Queens woman linked to death of Cipriani head chef, two others
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A Queens woman appeared in federal court today after she was linked to the deaths of three men. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese.
By Victoria Merlino
An alleged Queens sex worker has been charged in relation to the deaths of at least three men in Queens hotel rooms — including the chef from a popular Manhattan restaurant who was found dead on Thursday.
A criminal complaint by the Department of Homeland Security charges Angelina Barini, 41, with intent to distribute substances containing fentanyl for allegedly dispensing drugs that killed the three men. Barini appeared in federal court for the Eastern District for New York Monday where prosecutors said she cooperated with her pimp to drug the three clients, two of whom later died of overdoses.
The toxicology report is still pending for Cipriani Dolci chef Andrea Zamperoni who was found dead in Kamway Lodge & Tavern in Elmhurst on Aug. 21.
The complaint details how officers went to Kamway Lodge to locate a missing person, whose name is not included in the court documents, but who a court official said was Zamperoni.
When officers arrived at the door of the room, Barini opened it and then quickly shut it again, the complaint states. The officers said the room smelled of incense and a dead body.
When they officers entered the room, they saw “what appeared to be a garbage can with bed linens stuffed inside and what appeared to be a bare human foot sticking out of the bed linens,” according to the complaint.
Barini allegedly told officers that “she did not do it, her pimp made her do it and it was not her.”
Barini later said that after the man paid her and they had sex, he was unresponsive and bleeding from the nose and mouth. She admitted that her pimp had allegedly given the dead man liquid ecstasy.
Barini was linked to two other overdose deaths, one occurring July 4 in a hotel in Astoria, and another occuring on July 11 in a Woodside motel. In the documents, Barini allegedly admitted to sometimes giving drugs to clients directly, supplied by her pimp and another co-conspirator. Occasionally, the victims would be robbed.
