By ANRES RODRIGUEZ
Retired New York City police officer Michael Rizzi was sentenced on Thursday morning to 15 months in prison for running a multimillion-dollar prostitution ring.
Rizzi, 44, as part of a plea deal also was ordered to serve three years on supervised release, as well as a three-month home detention and will be subject to computer monitoring comparable to what is given to sex offenders.
The sentence was significantly lighter than the initial 51 months the prosecution initially sought.
Rizzi’s lawyer, Javier Solano, said he was very satisfied with the sentencing, especially in regards to the escorts’ classification. “They tried to portray them as victims, which is factually false,” he said.
Brooklyn Federal Court Justice Carol Bagley Amon explained that normally under the law, escorts would be considered victims, but in this particular case she saw them more as “entrepreneurial persons” who were Rizzi’s cohorts.
The classification of the escorts as victims would have upped Rizzi’s prison time, a factor prosecution was hoping to capitalize on.
Amon- who had previously laughed at Rizzi’s claim of the escorts providing platonic companionship to affluent individuals- said before the sentencing, “as a New York City police officer, he should have known better.”
Rizzi remained silent throughout the sentencing but exited the courtroom smiling.
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