Lethal Embrace

Book excerpt: A Murder Plot. . . Single mother Lee Ann Armanini worked as a bartender in a strip joint in Long Island's South Shore when she got pregnant by Paul Riedel, owner of a health club in Amityville, Long Island. In 1998, Paul did the right thing and married her. The marriage was not a happy one, and Lee Ann left Riedel in 2000. She moved to Florida and took up with a mob-connected hood named Ralph "Rocco" Salierno. Together, they plotted Riedel's murder in order to get his money and ownership of the health club... A Case Of Mistaken Identity. . . But Salierno murdered the wrong man--Alexander Algeri, Riedel's lifelong friend and business partner who bore an uncanny resemblance to Riedel and even drove the same kind of vehicle, a Ford Explorer. A Stunning Trial. . . In a notorious trial that was filled with sensational revelations about drug abuse, illicit sex, and wrong way murder, Lee Ann Riedel and Rocco Salierno were convicted of first-degree murder. Salierno was sentenced to life in prison without parole; Lee Ann Riedel was sentenced to 25-years-to-life. Includes 16 Pages of Shocking Photos. Robert Mladinich is the author of From the Mouth of the Monster: The Joel Rifkin Story. He is a retired New York Police Department second grade detective who has investigated numerous homicides and was named NYPD Cop of the Year in 1985 for his work as a patrol officer in the South Bronx.