Acknowledgments
Many people contributed in some way, small or large, to this book. Some we can only thank personally. To those who requested anonymity, please know how grateful we are. To the others, we would like to thank you here:
Sal Algeri, for trusting us enough to share his thoughts and perspectives and for showing that a fathers love for his children is eternal.
David Armanini, for showing that a fathers love for his daughter knows no bounds.
Bruce Barket, for offering his insights into this emotionally charged case. As a former member of the law enforcement community, Barket is the kind of attorney we view as a thorn in the side, but there is no one we would rather have fighting for our freedom than this man.
Jay Salpeter, for showing why both active and retired NYPD detectives are universally regarded as the best in the world. If we were on the lam, wed hate to have him on our tail.
Vincent McCrudden, for discussing so openly and honestly such a difficult chapter in his life.
Retired Suffolk County detective Christine ONeill-Spady, for helping us with several logistical issues. Also to her father, Richard ONeill, the onetime vice president of the New York City Patrolmens Benevolent Association, for introducing us to her and for being such a good friend.
The New York City Sergeants Benevolent Association, especially President Ed Mullins and Treasurer Robert Johnson, for being so understanding and considerate during some very challenging times.
Giles Anderson and Jake Elwell, our respective literary agents, for their support throughout this project as well as others.
Gary Goldstein, who is an old-school editor, blessed with the sensibility and enthusiasm of a beat writer.
Also thanks to driver extraordinaire Anne Darrigan, Erin Mainey, Grace Mainey, Cailin Murthaand the Honorable Louis J. Ohlig, who sat on the bench for this most unusual trial.
About the Authors
Robert Mladinich is the author of From the Mouth of the Monster: The Joel Rifkin Story (Pocket Books ) . The book chronicled his college friendship with New York States most notorious serial killer and the divergent paths their lives had taken. He is a retired New York Police Department second-grade detective who has investigated numerous homicides, and was named NYPD Cop of the Year in 1985 for his work as a patrol officer in the South Bronx. He is also a journalist whose reports have appeared in Playboy, Details, and The Ring . He contributes regularly to the boxing Web site TheSweetScience.com . Visit him there or at www.RobertMlad.com .
Michael Benson is the author of forty-one books, including the Kensington true-crime book Betrayal in Blood . Hes also written Whos Who in the JFK Assassination (Citadel) and Complete Idiots Guides to NASA, National Security, The CIA, Submarines, and Modern China . Other works include biographies of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and William Howard Taft. Originally from Rochester, New York, he is a graduate of Hofstra University and lives with his wife and two children in Brooklyn, New York.
Afterword
Soon after Alex was shot and taken to Brunswick Hospital Center, where he died, that hospital was converted into a psychiatric-only facility and the emergency room was closed and left empty.
A few weeks after the legal proceedings regarding Alex Algeris murder were completed, the Honorable Louis J. Ohlig retired from the bench. He is now in private practice on Long Island.
In January 2006, Ohlig declined to allow his photograph to appear in this book. He said that his family was worried about ramifications and hed rather not have his photo used. He also said that during the court proceedings (he didnt recall if during trial or pretrial hearings), he and Denise Merrifield received death threats.
It was the first time ever he received death threats and he presided over many high-profile cases, including a death penalty case.
He said, I never got death threats before. I had around-the-clock police protection at my home, as well as a panic button. The neighbors must have thought we had matrimonial problems. My family was more worried than I was. If theyre going to do something, they dont tell you. It was still cause for concern. There are a lot of wacky people out there.
As of August 26, 2005, Ralph Saliernos defense team continued to work their way through the appeal process.
Paul Riedel still owns the gym at which the murder occurred. He has sole custody of the son he had with Lee Ann.
Riedels matrimonial attorney, Steven Constantino, described this case as Beauty and the Beast , adding that it was Lee Ann, a cunningly lethal woman, who was the beast. According to Constantino, Riedel is now completely off drugs. Once a manic, late-night bodybuilder, Riedel now stays home at night and grows love handles from eating Devil Dogs while watching television with his son.
Michael Big Balls Fiaccabrino, childhood buddy of Rocco Saliernos, who went on to run a marijuana-growing operation, and testify against Rocco and Lee Ann at the trial, was tried for federal drug charges and found guilty. He is currently serving a five-year sentence.
On November 4, 2005, a computer search was made on the Internet for references to the Dolphin Fitness Club address, in Amityville, using a popular search engine. Third among the items found by the search was this:
DOLPHIN FITNESSAddress4SexCocksuckerADSCruising Stops... DOLPHIN FITNESS, AMITYVILLE, NEW YORK, BathHouse/Sauna/Gym, Cruising for sex locations. address4sex.com/newpages/s832686.shtml22k
When the Web site was opened, along with advertisements for sex services unrelated to the gym, there was a listing for the gym with its address and phone number, followed by the editorial comment, apparently supplied by those who maintain the address4sex. com Web site: Hot action afternoons & late evenings in Showers. An item added to the Web site in 2004 noted that the club was open twenty-four hours and was great for cruising.
Today the place looks just like it did when Alex roamed its rooms. The only difference is in the weight room. Now there is a huge sign on the wall that reads BIG ALS WEIGHT ROOM.
On October 13, 2005, Lee Ann Armanini Riedel wrote a four-page letter, both sides of two sheets of a wide-ruled loose leaf, in her precise parochial penmanship. As she wrote, she sat in her home, a cell in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, in Bedford Hills, New York.
She said she was writing to beg for help. She had been sitting in Bedford for two years, in addition to the eighteen months she had spent in the Suffolk County Jail, and she was beginning to feel as if everyone had forgotten her. Being forgotten was, she wrote, the one thing I always asked to not happen. Her mind was reeling and she didnt know quite what it was she was asking. She wanted someone to discover the truth behind Alex Algeris murder, so she could be exonerated. She wrote that she didnt have any moneyif she was released from prison, she would make sure to pay back all of her debts in full, even if she had to work a million jobs.
I did not (the word not was underlined twice) ask Rocco to kill Paul! Please! You have got to believe me! Mike Fiaccabrino lied about everything! I cannot beg you enough! she wrote.
She hoped that Bruce Barket could help her more than he had. She wrote that she had wished Barket could have helped her more during her trial as well. She still wondered why she had not been allowed to testify. How could the jury believe she was innocent when her lawyer wouldnt even allow her to take the stand and defend herself? She finally had come to believe that Barkets strategy was the smartest, and where had it gotten her? Twenty-five years in stir with no one helping her, thats where.
