A government witness in the Pharaoh’s strip club case was warned days before her death about a bounty on her life, according to a federal prosecutor and documents filed in U.S. District Court.
Former exotic dancer Crystal Quinn, 37, died in Simon P. Gogolack‘s Wellsville home under what federal authorities call “highly suspicious circumstances.”
A new indictment has added two kidnapping and six witness tampering charges against an Allegany County man under federal investigation since a government witness in the Pharaoh’s strip club case turned up dead in his home.
The cause of death was “an overdose of fentanyl,” Wellsville Police Chief Timothy O’Grady told The Buffalo News on Thursday. He said he based that assessment on toxicology tests taken on Quinn’s body.
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Gogolack called 911 on Aug. 1 to report Quinn had died in his home, and the next day he told the FBI that Howard Hinkle Jr. had told Quinn “that there was money on her head,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey L. Chalbeck said at a recent court proceeding.
Quinn’s family has said Quinn was scheduled to become a reluctant prosecution witness in the case against Peter Gerace Jr., owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga. Gerace faces an upcoming trial on charges of drug-trafficking, sex-trafficking and bribing a federal drug agent.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Cooper told a judge that his office intends to file witness tampering charges against Simon P. Gogolack 39, of Wellsville.
Quinn’s mother, Sharon Quinn, said Thursday that her daughter was “tremendously afraid” in the last days of her life, but she added that her daughter never indicated to her that she thought a contract had been put out on her life.
“Oh my God, no ... I never have heard that before,” Sharon Quinn said, when told about the reported bounty. “I just want the truth to come out.”
“There is no way” that Crystal Quinn would have knowingly taken the dangerous drug fentanyl, her mother added.
A SWAT team used flash grenades, flashing lights and a megaphone to roust Hinkle from his Donovan Road home in Wellsville at 6 a.m. Oct. 24.
Hinkle, 47, who has a felony criminal record, hesitated before complying with the police warnings, but he finally opened the front door of his Allegany County residence. When FBI agents searched his property, they found 134 marijuana plants, 19 firearms, numerous rounds of ammunition and other evidence indicating a drug-production operation, according to a filing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The FBI is investigating the Aug. 1 death of Crystal Quinn, 37, at a friend's home in the Allegany County Village of Wellsville.
While providing few details at a court proceeding last week for Hinkle, prosecutors linked him to the investigation into Quinn’s death.
“In investigating that death – and the investigation, I should note, remains ongoing – the FBI learned that Mr. Hinkle was one of the last people to interact with Crystal Quinn in the days leading to her death,” Chalbeck told U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael J. Roemer. “The FBI further learned from ... Simon Gogolack that Mr. Hinkle told Ms. Quinn that there was a bounty on her life.”
Gogolack and Hinkle face narcotics and firearms charges stemming from the searches of their homes, and Gogolack also faces additional kidnapping and witness tampering charges.
“Mr. Hinkle’s apparent access to information about money being placed on Crystal Quinn’s life further underscores his contacts in the criminal underworld,” prosecutors said in a court filing in an attempt to persuade the judge to keep Hinkle in custody. “In other words, there is evidence that Mr. Hinkle possessed knowledge of a murder-for-hire plot stemming from Ms. Quinn’s cooperation with federal law enforcement, and communicated as much to her shortly before she died. Notably, Mr. Hinkle has, to date, never reported to law enforcement his knowledge of the murder-for-hire conspiracy.”
Steven Cohen, who until early September was Gerace’s defense lawyer, said shortly after Quinn’s death that she died by suicide.
FBI agents executed a search warrant at an Allegany County home last week while investigating the death of a former exotic dancer who was going to testify as a prosecution witness at the trial of strip club owner Peter Gerace Jr.
Dylan Foust, an Allegany County coroner, previously told The News that he saw no signs of foul play at the Wellsville home where she died.
Robert Bolm, a former attorney for Gogolack, previously told The News that Gogolack found Quinn dead after waking up next to her in his home.
Roemer presided at last week’s hearing to decide whether to keep Hinkle in pretrial custody or release him under certain conditions. He asked Chalbeck for more information about what points to Hinkle’s involvement in the death of the government witness.
“Your Honor, I’m not able to answer, to disclose all of what we know and to say more than what I believe I said before,” she replied.
Roemer ordered Hinkle released on conditions that included home incarceration.
Prosecutors raised concerns over witness safety and anxiety, given what they call the extensive media coverage of the bribery, sex- and drug-trafficking case.
But U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. issued a stay of Roemer’s release order, at prosecutors’ request, until Sinatra reviews the magistrate judge’s order. Sinatra scheduled a hearing for Friday.
Hinkle faces four charges: a felon unlawfully possessing a firearm, maintaining a drug involved premises, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes.
Dillon Anderson, a co-defendant, faces the same charges, except for the felon in possession of a firearm count. Hinkle describes Anderson as his wife. The two have been together for 32 years, but they’re not legally married, said Frank Bogulski, Hinkle’s defense attorney.
The drug-distribution charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 40 years, and the firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime carries a term of life imprisonment.
In a court filing ahead of Friday’s hearing, Bogulski said it is apparent that prosecutors are looking to speak to Hinkle about Quinn’s death.
The arrests have implications for Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of the Cheektowaga club, who faces up to life imprisonment in the high-profile case.
“The government has made it very clear that they are interested in exploring Mr. Hinkle’s potential involvement regarding the death of a government informant,” Bogulski said in his filing. “It would appear that this is more important to the government than actually prosecuting Mr. Hinkle for what we believe the government improperly alleged was a marijuana distribution scheme.
“Mr. Hinkle is not charged in any way with respect to the death of a witness and it is clear that the government is investigating Mr. Hinkle regarding this matter.”
The government’s interest in Hinkle as part of the Quinn investigation should not be a reason to keep him in custody, Bogulski added.
For their part, prosecutors argue Hinkle’s criminal history demonstrates his dangerousness, dishonesty and repeated unwillingness to comply with conditions of pretrial or post-conviction release. Prosecutors contend there is no condition or combination of conditions that can reasonably assure the safety of the community if Hinkle is released.
Hinkle has a conviction for assault, according to prosecutors.
A key witness in the bribery, sex- and drug-trafficking trial of strip club owner Peter G. Gerace Jr. has died, underscoring the risks of any more delays in his trial, a federal prosecutor said at a court proceeding Friday.
“But that’s not it,” Chalbeck said at the detention hearing. “It appears from the time that he was an adult, throughout his adult life, he has been arrested for multiple offenses: sexual misconduct, theft, burglary, criminal possession of stolen items, DUIs, violent felony offense, criminal possession of a weapon.”
In December 2021, Anderson called 911 and reported to police that Hinkle had threatened to kill her and then himself. That report did not end in an arrest.
“It is very likely that Mr. Hinkle’s ties to the community include drug associates and individuals who unlawfully sell firearms,” according to the prosecutors’ court filing. “Indeed, in the days immediately preceding Ms. Quinn’s death, Mr. Hinkle associated with Mr. Gogolack, an illegal drug dealer.
“Mr. Hinkle’s knowledge of money being placed on Ms. Quinn’s head is strongly suggestive of a murder-for-hire plot against Crystal Quinn, a federal witness in an upcoming trial with hundreds of other witnesses, underscores that there could be several individuals whose lives would be in very real danger should the defendant be released. The defendant’s apparent access to information about money being placed on Crystal Quinn’s life further underscores the defendant’s contacts in the criminal underworld,” prosecutors wrote.
“I don’t think that I heard that they said he was involved” in Quinn’s death, Bogulski said at his client’s detention hearing last week. “My client may be more likely a witness, rather than being involved in that, because he’s not charged with that here, Judge.
The last time Hinkle was arrested was when he was 31 years old, some 16 years ago, Bogulski said.
Prosecutors noted Hinkle had cameras set up on the exterior of his residence that would enable him to see anybody coming onto his property.
He does not appear gainfully employed, Chalbeck said. Given the number of marijuana plants on his property, it appears that drug distribution provides him his primary income, she added.
The FBI found 134 marijuana plants outside his home, a seedling operation in the basement and marijuana drying in a trailer in the front driveway.
The firearms were placed by doors and windows, and the ammunition was found throughout the residence and near the grow sites, prosecutors said.
“The firearm that was loaded by the front door ... had a scope,” Chalbeck said at least week’s hearing.
Another had a red laser.
“A lot of people own a lot of guns in Allegany County,” Bogulski said. “It’s not like Amherst or West Seneca. It’s a different lifestyle.”
Boguski said Hinkle told him the laser sight is “for predators” like coyotes.
“He’s not a drug dealer, Judge, and there’s nothing in his record to indicate that he’s a drug dealer,” Boguski said. “My client uses marijuana.“
Bogulski characterized his lifestyle as simple.
“In addition to marijuana plants, he has a small garden and pigs,” Bogulski said. “And he lives on like more of a subsistence lifestyle different than a lot of people here would live, Judge.”
According to Sharon Quinn, her daughter was so afraid in the final days of her life that, if someone rang the front doorbell, she would go “running out the back door.”
Crystal Quinn was especially fearful of FBI agents who were pressuring her to testify against Gerace, her mother said. She said Gerace was a close friend of Crystal’s and she does not believe Gerace would harm her daughter.
