#LI man sentenced in killing of L&B Spumoni Gardens owner

The Long Island man convicted of fatally shooting the owner of the legendary Brooklyn pizzeria L&B Spumoni Gardens was sentenced Monday to 24 years to life in prison for the June 2016 murder, officials said.

Andres Fernandez, 45, was found guilty in Brooklyn Supreme Court last December of second-degree murder and weapons possession for killing Louis Barbati outside of his Dyker Heights home.

“This defendant is now facing the serious consequences for the brazen ambush murder of an innocent and beloved local business owner right outside of his home,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement announcing the sentencing.

The feds initially investigated Barbati’s death as mob-related because of an old beef over the theft of the pizza joint’s famous sauce recipe, but the case was eventually handed off to the NYPD, which investigated it as a botched robbery.

Barbati was gunned down about an hour after he left his pizzeria while carrying over $15,000 cash in a plastic bag, authorities said.

Fernandez, who was at L&B Spumoni Gardens before the shooting, was then seen on surveillance footage fleeing the murder scene in a white Acura without taking the loot, according to prosecutors.