A prostitute in New York City has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after she was found responsible for murdering four clients with fentanyl-laced date rape drugs in 2019.

On Tuesday, Angelina Barini, 43, appeared in a Brooklyn federal court for her sentencing hearing after pleading guilty in August on drug distribution charges. The victims, which included a prominent New York City chef, were given fatal drug cocktails in motel rooms across Queens as she made off with their belongings. Prosecutors summed it up as murder and robbery "for a quick few dollars."

“The defendant drugged and killed multiple people for a few quick dollars,” Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a news release. “She stole their personal belongings while they lay unconscious dying from the lethal drugs she gave them.”

Barini’s killing spree began on July 4, 2019, when she met with a man at a motel in Astoria, Queens, and provided him with drugs that killed him. New York police officers discovered his body hours after she made off with his belongings.

It did not take long for Barini to strike again. On July 11, she met with a second client in Elmhurst, Queens. He later died of a drug overdose. A third victim died nearly a month later on Aug. 5 under the same circumstances after meeting Barini near College Point in Queens.

Barini’s final victim was Andrea Zamperoni, the head chef at the Cipriani Dolci restaurant at Grand Central Station, who she killed with the date rape drug GBL. After Zamperoni died, prosecutors said Barini wrapped his body in bleach-stained sheets and tried to dispose of it in a garbage bin. They said she also asked a friend to lend her a hacksaw and a hand trunk.

Zamperoni's body lay decomposing for three days in the hotel room when police discovered it alongside Barini. She had initially resisted allowing them any entry into the room where officers arrested her and discovered Zamperoni’s credit card as well as a pipe used to smoke drugs, according to the court.

Barini initially denied being responsible for Zamperoni’s death and tried to claim a pimp made her do it. She later confessed to police, saying “I’m sorry.”

At her sentencing, Barini pleaded for leniency from Judge Brian Cogan, pointing to her own problems with addiction as grounds for mercy. Cogan however swiftly denied her appeal, saying that her actions were inexcusable.

“There is no level of disadvantage of being raised that can mitigate what you did here,” Cogan said. “Drug addiction or no drug addiction, something has to kick in.”

RELATED STORIES