Former Yankee : Joe Pepitone Faces Drug, Gun Charges

Former New York Yankees first baseman Joe Pepitone was arrested in Brooklyn and charged with possession of heroin and cocaine worth $70,000 and a loaded .22-caliber Derringer, police said today.

The flamboyant 44-year-old Pepitone was arrested Monday night along with two other men in a 1982 Buick Riviera in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn.

Police Sgt. Raymond O’Donnell said said three plainclothes officers pulled over the car because the people inside were “acting suspiciously” and had run a red light.

The officers found in the car an eighth of a kilo of cocaine, two bags of heroin packaged in blocks, pills and the loaded Derringer.

Arrested along with Pepitone on the same charges were Thomas Carbone, 51, and Robert Oates, 46, both of Brooklyn.

Pepitone, who was known as a playboy during his baseball career, was a first baseman and outfielder for the Yankees from 1962 to 1969. He later played for the Houston Astros, the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves, retiring in 1973.