NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A 46-year-old man was convicted for a 12-year-old Ridgewood murder case that had gone cold, the Queens District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.
Gerald Griffin was convicted for beating Peter Pollizi, 33, to death in his home and ransacking the apartment on Sept. 14, 2011.
Pollizi’s brother found him naked and badly beaten underneath a couch in his home. The victim died from his injuries three days later.
Police were initially unable to find the killer, but the NYPD’s Cold Case Squad reopened the investigation in 2015.
They tracked down a former sex worker who said Griffin had been sex trafficking her at the time and that she had been present during the murder.
She said Griffin and another man had attacked Polizzi with a baseball bat. DNA taken from a wine glass recovered at the scene of the crime matched the witness.
Griffin had also posted a picture of himself wearing the a watch stolen from the house on Facebook.
He was indicted for the murder in 2018.
“This cold-blooded killer thought he could get away with murder, but the NYPD tracked him down and we made sure he will go to jail for a long time,” said Queens DA Melinda Katz.
A jury convicted Griffin of burglary, murder, robbery, intimidating a witness, evidence tampering and related charges.
He faces 25 years to life in prison for the murder conviction alone.
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