A retired NYPD cop collecting a disability pension was busted Tuesday for running a prostitution ring.
Michael Rizzi, who is related by marriage to two members of the Gambino crime family, is scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon in Federal Court in Brooklyn, sources said.
Rizzi, arrested at his Bensonhurst home about 6 a.m. by the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security, ran 58 websites that "processed millions of dollars in transactions," a source said.
The sites enabled customers to hire call girls costing $400 to $2,000 an hour, the source said.
A complaint unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court alleges that Rizzi is the registrant for 58 active websites including janeblow.com; lusciouscompanions.com and flygirls.com.
Rizzi allegedly accepted applications from hookers who described their looks, ethnic origin, measurements and sexual attributes, according to the complaint.
Then Rizzi interviewed the women in person at hotels, prosecutors charge.
When one applicant declined to meet with Rizzi he responded with a snippy email, according to court papers.
"My girls make the most money, my clients are the wealthiest people in the world,” he wrote, according to court documents. “I will never send a model I haven't interviewed to them … been doing this 10 years never a problem."
Rizzi's wife Jill is the niece of Gambino capo Sonny Giuliano and is the daughter of Gambino soldier Richard Giuliano Jr.
Rizzi served nine years in the NYPD before leaving in 2000 on a medical disability pension.
The joint NYPD-Homeland Security Investigations probe that unmasked Rizzi is a spinoff of a 2012 money laundering case against Marc Schulman of Staten Island who operated an escort service called Pure Platinum Models.
http://www.nydailynews.co .. icle-1.2648274
Michael Rizzi, who is related by marriage to two members of the Gambino crime family, is scheduled to appear Tuesday afternoon in Federal Court in Brooklyn, sources said.
Rizzi, arrested at his Bensonhurst home about 6 a.m. by the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security, ran 58 websites that "processed millions of dollars in transactions," a source said.
The sites enabled customers to hire call girls costing $400 to $2,000 an hour, the source said.
A complaint unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court alleges that Rizzi is the registrant for 58 active websites including janeblow.com; lusciouscompanions.com and flygirls.com.
Rizzi allegedly accepted applications from hookers who described their looks, ethnic origin, measurements and sexual attributes, according to the complaint.
Then Rizzi interviewed the women in person at hotels, prosecutors charge.
When one applicant declined to meet with Rizzi he responded with a snippy email, according to court papers.
"My girls make the most money, my clients are the wealthiest people in the world,” he wrote, according to court documents. “I will never send a model I haven't interviewed to them … been doing this 10 years never a problem."
Rizzi's wife Jill is the niece of Gambino capo Sonny Giuliano and is the daughter of Gambino soldier Richard Giuliano Jr.
Rizzi served nine years in the NYPD before leaving in 2000 on a medical disability pension.
The joint NYPD-Homeland Security Investigations probe that unmasked Rizzi is a spinoff of a 2012 money laundering case against Marc Schulman of Staten Island who operated an escort service called Pure Platinum Models.
http://www.nydailynews.co .. icle-1.2648274
