A New York City woman will spend the next 30 years in prison for fatally drugging four men in 2019, a federal judge determined Tuesday.
Angelina Barini, 43, used her position as a sex worker to drug clients in various neighborhoods of Queens, N.Y., so that she could incapacitate and rob them.
Barini was arrested in August 2019 and later charged with two counts of distributing narcotics that caused the deaths of a person; one count of distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine; and one count of conspiring to distribute gamma-Butyrolactone.
She pleaded guilty to the charges in August of last year.
“The defendant drugged and killed multiple people for a few quick dollars,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a news release Tuesday. “She stole their personal belongings while they lay unconscious dying from the lethal drugs she gave them.”
Peace continued: “The defendant’s substantial prison sentence is warranted by her shocking disregard for human life. Hopefully, today’s sentence will bring some solace to the victims’ families and serve as a warning to future perpetrators that there are significant consequences to these horrific crimes.”
In July and August of 2019, Barini caused the narcotics-related deaths of four men. Her first three victims, whose identities were not disclosed, overdosed on fentanyl-laced drugs in the Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Woodside and College Point. Her fourth victim died of the “date rape” drug gamma-Butyrolactone and was soon identified as missing chef Andrea Zamperoni.
“In the corner of the room, law enforcement authorities noticed what appeared to be a garbage can with bed linens stuffed inside and what appeared to be a bare human foot sticking out of the bed linens,” court papers said.
Barini claimed she didn’t do it and that her pimp would not let her call the police and discussed whether to cut up the body.
After searching the room, court papers said authorities recovered “a purple liquid in a glass with powder at the top of the liquid and around the rim, glass pipes for smoking narcotics, bottles of bleach and bleach-covered towels, electronics, a power saw and an empty suitcase.”
Prosecutors said Barini admitted to providing the chef drugs and later admitted that her pimp gave the chef “liquid ecstasy.”
Despite Barini’s attempts to hide Zamperoni’s body, authorities located the man in an Elmhurst motel room on Aug. 21, 2019, three days after his death. He was found inside a garbage bin wrapped in bleach-stained sheets, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
At the time of Zamperoni’s death, his employer, Cipriani Dolci, released a statement about the tragedy, calling him a “responsible, good-hearted, kind and very hard-working individual” who was a “well-respected and beloved member of the Cipriani team for many years.”
After Barini was sentenced to 30 years on Tuesday, Ricky J. Patel, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said: “Today’s sentencing holds one more dealer responsible for profiting off the addiction of others, several of whom paid the ultimate price.”
Kill 4 men and only 30 years in prison, which will probably end up a much shorter period given the early release policies of today. This is justice????????? Bring back the death penalty. A person like this has absolutely no socially redeeming value.