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QUEENS WEEKLY, OCTOBER 6, 2019
Overdose death
to distribute one or more substances
containing fentanyl on Aug. 25. She
was arraigned before the Brooklyn
federal court on Sept. 27, where she
pleaded not guilty.
Barini was remanded to custody
until her next court date on Oct.
7. If convicted, she faces a mandatory
minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment,
and a maximum of life
imprisonment.
“As alleged, without regard for the
potentially lethal consequences of
her actions and despite the enormous
body count attributed to dangerous
opioids, the defendant provided fentanyl
to the victim, causing his death,”
stated United States Attorney Richard
P. Donoghue. “This office will continue
working tirelessly with our law
enforcement partners to hold accountable
those like the defendant who contribute
to the opioid epidemic.”
According to the complaint, police
found the male victim dead inside a
room at the Crown Motor Inn, located
at 74-01 Queens Blvd., on July 11.
Video surveillance taken from the
motel allegedly shows a woman, who
appeared to be Barini, and the victim
entering the motel together. Following
her arrest, Barini allegedly admitted
to supply drugs to the victim.
The medical examiner found that
the victim’s cause of death was fentanyl
intoxication. The investigation is
ongoing.
Barini is allegedly linked to two
other fentanyl overdoses that occurred
in Queens, the first occurring
on July 4 at the Airway Inn at
LaGuardia. A man was found dead at
the hotel at 11:30 that morning. Video
surveillance allegedly shows a woman
who appears to be Barini enter
the hotel at 9:34 a.m. The medical examiner
determined that the victim’s
cause of death was acute intoxication
due to the combined effects of alcohol,
methamphetamine, cocaine and
fentanyl.
Barini is also allegedly behind the
death of Andrea Zamperoni, 33, who
was found inside the Kamway Lodge,
located at 40-36 77th St. in Elmhurst,
on Aug. 21. Barini and her associates
allegedly tried to cover up Zamperoni’s
death — when investigators entered
the hotel room where he was
found, they discovered bedsheets
drenched in bleach, a power saw and
an empty suitcase.
At this time, federal courts have
not released information about if
Barini has been charged in these two
incidents.
Reach reporter Emily Davenport by
e-mail at edavenport@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2567.
Continued from Page 1
Political club
“I don’t like the political
operation with the elected officials
who’s doing what I’m
doing now and standing up
here and talking at you. That’s
not what I want to create. As
a matter of fact, what I’m trying
to do is create a structure
where I am out of the way,”
Hevesi said.
The norm in Queens’ political
clubs is to build a structure
revolving around Assembly
District Leaders, a role often
taken on by elected officials
who have the power within the
County Party to vote for judicial
nominations and elect the
county leader.
Hevesi, who currently
serves as District Leader for
the 28th Assembly District,
explained that he plans not to
run in 2020, leaving the position
open to someone else.
For the QCDC, he intends
to set up a board structure of
seven members, including positions
of the president, vice
president and the political director,
that are elected by the
club. It will be open registered
Democrats from anywhere in
the city. Though Hevesi pledged
not to run as a board member,
he said he would retain control
over selecting two of the board
positions: the treasurer and
head of social media.
Hevesi picked these two
roles intentionally. After having
lived through the ethics
scandals that his father Alan
Hevesi ran into as former City
Comptroller, Hevesi said that
he doesn’t play around with financial
ethics issues. Nor does
he want the club to have a wild
card social media mouthpiece.
Treasurer will be taken by
Kevin Wisniewski and head
of social media by Alexa Arecchi,
both Hevesi staffers.
“After Trump got elected a
lot of people in the neighborhood
who were not politically
yet became politically active,
but we need to capture that
into a forum that let’s their
voices resonate and really lets
them design how this club operates,”
Hevesi said, describing
the guiding force behind
this structure.
Hevesi added that although
the QCDC represents a split
from Forrest Hills current
dominant Democratic organization,
the Geraldine Ferraro
club, the separation signals
no bad blood between him
and that club’s leader Councilwoman
Karen Koslowitz.
Meeks also has sanctioned the
new club.
Continued from Page 1
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi addresses the newly formed Queens
County Democratic Club. Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
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