BUFFALO, N.Y. — Could indicted Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club owner Peter Gerace be facing a potential death penalty?
Federal prosecutors have never stated that.
However, Gerace's lawyers appear to be taking no chances after the latest round of charges added to his case.
Already awaiting trial for alleged drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and bribing a federal drug agent, a new indictment recently unsealed now accuses Gerace and others of being part of a conspiracy to prevent a witness from testifying against him, by causing her death.
That witness, Crystal Quinn, was a former Pharaoh's employee who died this past summer in Wellsville of a drug overdose.
Prosecutors alleged she was "intentionally provided with a lethal dose of fentanyl" to keep her off the stand.
In court papers Gerace's lawyers note that while the indictment is not currently charged in a manner that would permit a death penalty prosecution, the charges being lodged are technically death penalty eligible.
Moreover, they note that during the recent arraignment of Gerace and several co-defendants on these new charges, a judge asked prosecutors if they might now pursue this as a potential death penalty case.
According to Gerace's lawyers, while the government never said it would, it also never said it would not.
Until the government makes clear its intention not to pursue a capital case, the defense says even the mere potential for one makes them eligible for recourses to prepare a capital defense, including the hiring of additional lawyers specializing in capital cases on Gerace's behalf.
Meanwhile, 2 On Your Side received a packet of documents from Gerace sent from a post office box, which is assigned to inmates at the Chautauqua County Jail.
Among the hundreds of pages are affidavits, including one from Crystal Quinn's mother, in which she says her daughter was threatened by the feds with jail unless she gave false testimony against Gerace, and infers Crystal was prepared to take her own life rather than do so.
In the affidavit, Sharon Quinn wrote, "The U.S. Government and FBI Drove my daughter to her death. ... They destroyed her from the inside and haunted her every moment."
In the four page statement, Quinn claims the FBI tried to coerce her daughter into saying she secured girls for Gerace and groomed them in the sex trade, and was told she would spend 15 years in prison if she failed to testify to that effect.
She described her daughter as suffering from a chemical dependency and depression, and displaying suicidal tendencies which left her fragile and vulnerable to pressure.
"To say Crystal was some sort of Madame for Peter, managing and grooming girls for sex work, is beyond ridiculous," Quinn wrote. "Anyone who knew Crystal knew she was incapable of managing herself. .... Regardless how my daughter died, the government is completely responsible."
According to the The Buffalo News, however, a federal prosecutor recently contended in open court that it is the government's position that "Crystal Quinn was murdered, and it was staged to look like an overdose."