Federal government accused of misconduct in high-profile criminal case

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Defense attorneys accused federal prosecutors of misconduct Wednesday during a hearing for a high-profile case involving the suspicious overdose death of a government witness.

Prosecutors alleged in court papers that four men played a role in the death of Crystal Quinn, a government witness who planned to testify against Pharaoh's strip club owner Peter Gerace at his drug and sex trafficking trial, which ended in December 2024 with convictions on eight of the nine charges.

Quinn, who Gerace described as a close friend, died in July 2023 from a fentanyl overdose.

She was at the Wellsville home of her high school friend, Simon Gogolak, who called 911 to report her death.

The government alleged Gogolak, Gerace, the head of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club John Ermin, and Howard Hinkle Jr., among others, carried out a conspiracy to keep Quinn from testifying against Gerace through tampering and intimidation. Ermin has been a manager at Pharaoh's for at least a decade.

Quinn did testify in 2023 to the grand jury, but she died before the start of Gerace's jury trial.

In federal court Wednesday, Mart Foti, one of Gerace's attorneys, accused prosecutors of making statements to the grand jury that were "demonstrably false," and could be reason to dismiss charges.

The conflict stems from how Gerace learned that Quinn, a former exotic dancer at Pharaoh's, was cooperating with the government.

Federal prosecutors said one of Gerace's former attorneys circumvented a protective order by adding Quinn's name to Gerace's witness list. The order prohibits attorneys from sharing names of protected witnesses with any defendant.

"That's not what happened," said Foti, who deemed the argument "illogical."

Foti said the government's own admissions in court made it clear Quinn was cooperating with them prior to her name being added to Gerace's witness list.

Foti said Quinn was added to Gerace's witness list because she provided statements to authorities that conflicted with the narrative prosecutors want to construct, and she could impeach the credibility of some government witnesses.

Prosecutors left that out in court papers and during grand jury proceedings when they accused Gerace and his former attorney of circumventing the protective order, Foti said. He said they also left out how Quinn told authorities that "you're wrong about some of the allegations."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Chalbeck said by adding Quinn's name, Gerace and his lawyers were able to obtain specific witness statements that discuss Quinn and others.

Chalbeck said Ermin visited Gerace twice at the Chautauqua County jail after Quinn's name was added to the defense witness list. This was unnecessary, because Gerace's attorneys acknowledged they reserve the right to call any witness or cross examine any government witness, she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi said the result of adding Quinn's name to the list was "Gerace now has a proxy" to discuss Quinn's case with others, "such as John Ermin."

Prosecutors said Quinn sent alarming texts days before her death that implied the defendants were setting her up to be harmed for cooperating with the government, and that she feared members of the Outlaws.

Foti said the government is relying on circumstantial evidence and won't respond to the information that establishes they misled the grand jury. Instead, they argue the defense attorneys can challenge the government's evidence at the trial, he said.

"They all know that there's been mudslinging in this case," Chalbeck said, but the government "is trying to avoid it."

Defense attorneys for Gerace, Ermin and Hinkle, said the government targeted Quinn five days after U.S. District Court Judge John Sinatra's decision to downgrade Gerace's release restrictions to curfew only, according to their 139-page court filing.

In February 2023, the government charged Quinn with three counts of threatening and tampering with a witness, involving a 2019 incident in Gerace's basement.

The government alleged that during the alcohol and cocaine-fueled get-together, Gerace persuaded Quinn and another woman to send threatening messages over Facebook to a former exotic dancer who was going to testify against him.

Authorities also charged Gerace with witness tampering for the same incident, which led to him being jailed.

Defense attorneys said the charges on Quinn were the impetus for her change of heart to cooperate with the government and "served as sufficient leverage" to get her to change her story. Once she started to cooperate, the government dismissed her charges, they said.

"If her story changed after the government charged her, it would demonstrate the amount of pressure the government can put on individuals to testify consistent with a narrative the government itself provided to the witness," the defense attorneys said in their joint court filing.

Gerace has said during phone interviews with WIVB News 4 that he believes Quinn committed suicide with a fatal dose of fentanyl because of pressure the federal government exerted on her to cooperate. In addition, Gerace said Quinn was dealing with depression and that he would never have harmed her.

Even Quinn's mother signed an affidavit and told The Buffalo News in an interview that the FBI put Quinn under "tremendous pressure" to testify against Gerace and threatened to put her in prison if she didn't.

Prosecutors said the affidavit was altered by Gerace's former attorney, Steve Cohen, to support a narrative that Quinn committed suicide. Cohen has denied the allegations and the court filing states he has "strong proof establishing these allegations to be false."

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah McCarthy said he was not going to immediately rule on whether there was any impropriety by prosecutors. Intead, he requested the voluminous grand jury transcripts to determine if prosecutors engaged in misconduct.

McCarthy did not provide a specific date for when he'd finish the review, but Tripi said he hopes to have the transcripts by next week.

Wednesday's hearing included a host of other arguments and requests by the eight attorneys representing the four defendants, but they struck out on each one.

Defense attorneys accused the government of withholding exculpatory evidence about Quinn's mental health status, but prosecutors denied having any.

They asked the judge to order the government to turn over more evidence to amplify the information in the indictments, which they found confusing and duplicitous. Their lengthy court filing in April states the indictment is "devoid of any facts" to show how the defendants participated in a conspiracy.

Prosecutors accused the attorneys of attempting to unmask witnesses and gain a strategic advantage by asking the government to provide more evidence to support the charges. In addition, prosecutors said they've handed over much of the evidence the defense attorneys are asking to review, and disagreed that the indictments don't include enough specificity.

Another issue that came up was the amount of information the government shared with defense attorneys, much of which they said is either useless or not categorized in a way that makes it easier to identify specific evidence.

As a result, several of the attorneys Wednesday said they've spent enormous energy poring through millions of documents and hundreds of hours of recordings and videos to determine what will be useful for their cases. Rather than waste time, they said the government should be categorizing the information in a manner that makes it easier to locate specific evidence.

McCarthy ruled in favor of the government on each of the additional concerns and requested both sides file any motions that seek to resolve the case or any specific claims by August.

No trial date is scheduled.