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Officer Peter Fontanez just wanted to grab an after-work drink with his buddies. But his night took a dramatic turn when he noticed the gun tucked under a patron's shirt - and helped arrest a notorious trio with three loaded handguns, police said.
Fontanez, 46, is a 23-year veteran of the force and a drug unit officer assigned to District A-7 in East Boston. He had already made three arrests when he arrived at The Boyne Pub, a local watering hole on Western Avenue in Brighton.
It was shortly before 1:20 a.m. when Fontanez saw a man watch two women leave the bar and inexplicably pull up his shirt, flashing the end of a gun at the women, authorities allege. Fontanez wasn't sure the women saw the bizarre gesture.
"I'm thinking worst-case scenario - what if they're planning to shoot somebody,'' Fontanez said, who said he was angered that the man was acting so "brazenly.''
So he ducked into the kitchen area and called the supervisor at District D-14 in Brighton, requesting plainclothes cops to surround the suspects.
Once inside, the cops noticed the bulge under the suspect's shirt, shouted ``Police!'' and ordered him to put down his beer, police said.
"That's not mine; I'm holding it for someone else,'' the suspect said, according to a police report.
The officers struggled to tackle the suspects, the report states. Cops allegedly found two loaded guns stashed in a bathroom garbage and pulled a third off a suspect's waistband. Two of the three guns seized were found cocked, or ready to fire, police said.
"It was a tremendous arrest of very significant figures,'' said District D-14 Capt. Frank Mancini.
Dennis Sena, 29, of Brighton was held on $150,000 bail on a variety of weapons charges, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Maurice Coates, 30, of Brookline was held on $50,000 bail on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Gontrand Germain, 31, of Hyde Park was also held on $50,000 bail on several weapons charges.
Said Mancini, "Hopefully they will be spending some time in the clinker.''
