A New York Supreme Court justice killed himself days after cops raided his house as his ‘really close’ friend – the nephew of Buffalo’s alleged top mob boss – faced federal charges of sex trafficking and bribery.
John L. Michalski, 61, was found dead at his home near Buffalo on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, his lawyer says. The circumstances of his death remain unclear.
Authorities raided Michalski’s home on March 24. Law enforcement sources told The Buffalo News they were looking for evidence of tax crimes and that various other state agencies were looking into his professional and personal conduct.
Michalski tried to kill himself February 2021 by lying on train tracks in the middle of the night. He was hit by a freight train but survived with a serious leg injury.
That suicide attempt was the same day his friend, strip club owner Peter Gerace Jr., was arrested in Florida on charges including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, maintaining a drug involved premise, and bribing a federal drug enforcement agent.
Michalski knew Gerace for decades and had done legal work for him. In 2006, he wrote a letter to a federal judge asking for a lower sentence after Gerace was convicted of wire fraud in connection with a telemarketing sweepstakes business.
The judge was named an acting state Supreme Court justice in 2006. He made $210,900 a year, according to a state salary database.
He is survived by his wife Susan and four adult children, one son and three daughters.
Terrence Connors, Michalski’s friend and one of his lawyers, told DailyMail.com that the judge was a ‘well respected jurist and an immensely popular person.
‘He was beloved by the lawyers of our community. This was a terrible tragedy felt most by his family but reverberated throughout the entire Western New York legal community.’
Michalski’s suicide is likely to spark more questions about his connection to Gerace and whether he helped the strip club owner commit any of the numerous crimes he’s charged with.
Michalski was never charged with a crime.
Authorities were seen loading boxes of documents into a black SUV outside Michalski’s home in Amherst, a suburb of Buffalo, late last month.
Connors, his lawyer, said Michalski told authorities he knew nothing of Gerace’s alleged crimes and that he would’ve cooperated. He said investigators are focused on an online consignment business run by his wife Susan.
The business appears to be an eBay shop called Everydaydeals364.
Susan Michalski’s attorney, however, told the Buffalo News that officers ‘were searching for information about both the judge and his wife.’
A law enforcement official told the newspaper: ‘They were looking for evidence of tax crimes. You now have criminal investigations, federal and state, involving the FBI, the US Attorney, the state Attorney General’s Office, and State Police.
‘They are looking into whether there was income from the business that should have been reported,’ the official said.
The raid and the suicide come as the federal case against Gerace continues to move forward in the Western District of New York.
Gerace was arraigned in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale and charged 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.
Gerace is the nephew of Joseph A. Todaro, who the FBI has accused of running the Buffalo mob, according to WKBW.
He is the owner of the Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga, near Buffalo. He was tapped on the shoulder by Homeland Security Investigations when he was trying to check into a hotel in South Florida last year, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
‘I was going to check in, but they checked me out,’ he told a judge.
He was accused of paying off Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Bongiovanni ‘to protect (the strip club) from federal narcotics investigations.’
Prosecutors said Gerace used the business to ‘facilitate prostitution…and (the) use and distribution of controlled substances,’ according to an indictment obtained by WGRZ.
Gerace’s case was later transferred to federal court in New York.
Bongiovanni was indicted in 2019.
Prosecutors said between 2008 and 2017, the DEA agent ‘provided information about investigations, including the status of specific investigative techniques, potential witnesses, and confidential sources during routine recurring meetings with drug traffickers who were paying him bribes.’
Michalski tried to kill himself by lying on train tracks on February 28, 2021, the same day that Gerace was arrested and indicted. The judge took a leave and returned to work in January, working his way back to a full case load.
His cases were reassigned last month after the raid on his home. His professional conduct and mental health during and after his suicide attempt also were being examined by the state’s Commission on Judicial Conduct.
Katrina Nigro was married to Gerace for four years. Their wedding was officiated by Judge Michalski.
‘There was just a lot of drug dealing and a lot of dancers using drugs,’ she said of Gerace’s strip club.
She worked there before marrying Gerace. ‘Before I was with him, I had an adult store inside and I worked there. I did everything there, bartend, waitress… like whatever to cover. I never danced there though,’ she told WGRZ.
On Facebook, she has posted messages reading, ‘(Gerace) did pay off police,’ and called her ex a ‘drug dealer (and) sex trafficker.’
Nigro and Gerace were married in a ceremony officiated by Judge Michalski.
‘He was really close with Peter,’ she said of the judge last year. ‘I went to dinner a couple of times with him and his wife.’
In 2019, Michalski recused himself from a car crash case involving Gerace after his friend had an initial court appearance before him, according to WGRZ.
Source: Daily Mail
