A New York City sex worker has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the fatal overdose of four men, including Cipriani Dolci Chef Andrea Zamperoni.
United States District Judge Brian M. Cogan handed down the sentence Tuesday for 43-year-old Angelina Barini, who pleaded guilty in August to two counts of distributing narcotics that caused the death of a person, one count of distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine and one count of conspiring to distribute gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), according to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York.
Authorities say between July and August of 2019, Barini gave her victims narcotics to “incapacitate” them and then robbed them of their belongings, ultimately killing four men.
“The defendant drugged and killed multiple people for a few quick dollars. She stole their personal belongings while they lay unconscious dying from the lethal drugs she gave them,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said. “The defendant’s substantial prison sentence is warranted by her shocking disregard for human life.”
Prosecutors said Barini often met with her victims at local hotels and then gave them “fentanyl-laced drugs,” causing them to overdose.
On August 18, 2019, she met with a man identified by The New York Post and other local media outlets as Cipriani Dolci chef Andrea Zamperoni-at an Elmhurst, Queens motel room and drugged him with the “date rape” drug GBL.
Zamperoni died shortly after entering the motel room. Prosecutors said Barini made “repeated attempts” to dispose of the body, however, on Aug. 21, 2019 NYPD officers found his remains wrapped in bleach-stained sheets stuffed into a garbage bin inside the motel room.
Officers also discovered a power saw, empty suitcase, glass pipes for smoking narcotics and “purple liquid in a glass with a powder at the top of the liquid and around the rim,” according to court documents obtained by WNYW.
Barini had claimed at the time she didn’t kill Zamperoni and that her pimp wouldn’t let her call police.
She pleaded guilty to providing the narcotics and causing the deaths of multiple men in August, according to authorities.
On Tuesday, Cogan acknowledged that Barini had come from a troubled family and had a drug habit that “robbed her” of some of her free will, but said her past did not excuse her actions.
“There is no level of disadvantage of being raised that can mitigate what you did here. ... Drug addiction or no drug addiction, something has to kick in,” he said in court, according to The New York Post.
Before the sentence was handed down, a cousin of one of the victims said she did not feel sympathy for Barini, despite her past.
“I understand she doesn’t have a good history,” the cousin said. “I don’t have a good history. It’s no excuse. She killed four people. … She deserves what she gets now.”
She spoke of her slain’s cousin future in construction and his plans to go to school, which were all taken away the day he died.
“I don’t forgive you,” the woman said. “We were best friends. She took that away. She took that away. I don’t feel sorry for you.”
Barini’s older sister described the sentence to the news outlet as “a little harsh.”
She said Barini plans to appeal the sentence.
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