An ex-con admitted he knifed his neighbor to death in a Brooklyn supportive housing building and stabbed a pit bull during a bloody robbery, prosecutors allege.
Anthony Sabato. 37, repeatedly stabbed the victim, Thomas Machalchick, 37, after demanding he hand over his phone and other items, according to a criminal complaint.
Sabato was arraigned Sunday in Brooklyn Criminal Court on murder, robbery and aggravated cruelty to animals charges. He was ordered held without bail.
Cops say he repeatedly stabbed Machalchick on the 28th floor of a building on Sands St. near Jay St. in downtown Brooklyn just after 8 a.m. Friday. He also plunged the same knife into the shoulder of a pitbull, wounding it.
The dog belonged to neither the suspect nor the victim, police sources said.
The stabber and his girlfriend ran to a different apartment in the building, which provides long-term housing for formerly homeless people, and locked themselves inside, barricading the door, the Daily News previously reported. They surrendered shortly after police arrived.
According to the criminal complaint, video footage shows the victim carrying a bag shortly before the shooting. Sabato is later seen walking on video walking into his apartment with the victim’s bag, and a knife in his hand.
When police searched Sabato’s apartment, they found the bag inside, the complaint alleges.
Sabato made video-taped statements admitting to the stabbing and identified himself as the person on the video, the complaint alleges.
Public records show Sabato has a history of violence. In 2018, he was sentenced to two to four years behind bars for attempted felony assault and weapon possession.
He’s slated to return to court Wednesday.
With Rocco Parascandola
