Her mother wants Crystal Quinn to be remembered as more than “Witness 201,†a former exotic dancer who died while waiting to testify in a high-profile trial of Peter Gerace Jr. over alleged sex trafficking and drug dealing at his strip club.
“My daughter was a sweet, beautiful and loving person,†Sharon Quinn of Depew told The Buffalo ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ after a hearing at federal court on Friday.
“She only worked a very brief time as an exotic dancer. To remember her only as a stripper who was caught up in some kind of sex trafficking trial, that’s very unfair. She was a kind person. She never would have stood by and allowed some young girl to get forced into sex trafficking.â€
The FBI is investigating the Aug. 1 death of Quinn, 37, at a friend’s home in the Allegany County Village of Wellsville.
Agents executed a search warrant on Aug. 8 at the Wellsville home, as authorities try to determine the cause of her death.
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“The cause of death has not yet been determined,†Dylan Foust, an Allegany County coroner, told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
Foust added that his office is waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine if Quinn died of a drug overdose. He said he saw no signs of foul play at the Wellsville home, but added that he does not know what the FBI is investigating.
About two hours after Wellsville police were dispatched to the single family home where Quinn’s body was found, authorities were called back to the same home because a person was overdosing on drugs there, said Wellsville Police Chief Tim O’Grady. That call was non-fatal, said O’Grady, who would not identify that victim.
Quinn was expected to testify as a prosecution witness at the trial of Gerace, the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga, who has pleaded not guilty to bribing a Drug Enforcement Administration agent to avoid arrest on charges of drug trafficking and sex trafficking. Defense attorneys also planned to call her as a witness.
Quinn had been arrested earlier this year on witness tampering charges, but the charges were dropped after she agreed to testify as a government witness.
Her mother said police are investigating the possibility that Quinn died from suicide or an accidental drug overdose.
Suicide ‘a possibility’
“In my heart, I cannot believe she would commit suicide, but I know that is a possibility,†said Sharon Quinn, who works as a clerk with the Depew Police. “Crystal was under tremendous pressure, extreme pressure from the FBI to testify. They told her they would put her in prison if she didn’t testify against Peter. She was so scared that when somebody would knock on our front door, she would run out our back door and hide somewhere.â€
Sharon Quinn, who broke down in tears several times while speaking with a reporter, said her daughter suffered from mental health and drug issues for much of her life.
“I do not believe this was a suicide,†said John P. Grieco, a close family friend who lives with Sharon Quinn. “I spoke to Crystal the night before she died. She told me she couldn’t wait to get back to home, with us and to take care of her two dogs. She said, ‘I miss you, I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.’ That doesn’t sound to me like a woman who is going to kill herself.â€
One week after Quinn’s death, a large team of FBI agents – some armed with semi-automatic weapons – searched the home where Quinn’s body had been found.
During the raid, agents exploded what appeared to be flash-bang grenades, according to a newsman who was on the scene. reported the home is owned by , a man with a history of arrests.
No one has been arrested in connection with Quinn’s death, but FBI agents are investigating it, according to Sharon Quinn and four other sources familiar with the probe. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph M. Tripi also mentioned the investigation during the court session on Friday.
“There had to be close to 50 FBI vehicles there,” said John Anderson, a reporter and editor who photographed the FBI raid. “It was a huge federal police presence. Everybody in Wellsville is wondering what all this was about.”
People in Wellsville are wondering what the FBI raid was all about, said the Wellsville police chief.
“For our department, at this point, it is an unattended death investigation,†O’Grady said. “We are waiting for the autopsy results, and also to see what the FBI comes up with.â€
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices in Buffalo declined to discuss Quinn’s death. FBI spokeswoman Jeannie McBride did confirm that FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search of the Wellsville home.
Gerace ‘one of her closest friends in the world’
According to her attorney, Quinn had been interviewed at least three times by Buffalo FBI agents, and she had agreed to testify in the upcoming trial of Gerace.
“I spoke to her on the phone the night before she died,†Quinn’s attorney, Michael L. D’Amico, told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. “Nobody ever wants to testify as a government witness in a criminal trial, but there was nothing she said that gave me any indication that she felt in danger for her life, or that she was suicidal.â€
D’Amico added that Quinn was “afraid, scared†in early March, when someone left dead rats on two cars outside the Depew home where she was living. But he added that she did not seem to be in fear for her life.
“She never indicated to me that she felt that she would be harmed by Peter Gerace,†D’Amico said. “And I never saw any indication that she felt she was under any undue pressure from the FBI.â€
“At this point, I just don’t know,†D’Amico said, when asked if he believes she died from an accidental overdose, suicide or foul play. “This is a very sad situation. This is a young woman who had gone through some issues in her life and was trying her best to deal with her issues. She was stressed about testifying at the trial, but she appeared to be under no more stress than other clients I have represented in the past.â€
D’Amico added, “It’s also very possible that her death had nothing to do with this trial. There are a lot of very dangerous drugs out there, and I’ve had other clients who died from them.â€
Sharon Quinn said her daughter considered Peter Gerace “one of her closest friends in the world,†and had gone on several trips with him. She said she did not think they were ever romantically involved.
“Crystal told me she was very upset with the FBI because they wanted her to say things that were not true about Peter. She told me they wanted her testimony to fit some kind of narrative they had, about Peter being involved in criminal activities and Crystal acting as some kind of madam, grooming girls for sex trafficking. To me, it’s all ludicrous.â€
When asked about the dead rats, Sharon Quinn said: “My daughter was upset about it, but she knew Peter would not be behind something like that. He knew how fragile she was.â€
Case has taken strange turns
Although he did not mention her name, prosecutor Joseph M. Tripi discussed during a federal court appearance on Aug. 3, two days after Quinn died.
Tripi lamented that the witness would have testified for the prosecution if the trial of Gerace and retired DEA Agent had not been postponed from its originally planned June 21 start date.
The witness had contacted the FBI on March 14 to report her mother and roommate had where she lived.
Now, jurors may never know what the witness would have said in court, Tripi added.
Gerace’s attorney, Steven M. Cohen, said that day that the witness died from suicide after prosecutors had put her under pressure to testify against the strip club owner.
Tripi did not return a message from a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reporter Thursday, and Cohen said he could not discuss Quinn’s death.
Court records show that Quinn was arrested in February by FBI agents, who accused her of using Facebook to send vulgar and threatening messages to another former exotic dancer who was expected to testify for the prosecution in Gerace’s trial.
The Facebook messages called the government witness a “snitch†and a “nark†and threatened harm against her, according to papers filed by Tripi’s team of prosecutors.
Quinn was charged with felony witness tampering, but the charges against her were dropped on April 6, at Tripi’s request, court records show.
Her death is the latest strange turn in an investigation that began more than four years ago.
Bongiovanni, the former DEA agent, was arrested on bribery charges – which he denies – in November 2019.
In 2021, new charges were filed against Gerace and Bongiovanni, who pleaded not guilty to accepting bribes from drug dealers who he believed were associated with Italian organized crime. Gerace was accused of drug trafficking, sex trafficking and paying bribes to Bongiovanni to keep him out of trouble.
Gerace is a nephew of Buffalo restaurateur , who has been identified by federal agents and prosecutors as a leader of Buffalo’s organized crime family. Todaro denies the mob accusations and has never been charged in connection with any of Gerace’s alleged activities.
In April 2022, State Supreme Court , who was a close, longtime friend of Gerace, committed suicide at his Amherst home 12 days after federal and state police executed a search warrant there. Friends and his former attorney told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ that Michalski had been under pressure from federal authorities to testify against Gerace.
In June this year, U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. recused himself from the case, saying that he was required to do so because someone he knew was listed as a potential witness by Gerace’s defense team.
The case is now before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who has scheduled the trial to begin in October.
Contact Mike McAndrew at mmcandrew@buffnews.com