Antonio Bertolini, convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Syosset fireman Paul Behr, was sentenced on Thursday, December 15, to 28 1/2 years to life in prison.

On August 22, 1997, the 32-year-old Huntington man watched as his 25-year-old accomplice Christopher Rustici allegedly fired one fatal shot into Behr, shortly after the fireman stepped outside of his Syosset home on Fourth Place. The gun used in the shooting belonged to Bertolini.

At the time, Behr was living with his girlfriend Linda Coloccia, although she remained married to her estranged husband Frank Coloccia, Bertolini's uncle. Police believe that Frank Coloccia paid his nephew $3,000 to physically injure Behr. Coloccia remains a suspect, but has not been charged with a crime.

At trial this past fall, Bertolini claimed that he only meant to frighten Behr, and that he brought a gun with him solely for his own protection. He testified that Rustici, growing nervous and excited, took the gun from him and fired the weapon.

Defense attorney Dennis Lemke asked the jury to convict Bertolini on the lesser charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally-negligent homicide. The jury, however, was unmoved, agreeing with Nassau County Assistant District Attorney Joy Watson that bringing a gun in the first place constituted a depraved indifference to Behr's life. On September 30, the jury returned a guilty verdict.

Rustici, the alleged triggerman, is awaiting trial.