A Howard Beach newspaper publisher in debt to the mob attempted to threaten a woman out of pursuing sex assault claims against a Bonanno crime family associate, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Patricia Adams allegedly threatened to smear the woman in the pages of The Forum newspaper if she testified in court that reputed mobster, Robert Pisani sexually assaulted her inside his Queens bagel shop, according to a federal indictment.
Pisani, who was already facing federal racketeering charges alongside the nephew of notorious Capo Vinnie Asaro, allegedly whipped out his penis and asked the woman, who was an employee, to touch it as he unhooked her bra.
Adams is accused of contacting the victim’s father, and threatening to ruin his daughter’s reputation in her paper if she continued to cooperate with cops, according to court papers.
Adams allegedly met the victim’s dad at a Howard Beach Starbucks in May — and complained to him about how the sex claims could keep Pisani from getting probation in the racketeering case.
Adams, 58, allegedly acted like she’d watched too many Godfather flicks, telling the man his daughter “is going to hurt herself. That’s the truth. I’m going to hurt her.”
She went on in the recorded conversation to say: “You know, I gotta put out what I have to put out.”
She then allegedly added “I won’t hurt you, if you don’t deserve — that’s for my enemies. .. I’m hoping that she’ll decide to drop it,” the publisher allegedly said, before adding “I’m kind of under their … thumb.”
Adams is linked to Pisani and other alleged Bonannos through gambling debts, authorities claim.
She also plays cards at an Ozone Park club run by the crime family, the paper say.
Adams, according to court documents, had previously given glowing coverage to Pisani’s Broad Channel deli when it opened following Hurricane Sandy.
In court Wednesday, defense attorney Kenneth Paul insinuated the victim’s reputation had already been sullied in Howard Beach as he asked Magistrate Judge Victor Pohorelsky to release his client.
“There are a number of stories going around the community about this so-called victim,” he said. “Those stories are very different than what is alleged in the complaint.”
Pohorelsky released Adams on $150,000, with the condition she also put her home up as collateral and wear an ankle bracelet.
She declined comment as she left court.
