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Staten Island's 'Teflon Tom' Live-Blogged Standoff With Police

By Nicholas Rizzi | July 29, 2015 8:31am
 Thomas Santagata, 29, who goes by
Thomas Santagata, 29, who goes by "Teflon Tom" on social media, was charged with menacing, harassment and criminal possession of a weapon.
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Twitter/TeflonTom

GRANT CITY — An ex-con who calls himself "Teflon Tom" on social media gave live Facebook updates on his standoff with police before being arrested this month.

Thomas Santagata, 29, was arrested twice last week after he threatened his neighbor with a knife. Police later found ninja stars, knives, brass knuckles, 265 Alprazolam pills, 78 packs of cigarettes with Virginia stamps and a stolen FDNY laptop in his car and home, prosecutors said.

The latest run-in with the law for Santagata, who was charged with kidnapping last year, began on July 21 after he threatened his 61-year-old neighbor with a knife on Cascade Street and told him "I'm going to stab you, I'm going to kill you," prosecutors said.

The next day, Santagata called his neighbor, who he's had a long dispute with, at his job and threatened to fight him, a law enforcement source said.

When the neighbor came home, Santagata ran into his home and his grandmother called the police, thinking he was being threatened, the source said.

Santagata barricaded himself inside the house and had a nearly two-hour standoff with police, the Staten Island Advance first reported.

While in his home, he took to Facebook to post about the police "trying to break into my house."

"GOT 50 PLUS PIGS TRYING TO BREAK INTO MY HOUSE! I LOVE THIS SH-T, SO EXCITING...TEN DUDES TRY TO JUMP ME AND I HAVE TO GO INTO CUSTODY? GUESS IT IS CAUSE MY INFAMOUS REPUTATION," he wrote on Facebook, where he goes by "Teflon Tom."

He was arrested on July 22 and charged with menacing and harassment for the incident, according to the Staten Island District Attorney's office.

His bail was set at $2,500 and he's due back in court on Aug. 1, according to online court records.

Police returned to Santagata's home on Thursday with a search warrant and found the weapons, the cigarettes and a ledger keeping track of sales. The FDNY laptop had been reported stolen from Staten Island University Hospital in November 2013, prosecutors said.

He was arraigned again on Friday and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of stolen property and possession or sale of untaxed cigarettes, the DA said.

His bail was set at $20,000 for the weapons and cigarettes arrest and is due back in court on Wednesday in connection to that incident, according to online court records.

His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Santagata has been arrested several times and was sentenced to 60 days in jail after he was convicted of attempted criminal possession of a weapon in February, prosecutors said.