The New York prostitute, who was sentenced to 30 years for fatally drugging four men, has asked the judge to serve out her time in a Minnesota prison so she can pursue a gentler, kinder career – working out of dogs, has exclusively learned.
Angelina Barini’s attorney filed the special motion Wednesday, just a day after she was sentenced in federal court in Brooklyn. He asked that she be taken to the low-security federal prison for women in Waseca, Minnesota.
“The defendant is writing to request that the court recommend that the defendant be appointed FCI Waseka to the extent consistent with the security and other administrative concerns of the Bureau of Prison,” federal defense attorney Michael Weil wrote to Judge Brian Cogan. He misspelled the name of the prison.
“The facility is closer to the defendant’s family in Canada than many of those that house female inmates and has several programs, including one involving dog training, which she would like to participate in.”
The judge has not yet ruled on the application.
Angelina Baarini, 38, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing two suitors. Prosecutors say she also killed two others by drugging them
Barini’s federal defense attorney wrote to the judge in the case to ask if she could serve her time in a low-security prison in Minnesota for wanting to participate in his dog-breeding program
Can Do Canines claims on its website that its prison dog training program builds empathy, trust and patience among prisoners
Barini, 43, was convicted in federal court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to drugging and killing two men. Prosecutors say she also killed two others.
One of her victims was Italian-born chef Andrea Zamperoni, 33, who worked at New York’s Cipriano Dolci.
She cried in court Tuesday as she admitted distributing fentanyl and the “date canola” drug GBL to two men who were not identified in court.
She did so in hopes of knocking out and robbing the men, but ended up killing them.
Prosecutor Breon Peace praised the 30-year sentence and hoped it would serve as a warning to anyone trying to use drugs to “commit horrific crimes over there.”
Waseca’s most notorious former inmate was Whitey Bulger’s longtime girlfriend, Catherine Greig
“The defendant drugged and killed several people for a few quick bucks,” Peace said in a statement. “She stole their personal belongings while they lay unconscious and dying from the deadly drugs she gave them.”
“The defendants’ lengthy prison sentences are justified by their shocking disregard for human life.”
But Barini’s older sister, Sally, told the New York Post that Tuesday’s court ruling was “a little harsh” and that she plans to appeal.
“I think what wasn’t taken into account, of course, was that what happened was wrong, but the victims put themselves into it,” Sally said. “They weren’t saints.
“You went with her. They wanted to party and they wanted to do drugs and have sex with her. It wasn’t like she’d put a gun to someone’s head and forced them to go with her.
The prison in Waseca, 75 miles south of Minneapolis, is located on a converted university campus. It opened as a men’s prison in 1992, but was converted to a women’s prison in 2008.
His most notorious inmate, gangster White Bulger’s longtime girlfriend Catherine Greig, was released in 2020.
Waseca Federal Correctional Institution is one of seven prisons in Minnesota and Wisconsin that participate in the Puppies in Prison program
Court records show that on July 4, 2019, Barini met with one of the victims at an Astoria motel and gave him fentanyl-laced drugs. He was found dead later in the day. Investigators said similar incidents happened on July 11 in Woodside and a 60-year-old victim on August 5 in College Point, with both men dying of drug overdoses
Italian-born chef Andrea Zamperoni, 33, of New York’s Cipriani Dolci, was among Barini’s victims
An organization called Can Do Canines works with seven prisons in Minnesota and Wisconsin to run prison puppy programs, each training between five and 20 puppies at a time, according to the group’s website.
A Can Do Canines employee teaches inmate caregivers how to handle the dogs, teaching them “empathy, confidence and patience,” the organization stresses, while citing a warden who added, “It gives caregivers a purpose.” “
“At the same time, the dogs are well cared for and receive 24-hour attention and training,” the website says.
Barini, federal prisoner number 83762-053, is currently being held at the tough Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Jeffrey Epstein’s sidekick Ghislaine Maxwell is a fellow prisoner.
Maxwell called her conditions “a living hell,” claiming she was served maggot-infested food and had rats in her cell.
A move to the Minnesota jail, which houses around 750 inmates, would be a significant improvement for Barini, who prosecutors said regularly gave her clients drugs to “disable and rob” them.
Prostitute Angelina Barini, 43, cried in court on Tuesday when she was found guilty of distributing fentanyl and the “date rape” drug GBL to four men in the summer of 2019
The dogs also benefit from the Puppies in Prison program because they “are well cared for and receive 24-hour attention and training,” says Can Do Canines
Court records show that on July 4, 2019, Barini met with one of the victims at an Astoria motel and gave him fentanyl-laced drugs. He was found dead later in the day.
Investigators said similar events happened in Woodside on July 11 and in a 60-year-old victim on August 5 in College Point, with both men dying of overdoses of fentanyl-laced drugs.
Then, on August 18, 2019, prosecutors said Barini met with Zamperoni at the Kemway Lodge motel in Elmhurst, where she drugged him with GBL and killed him almost immediately.
Barini had repeatedly attempted to dispose of Zamperoni’s body at the motel, which was found three days later in a trash can wrapped in faded sheets.
Surveillance video from outside the motel showed police taking Barini into custody after the Zamperoni’s body was found in a trash can
Prosecutors said the chef overdosed just minutes after entering the motel with Barini
Barini is said to have orchestrated the crime with his ex-boyfriend Leslie Lescano, 44, who was also arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
Prosecutors said Barini gave Lescano Zamperoni’s American Express bank card and asked him to go to a pharmacy to pick up gift cards and toiletries for her, including shampoo and shower gel.
She also allegedly instructed him to get her cheese, cold cuts and cigarettes, which Lescano bought at a deli using the victim’s bank card, according to court documents.
Sally, Barini’s older sister, told the New York Post that Tuesday’s court ruling was “a little harsh” and that she plans to appeal the decision.
“I think what wasn’t taken into account, of course, was that what happened was wrong, but the victims put themselves into it,” Sally said. “They weren’t saints.
“You went with her. They wanted to party and they wanted to do drugs and have sex with her. It wasn’t like she’d put a gun to someone’s head and forced them to go with her.