Anna Gristina was nabbed soon after in the company of a Morgan Stanley banker and “close friend’’ whom she was trying to get to help her expand her operation through the Internet, the court papers revealed.
Prosecutors claim a brothel in this East 78th Street building got protection from law-enforcement officials
A soccer mom with four kids ran an Upper East Side brothel that raked in millions of dollars catering to wealthy, powerful johns — allegedly using her cop connections for protection, according to explosive court documents.
Anna Gristina, 44, an Ugg-wearing animal lover, operated her high-priced prostitution ring out of an East 78th Street apartment, and boasted “business contacts worldwide,” Manhattan Assistant DA Charles Linehan told a judge at the alleged madam’s arraignment hearing.
Her “black book” included powerful politicians, top-law enforcement, influential lawyers, bankers, entertainment execs and Fortune 500 businessmen, as well as several ultra-wealthy European clients, sources said.
“I see people in and out coming over here . . . sometimes many in one day,’’ said Mohammed Azad, 32, who owns a restaurant in the building where Gristina allegedly operated her brothel. “I always see young fashionable women, always under 30 . . . They don’t live here.’’
The petite, blond Gristina was caught on wiretaps claiming “to have made millions over the 15 or so years she has been in business as a madam,” Linehan said, according to newly released transcripts of the Feb. 23 hearing.
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