Bruce Blakeman Defends Savia After JFK Airport Arrest
bruce blakeman defended volunteer sheriff’s deputy Gaetano Savia on Friday after Savia was arrested Thursday at Kennedy Airport with a loaded Ruger.380 caliber pistol in his carry-on luggage. Blakeman said Savia’s participation in Nassau County’s citizen gun owner program will go through an administrative review process.
Savia was taken into custody at a security checkpoint in Terminal 4 after a TSA officer spotted the weapon in his carry-on bag. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to return to court next month.
Blakeman on Savia
Blakeman said Savia had not been asked to step down from the county program and described the arrest as a mistake tied to a rushed trip to Syracuse for a grandchild’s graduation. During a gubernatorial campaign stop in the Bronx on Friday, he said, “We have an administrative review process both with the sheriff's department and the police department.”
He added, “He had in his duffel bag a weapon and he was supposed to secure that weapon. He did not do that.” Blakeman also said, “He obviously made a mistake. It wasn't intentional on his part and that he was arrested and then it'll go through the system.”
Volunteer deputy program
Blakeman created the provisional special deputies program in 2024. The program recruits and trains volunteers who could be called on to assist professional law enforcement in an emergency, and the identities of the volunteer deputies were under court seal until last month.
The arrest has put the program’s vetting and qualification process under sharper attention because Savia is part of that volunteer force. Critics have argued the case raises questions about those standards after a loaded handgun was brought to an airport checkpoint.
Savia in Hempstead
Savia was appointed to the Hempstead Industrial Development Agency in 2024 by the Hempstead Town Board. He owns a medical supply company, a hospitality management company and a commercial real estate holding company on Long Island, and Blakeman said, “I know Guy Savia very well and he's a hardworking, good member of our community.”
Blakeman also said, “He's not a criminal.” Savia’s charge involves knowingly and unlawfully possessing a firearm in violation of the terms of a license, and he holds a license to carry the gun for business, hunting or target use but not with a magazine containing ten rounds of ammunition in the gun at an airport.
