostic Imaging in Great Neck on behalf of Moschetto, who once worked at the practice and had allegedly become a rival of Handler, who Moschetto tried to have killed.
Kalamaras faces a top sentence of life in prison if found guilty.
His attorney, Steven Barnwell, criticized the prosecution’s case and questioned how believable the expected testimonies of two men, who the Nassau District Attorney’s office said played a role in the arson, would be, according to Newsday.
Barnwell said Chmela and Nicholas Baialardo, who both pleaded guilty in the arson case and admitted to gun and drug sales, had signed cooperation agreements with prosecutors.
“The guys who sell AK-47s, the guys who contract murder hits on cardiologists, the guys who sell heroin on the streets, are the guys the district attorney wants you to believe to convict Mr. Kalamaras,” Barnwell told jurors.
Baialardo testified that he recruited Kalamaras to set the fire and filled bottles with gasoline and bought a lighter to set fire to Handler’s office, under the direction of Moschetto, according to Newsday.
“I told him I would find somebody to take care of the task and burn the building down for him,” Baialardo said,
He pleaded guilty to drug and gun charges and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Donnelly said Chmela would testify that he gave Kalamaras the key to the office, as well as the gasoline-filled bottles and lighter Baialardo purchased to set fire to the building.
Baialardo also testified Tuesday that prior to the arson, he and Moschetto had struck a deal to sell guns and oxycodone pills.
“Dr. Moschetto was hurting for money and he said he has an unlimited amount of guns and that if I could move them, we could split the profit,” he said.
In November, Moschetto pleaded not guilty following a grand jury’s 77-count indictment against him including charges of first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, four counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, and second-degree conspiracy.
Following Moschetto’s arrest in April, investigators discovered a weapons cache of more than 100 guns and various knives, swords, axes and a hand grenade in a secret room in his home that was controlled by a switch-activated bookshelf, prosecutors said.
Nassau County DA Madeline Singas said some of the weapons found by investigators were illegal, but Moschetto did own some legal weapons.
The investigation began following various drug purchases by undercover Nassau County Police and Drug Enforcement Agency officers that were then linked to Moschetto, prosecutors said.
Donnelly has said the Great Neck arson, thought to have occurred on or around Feb. 22, was extinguished quickly and with little to no damage to the building because it was set beneath the building’s sprinkler system. There were no people in the building at the time of the fire.
She also said Kalamaras set the fire, while Chmela served as the getaway driver.
