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From New Haven Register:

NEW HAVEN — A Branford man arrested after police discovered a pipe bomb, shotguns, rubber gas masks and other items inside his Mercedes late Tuesday had been arrested earlier this year on bombmaking charges in East Haven.

John Iannucci, 38, was held at New Haven police headquarters for most of the day on a host of weapons and explosives charges. The arrest could likely complicate his current court case.

He is due in court Oct. 22 on the East Haven charges of illegal possession of explosives and illegal bomb manufacturing. He was free on $25,000 bail when he and a second man, identified as Jessup Bollinger, 27, were detained Tuesday night in the city’s Fair Haven section.

They each were held in lieu of $500,000 bail Wednesday.

“Nobody knows their motive” for having a pipe bomb, said police spokesman Officer Joe Avery, “or what they were intending to do with it.”

The bomb squad detonated the homemade device early Wednesday.

New Haven police received an anonymous call Tuesday night about a car containing rifles in the area of Grand and Clinton avenues. Responding officers found Iannucci’s Mercedes on Clinton Avenue. Officers observed ammunition inside and ordered the men out at gunpoint.


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A search revealed two shotguns, gas masks, costume-quality SWAT gear, a propane tank and one pipe bomb, which prompted the bomb squad to be called out, police said.

A four-block area was closed as a precaution, but no evacuations were reported.

The incident Tuesday was reminiscent, at least insofar as there allegedly being a bomb in Iannucci’s car, of a February incident in East Haven.

The investigation revealed circumstantial evidence that Iannucci drove around East Haven with homemade explosive devices, blowing up stop signs. Police say Iannucci almost accidentally blew himself up in February. He claimed to police he was stopped at a stop light on North High Street when an unknown individual threw something into his car. When he picked it up to throw it back out, it blew up, he told police.

Evidence showed differently, a detective concluded, and Iannucci was arrested on bomb and explosives charges. At the time, he lived on Ann Street in East Haven but New Haven police say he now lists an address in Branford.

Ira Grudberg represents Bollinger in an unrelated East Haven case, and said Wednesday he would represent the 27-year-old in the new case. He said he didn’t have enough information yet to comment.

East Haven police said Iannucci suffered hand and torso injuries in the Feb. 26 incident there. His silver Mercedes sustained significant damage to its interior, and investigators recovered pieces of the device and a packet of gunpowder in a medical bag containing insulin, police said.

In that time frame, East Haven police had received reports of stop signs being damaged near Iannucci’s home by exploding objects, witnesses stated, thrown from a silver Mercedes. Residue on the signs matched residue recovered in his car.

When police searched Iannucci’s home, they seized jars of aluminum and Tannerite, which when mixed form an explosive, police said.

“We had him ... trying to throw explosives out the window of his car,” said East Haven Chief of Police Leonard Gallo. “This man’s a danger to society. ... The man’s a threat. We’ve already arrested him and done our job.”

Iannucci and Bollinger face charges of manufacture of bombs, possession of a weapon in a vehicle, possession of explosives and storage/transportation/use of explosive agents. Bollinger also is charged with criminal possession of a firearm.