Anchorage man sentenced to 300 years in prison for 2017 triple murder at gold store

Update: 8 hours ago Published: 1 a day ago

An Anchorage man was sentenced this week to 300 years in prison for a triple murder committed in September 2017 at a gold store on Spenard Road.

Prosecutors say Anthony Pisano fatally shot Steven Cook, 31, Kenneth Hartman, 48, and Daniel McCreadie, 31, at The Bullion Brothers. Pisano was also accused of assaulting Michael Dupree, who owned the store with Cook.

Pisano, 50, was convicted last year of three counts of first-degree murder as well as six counts of second-degree murder and third-degree felony assault. An earlier trial ended in a mistrial in 2020 after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna on Thursday imposed a sentence of three consecutive 99-year terms for the first-degree murder charges, plus an additional five years, three of them consecutive, for the assault charge fact.

As part of Thursday's sentencing hearing, an Anchorage police detective testified that Pisano was involved in a murder-for-hire plot targeting Dupree, a key state witness, according to the prosecutor. of the Anchorage District, Brittany Dunlop.

Pisano approached another man in jail with him after the first trial and asked him to kill Dupree for money, according to a police report and other documents filed this month.

That information was never made public during the second trial because the other man died before proceedings began and he was able to testify before a jury, Dunlop said Friday.

“The second jury didn't hear about it, but it was certainly relevant when the court was deciding how dangerous Mr. Pisano was,” she said Friday, adding that Dupree had left the state for his own protection.

At Pisano's trial last year, prosecutors described the killings as a botched robbery motivated by financial desperation. His lawyer, Kevin Fitzgerald, said the crime was motivated by self-defense.

Pisano was introduced to Dupree and Cook by a member of the Anchorage Police Department to assist security, according to testimony at the trial. He developed a close relationship with Dupree and Cook and frequently spent time at the store.

Pisano had about two decades of military service and had started a business selling weapons and firearms training, his attorney said during the trial. A prosecutor said he retired from the Army a few months before the shooting and had racked up nearly $100,000 in debt.

Pisano's attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. He had requested a sentence of 90 years in prison, according to a brief filed in this case.

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