Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Antonio Olmeda was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison after a jury conviction for attempted murder and other crimes. The defendant shot at two New York City police officers, who were attempting to question him after spotting the man on a Jackson Heights corner wearing a disguise, including a fake mustache.

District Attorney Katz said: “An attack on police officers patrolling the streets as part of their sworn civic duty is an attack on the very fabric of a civilized society. It undermines the safety, trust and order that hold our communities together. This defendant was dressed in a cartoonish disguise – including a fake mustache, fedora and trench coat at four in the afternoon – when members of the NYPD stopped him. Within seconds, the defendant pulled out a revolver and fired at the two officers. This case is a reminder of the dangers that police officers face every day in New York City. I thank the members of the jury for their service.”

Olmeda, 66, of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, was convicted after eight minutes of deliberations in June 2025. The jury found the defendant guilty of  two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, attempted aggravated assault of a police officer and attempted assault in the first degree. Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced Olmeda today to serve 35 years to life in prison.

Due to a procedural issue involving the defendant’s sentence on a federal matter, the state judge was unable to honor the defendant’s original plea of guilty and the case was returned to Supreme Court for trial.

District Attorney Katz said that, according to trial records, on December 11, 2011, shortly before 4 p.m., Police Officers Stephen Danisi and Matthew Ferrara were on foot patrol near 37-55 76^th Street in Jackson Heights. The officers were alerted of  a suspicious man in a long trench coat, fedora hat, glasses and a fake mustache and  beard.

According to trial testimony, the officers observed Olmeda with his hands in his pockets and asked him to show his hands. When the defendant refused, Officer Danisi placed his hands on Olmeda’s back where he could feel a bullet resistant vest under the trench coat. Within seconds, Olmeda freed himself from the officer’s hands, stepped back, turned and pulled out a 38-caliber Taurus revolver. He fired three shots at the officers.

According to trial records, the defendant then ran from the scene – throwing off the hat, glasses, fake moustache and beard. These items were recovered and swabbed for DNA. The sample collected from these items was a match for Olmeda’s DNA, which was on file due to a previous conviction.

Olmeda was apprehended on December 19, 2011, when he was parking a vehicle on East 16^th Street in Manhattan. At the time of his arrest, a .38-caliber revolver with two live rounds of ammunition and three spent shells were recovered from the automobile.

Assistant District Attorneys Kanella Georgopoulos and Jennie Evangelista of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Shawn Clark.