Antuan “Tony” Bronshtein was born in 1970 in Chișinău, capital of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, into a Moldovan Jewish family. In 1978, when Bronshtein was around eight years old, his family emigrated to the United States, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, amid a wave of Soviet Jewish immigration. Growing up in a post-Soviet immigrant community, he attended school in the city but was reported to have fallen into petty crime during his teenage years.

By the time he reached adulthood, Bronshtein had already developed a criminal record and was allegedly associated with elements of the Russian Mafia operating in Philadelphia during the early 1990s. At the time of his first known homicide, he was out on bail for burglary charges, suggesting a pattern of escalating criminal behavior.

Little is known about his formal employment history or educational background, but by age 19, he had become involved in black-market dealings, including fencing stolen goods. His ties to Russian-speaking organized crime groups were suspected later but not formally charged during his early trials.

On January 11, 1991, Alexander Gutman, a jeweler in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was found shot twice in the face in his store. The crime scene revealed fingerprints and a palm print linking Bronshtein to the location. ​

Just over a month later, on February 19, 1991, Jerome Slobotkin, another jeweler in Philadelphia, was shot and killed. Bronshtein was arrested on February 22, 1991, after being found with a handgun in a stolen car. Ballistics matched the weapon to Slobotkin's murder. Bronshtein confessed to this killing, claiming it resulted from a dispute over stolen watches. ​

In 1992, Bronshtein was convicted of Slobotkin's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. While serving this sentence, he was charged with Gutman's murder. In 1994, he was convicted and sentenced to death. Throughout his trials, Bronshtein maintained his innocence in Gutman's case, alleging that a figure he referred to as "Mr. X," associated with the Russian mafia, was the actual killer. ​

Bronshtein's case drew significant attention due to concerns about his mental health and the fairness of his trials. In 2005, a federal appeals court vacated his death sentence, citing issues with jury instructions and the handling of his mental health evaluations. As of now, Bronshtein remains incarcerated, awaiting a new sentencing hearing.