The ex-boyfriend of a homicidal hooker who plied Cipriani Dolci head chef Andrea Zamperoni with a deadly dose of a date rape drug at a seedy Queens motel was sentenced to more than two years in prison Thursday.
Brooklyn federal Judge Brian Cogan slapped Leslie Lescano with 32 months behind bars for his part in the 2019 scheme to drug and rob Zamperoni at the Elmhurst motel.
Cogan said he saw no evidence that Lescano participated in the drugging of Zamperoni, but ruled he knew enough about how prostitute Angelina Barini operated to conclude she was going to “take advantage of a John” that night.
“He had information she had done this before and someone had died,” Cogan said, calling Lescano’s participation the same as “willful blindness.”
Barini brought Zamperoni to the Kaway Lodge for a trick on Aug. 18, 2019, and told Lescano to hide in a bathroom, prosecutors charged.
The hooker then spiked Zamperoni’s drink with gamma-butyrolactone, causing him to pass out, according to court docs.
The pair swiped his credit cards and Lescano later used them on a “spending spree,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing submission in the case.
As Zamperoni lay dead in the room for days, Lescano and others used his bank card at a casino in Queens. Lescano also wired more than $700 to other unnamed individuals.
Lescano’s lawyer argued his client lacks “sagacity” and was caught up in the crime because of his relationship with Barini.
Angelina Barini was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August for drugging Zamperoni. Facebook“He was a dupe. He was a sucker,” attorney Jeremy Schneider said.
Lescano briefly addressed the judge before the sentence was handed down, tearfully recounting that he’s worked hard all his life and has been away from his family since coming to America from the Philippines.
“I just want you to know that I am a good person,” he told the judge.
Cogan responded that he doesn’t believe Lescano intended for anyone to die that night, but said it was “ridiculous” to not think it was a possibility.
Lescano hid in the motel room’s bathroom while Barini spiked the chef’s drink. AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz AlvarezBarini, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August, stashed Zamperoni’s body in a garbage container in the motel room — and lived next to it in the room for three days.
Cops raided the room after he was reported missing and were hit with the smell of burning incense and a dead body when they first stepped into the room.
Officers also spotted a garbage can with a “bare human foot sticking out,” authorities said in court papers.
