U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. recused himself Wednesday from a high-profile bribery, sex- and drug-trafficking case less than two months before the scheduled start of the trial for the strip club owner and former DEA agent facing the charges.
The judge removed himself from the case over two names on a witness list submitted by attorneys for Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga.
“Given defendant Peter Gerace Jr.’s inclusion of two individuals as supposed character witnesses among the hundreds of individuals on his witness list, recusal even in the absence of any bias, prejudice or partiality is now required,” Sinatra said in his order.
From the bench during Wednesday’s status conference, Sinatra said including the two on the witness list “appears to be gamesmanship” and he said he was “skeptical of the tactic.”
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“Recusal is no small matter,” Sinatra said.
But after defense attorney Steven M. Cohen said one of the two is likely to be called as a witness and the other could possibly be summoned, Sinatra said he had no option other than recusal.
“I am duty-bound to recuse,” Sinatra said at the proceeding.
After the proceeding, Cohen told The Buffalo News that character testimony is critical to his client’s defense at trial.
Prosecutors have said evidence will show that one of the ways in which Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club dancers were coerced into engaging in sex acts was through their drug addictions. They were provided drugs to fuel their addictions and were thereby coerced into having sex with Gerace and others close to Gerace, according to prosecutors’ court papers.
“This is not a case where they have any evidence,” Cohen said of the government, even after all of the executed search warrants. “There’s nothing going to be on the table. You know, here are the handcuffs that were used to chain the girls to the wall. Doesn’t exist. Here’s a picture of the container that the girls were shipped off to Shanghai. Doesn’t exist. Here are the drugs that were caught or bought on premises. Doesn’t exist. So this is all about character.”
The witness list for Gerace is a sealed court document, and the judge did not identify either of the two potential witnesses at issue during Wednesday’s proceeding. Sinatra did not discuss the connection he has to the two people that prompted his recusal.
Sinatra seemed vexed that Cohen included the two on the witness list.
Isn’t there anybody else among “the thousands of others” who could testify as character witnesses, the judge asked Cohen.
“I didn’t whip up these names out of thin air,” Cohen replied.
Prosecutors are the ones who brought up their names, Cohen said, citing material the government has turned over to defense attorneys for Gerace and retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Bongiovanni.
“We won’t know until the government puts on their case why they brought up these names,” Cohen told The News after the proceeding. “So we are reserving the right to call them, and let’s see how the case fleshes out. That’s it.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Tripi told Sinatra during the proceeding that one of the two names on Gerace’s witness list has “zero relevance to this trial” and challenged the defense counsel’s characterization of how important either witness would be.
Federal authorities have charged Bongiovanni of accepting $250,000 in bribes from drug dealers and providing them with information about investigations and cooperating sources. Gerace, who was ordered by Sinatra to stand trial with Bongiovanni, is charged with bribing Bongiovanni and conspiring to engage in drug trafficking and human trafficking at Pharaoh’s.
Attorneys Robert Singer and Parker MacKay, who represent Bongiovanni, declined to comment about the judge’s recusal.
Defense attorney Eric Soehnlein, who with Cohen represents Gerace, said there are many ways to defend Gerace at trial.
“We don’t have to pick a way to defend him until we see the government’s proof. That’s fair to us,” Soehnlein said. “And one very plausible, very likely way to defend this case involves testimony from those individuals. Because they’re going to be talking about Mr. Gerace in connection to circumstances that are very close to the allegations in the government’s case.
“And so we have reserved the right to put on that kind of case,” he said. “It’s our duty to reserve that right.”
In public remarks, Cohen has been critical of Sinatra over some of his rulings.
Earlier this month, when Sinatra ordered Gerace to remain in pretrial custody, Cohen said, “This judge continues to be particularly harsh to Mr. Gerace, and we see no legitimate basis for that.”
In May, when Sinatra ruled he would not suppress evidence seized during the 2019 searches of Peter G. Gerace Jr.’s home and Pharaoh’s, Cohen said, “The government is doing everything in its power to prevent Gerace’s defense from preparing our client for trial. Regrettably, they have found a sympathetic judge who has ordered all these restrictions.”
