Supreme Court judge John Michalski

John Michalski, an acting justice on the Erie County Supreme Court, died by suicide Tuesday at his Amherst home.

Michalski was injured by the freight train on the same day Gerace was charged with several felonies, including drug and sex trafficking, as well as bribing a federal agent. He described Gerace as a client and a friend. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org. His looming legal woes seemed to be “manageable,” Connors told the newspaper. He suffered a serious leg injury, but survived. “He was such a good guy.

A State Supreme Court justice who was the subject of a multi-year investigation by federal and state law enforcement officials has died by suicide at his ...

Federal and state officials, with a search warrant, raided his home on March 24, but neither they nor Connors revealed what was seized or being sought. John Michalski, 61, apparently took his life Tuesday. His defense attorney, Terrence Connors, told the Buffalo News that he learned of the death late Tuesday morning. A State Supreme Court justice who was the subject of a multi-year investigation by federal and state law enforcement officials has died by suicide at his home in Amherst.

A western New York judge who reportedly laid on railroad tracks last year and waited for a slow-moving freight train to pass over him has died by suicide.

WIVB reported that “federal authorities had questioned Michalski on his relationship with Peter Gerace.” After the railroad incident, Michalski’s caseload was reassigned, but it was eventually reinstated, the New York Times reported. “The defendant BONGIOVANNI’s friends and associates who were involved in possession, use, and distribution, and importation of controlled substances, included, among others, individuals he believed to be members of, connected to, or associated with Italian Organized Crime (IOC) in the Western District of New York and elsewhere,” the document continued. “It’s a very small consignment business, selling jewelry, clothes and various knickknacks on eBay,” Lana told the newspaper. On February 28, 2021, the owner of Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Buffalo, New York was arrested in Florida following a superseding Indictment charging him with one count each of bribery of a public official, conspiracy to defraud the United States, maintaining a drug involved premises, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. A hospital told WIVB that Michalski suffered a “serious leg injury.” “In fact, Michalski married Gerace and his former wife, Katrina Nigro, in September 2014, according to the marriage certificate.” The highest court in New York is called the Court of Appeals. WIVB sued after it received only a heavily redacted police report and no official video regarding the incident. The TV station only broadcast some of it because the judge was injured when a freight train passed over him. Another Michalski attorney, Terrence Connors, told the New York Times that “it would be difficult to find a judge who was more respected” in western New York State. Connors was described as a “longtime friend” to the judge. The New York Times said Michalski was found dead at his home. Buffalo NBC affiliate WGRZ spoke with Nigro in 2021.