The Hindu : Karnataka News : Call girl linked to Spitzer knew mafia affiliate?

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Sunday, Mar 30, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Call girl linked to Spitzer knew mafia affiliate?

William K. Rashbaum and Ian Urbina

NEW YORK: Federal investigators have developed information that the sex worker whom the former New York Governor, Eliot Spitzer, is said to have met in Washington last month has some relationship with a man who the authorities contend is an associate of organised crime, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

It was unclear on Friday whether the investigators had determined the precise nature, or timing, of the relationship between the 22-year-old woman and the reputed organised crime figure, Anthony Scibelli, 37, a building contractor now under federal indictment in a separate case in Brooklyn.

But prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents involved in the prostitution case have begun asking questions about whether anyone involved with the ring that the former Governor is believed to have patronised, understands how Mr. Scibelli knows the woman, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.

A lawyer for Mr. Scibelli acknowledged that his client knew Ms. Dupre but said that the two did not have a sexual relationship. “He doesn’t deny knowing her, but he does deny having any illicit relationship with her,” said the lawyer, Gerald L. Shargel. “Anthony Scibelli is a hard-working contractor. He is not a mob member. He is not a mobster. He is someone who goes to work every day.”

Mr. Shargel said his client’s only contact with Ms. Dupre, an aspiring rhythm and blues singer, was related to his efforts to further her music career.

“He has contacts in the music business,” Mr. Shargel said. The two met through a mutual friend whom he did not identify. — New York Times News Service

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