Former Employee Indicted for Arson That Destroyed Long Island Restaurant

Constantine Sackos, 59, of Holtsville was indicted on January 28 on arson and related charges after prosecutors say surveillance footage captured him purchasing charcoal lighter fluid, loading a bicycle into his Jeep, and riding toward Pazzo Ristorante and Wood Fired Pizzeria in Wading River in the hours before a fire that destroyed the restaurant in the early morning of November 18, 2025.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced the indictment, which charges Sackos with third-degree arson, third-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief, and petit larceny. Sackos pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Suffolk County Court and was released under non-monetary supervised conditions with GPS monitoring. Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski ordered the release terms. The charges are non-bail eligible under New York law, and Sackos faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count.

Prosecutors laid out a detailed timeline rooted in video evidence. The night before the fire, Sackos was captured on surveillance driving to a Stop & Shop in Farmingville and buying a bottle of Kingsford charcoal lighter fluid that prosecutors said was "consistent with that which was recovered at the scene." He returned home, then left again in his Jeep around 11:14 p.m., making his way toward Mount Sinai. "The investigation revealed that the Jeep made its way to the vicinity of the entrance to the North Shore Rail Trail in Mount Sinai," the district attorney's office said. "At approximately 12:38 a.m., an individual consistent in appearance with Sackos rode a bicycle, consistent with the one Sackos loaded into his Jeep, from the exit to the North Shore Rail Trail in the direction of the Pazzo Ristorante and Wood Fired Pizzeria in Wading River." Additional video allegedly showed Sackos exiting the rear of the restaurant as smoke billowed out the door. He was seen driving back to his Holtsville home around 5:05 a.m. and unloading the bicycle into his garage.

The Riverhead Town Police Department and area fire departments responded to a 911 call at approximately 1:50 a.m. and arrived to find the building fully engulfed. It took roughly two hours to extinguish the blaze. Investigators, working jointly with the Riverhead Town Fire Marshal's Office and the Suffolk County Police Department Arson Squad, determined the 1:57 a.m. fire was intentionally set after finding seven points of origin and a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid at the scene. The fire gutted Pazzo and caused damage to an adjoining bagel shop and bakery. No injuries were reported, but the restaurant has not reopened.

A search warrant executed at Sackos' home on November 20 recovered clothing consistent with what appeared on surveillance footage. A K-9 trained to detect accelerants indicated the presence of accelerants on that clothing.

Prosecutors say Sackos had been fired from Pazzo before the fire and had visited owner Anthony Tranchina's residence on multiple occasions before and after November 18, demanding back pay he believed he was owed. Tranchina said in November that money had been taken from the restaurant's safe and that its cash register was missing.

The fire landed on a community already absorbing a significant loss. Pazzo's owner Maria Tranchina died in August 2025 at age 64, and the restaurant, which opened in 2017 and had been recognized as one of Long Island's best pizzerias, had not recovered from that blow before the blaze reduced it to rubble.