Pyotr Sarkisov was just 17 in 1992, a small-time punk running with a crew of Russian and Ukrainian toughs in Brooklyn, when his friend and mentor told him he’d have to gun down a buddy if he wanted to make it as a mobster.
He did as instructed.
Yesterday, from the witness stand in Brooklyn Supreme Court – his hair thinner, waistline thicker and conscience hopefully far heavier – Sarkisov pointed the finger at that mentor, Marat Krivoi, one of two men on trial for a pair of Russian mob-related killings 15 years ago.
“Krivoi told me that if I’m looking to lead this kind of life, to be a criminal and to move up in the world, there’s a certain line,” Sarkisov testified. “That either I’m going to cross it or move away from it.”
So Sarkisov, an immigrant from Odessa who spoke no English at the time, agreed to pull the trigger on Boris Roitman, a 21-year-old member of the crew whom Krivoi suspected was ratting on him.
The two sealed the deal with a handshake.
“He spit on his hand and he wanted me to shake it,” recalled Sarkisov. “I’d never seen that before. I thought it was some kind of American thing.”
The plan went into action on Aug. 26, 1992.
According to Sarkisov’s daylong testimony, he hid behind a bush off Avenue Z in Sheepshead Bay, clutching a shotgun, while cohort Vitaly Ivanitsky stood by as a lookout.
When Sarkisov heard Krivoi leading the apparently unsuspecting Roitman down toward the spot, he jumped out and pulled the trigger, blowing a massive hole in the victim’s midsection.
“Marat told me to shoot him one more time, so I pumped, got another shell in, and shot him in the head,” Sarkisov said.
Two separate juries weighing the fates of Krivoi, 37, and Ivanitsky, 33, stared impassively as Assistant DA Christopher Blank displayed graphic crime-scene photos of Roitman splayed on his back, his blue tank top shredded and bloodied. If Sarkisov is convincing enough, his former gang mates will face up to 50 years to life in prison for the Roitman murder and a second killing, that of a Vietnamese pool hustler.
But the fate of the admitted triggerman is less certain.
He has pleaded guilty to a slew of federal crimes that could put him away for anywhere from time served – about three years so far – to life.
In recommending sentence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will take into consideration his contribution to the Krivoi-Ivanitsky state murder prosecution as well as whatever assistance he may have also provided the feds.