A press release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General describes the Gerace arrest:
"On February 28, 2021, the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Buffalo, New York was arrested in Florida following a superseding Indictment charging him with one count each of bribery of a public official, conspiracy to defraud the United States, maintaining a drug involved premises, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. According to the Indictment, at various times between in or about 2005 and in or about 2019, Peter Gerace paid a former DEA Special Agent in exchange for the former DEA Special Agent taking various actions to shield Gerace and his business from narcotics and sex trafficking investigations by law enforcement agencies, including the DEA and FBI. The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s New York Field Office, HSI, and the FBI."
The federal superseding indictment which named Gerace alleged that Joseph Bongiovanni, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, “had friends and associates who he knew were involved in possession, use, distribution, and importation of controlled substances.”
“The defendant BONGIOVANNI’s friends and associates who were involved in possession, use, and distribution, and importation of controlled substances, included, among others, individuals he believed to be members of, connected to, or associated with Italian Organized Crime (IOC) in the Western District of New York and elsewhere,” the document continued. “It was part of the conspiracy that, in order to build trust and maintain continuity with his coconspirators, the defendant BONGIOVANNI did not investigate his friends and associates and used his position as a DEA SA in Buffalo, New York, to shield his friends and associates, and others, including the defendant GERACE, from criminal investigations.”
Gerace has denied wrongdoing, and the Buffalo News reported that Gerace was “insulted” that the feds were attempting to link him to organized crime.
“My grandfather was Joseph Todaro. He’s dead,” Gerace told the publication while reportedly “raising his hands in exasperation.”
It is with that backdrop that the judge’s reported suicide occurred. WIVB reported that “federal authorities had questioned Michalski on his relationship with Peter Gerace.” After the railroad incident, Michalski’s caseload was reassigned, but it was eventually reinstated, the New York Times reported.
The judge’s home was searched in late March 2022 in connection with what WIVB described as possible “tax crimes involving an online business operated out of the home.”
The Buffalo News said attorney Anthony J. Lana, who represented Judge Michalski, said the raid involved a “minuscule business run by Mrs. Michalski.”
“It’s a very small consignment business, selling jewelry, clothes and various knickknacks on eBay,” Lana told the newspaper. “The amount of money involved is very small . . . pocket change.”
“Michalski was never charged with any crimes,” WIVB noted.
Another Michalski attorney, Terrence Connors, told the New York Times that “it would be difficult to find a judge who was more respected” in western New York State. Connors was described as a “longtime friend” to the judge.
https://lawandcrime.com/judiciary/judge-dies-by-suicide-amid-tax-probe-legal-woes-for-close-friend-allegedly-tied-to-organized-crime-reports/
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