Man named in Tankleff case arrested on gun charge

Joseph Creedon, the career criminal who has been linked by several witnesses to the murders of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff 22 years ago, was arrested Thursday night for firing a shotgun outside his Selden home, Suffolk police said.

Creedon, 51, who also is known as "Joey Guns," was arrested at about 10:45 p.m. after he fired a shotgun into the ground outside the home at 4 Washington Ave., police said.

Creedon was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, prohibited use of a weapon and criminal contempt of a court order that forbids him from having a gun, police said.

He pleaded not guilty in First District Court and was held on $10,000 cash bail.

Creedon's longtime attorney, Anthony LaPinta of Hauppauge, declined to comment on his client's latest arrest.

It was the second time in less than 10 months, and the fourth time in three years, that Creedon has been arrested by Suffolk police. He still faces charges that he entered a Centereach home in June and stole a Sony PlayStation 2.

Creedon has long been at the center of one of Long Island's most notorious murders - the 1988 slayings of the wealthy Tankleff couple in their Belle Terre home. He never was charged in the killings and has denied under oath having any role in them.

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The Tankleffs' son, Martin, who was 17 at the time, was found guilty of his parents' murders and served 17 years of a life sentence before an appellate court overturned his conviction in 2007.

Over the years, Tankleff's legal team produced several witnesses - including Creedon's son - who testified that Creedon and another man, Peter Kent, were hired by Seymour Tankleff's business partner, Jerry Steuerman, to carry out the killings.

Steuerman and Kent never were charged in connection with the slayings and also denied under oath having any role in them.