Salvatore Strazzullo, NYC’s infamous “Night-Life Lawyer” who was facing multiple ongoing criminal cases for allegedly bilking elderly clients out of millions of dollars, was found dead in his car in front of his parents’ Brooklyn home Saturday.
The 52-year-old Strazzullo’s eclectic client roster — which included celebs in trouble and strippers suing pro athletes — and personal scandals, made him a fixture in gossip pages.
The cases he took on frequently involved embarrassing or bizarre circumstances, sometimes stemming from celebrities’ late-night or intoxicant-fueled exploits, which earned him his nickname in a 2012 New York Times profile.
While defending rapper Foxy Brown in a 2011 case — in which she was facing prosecution for hiking down her undergarments and mooning a neighbor she had been feuding with — he was preparing to invoke what he called “ the underwear defense” if the case went to trial. (I.E. His client had simply not put on underwear the day she flashed the alleged victim.)
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Walsh wound up dismissing the charges.
Strazzullo also repped Milana Dravnel, an exotic dancer who sued Oscar de la Hoya for $100 million in 2007 after he allegedly attempted to stop her from selling racy photos in which boxing legend strutted around in lingerie.
After the photos were made public, Dravnel sold them to a West Coast photo agency for $70,000.
De la Hoya’s camp said they were doctored, which prompted the suit and the revelation of many salacious allegations — including that the former super welterweight champ had a penchant for donning all manner of ladies undergarments and loved to be called “Goldie” while wearing them.
By June 2008, Dravnel quietly dropped the charges after signing a confidentiality agreement with the boxer’s team.
In between litigating these two sleaze-tastic cases that came to characterize his reputation as an attorney, Strazzullo himself wound up on the wrong side of a judge’s gavel on more than one occasion.
In 2011, Desiree DeMartino, a paralegal and former employee, sued the Brooklyn attorney for sexual harassment alleging, among other things, that he once kept her trapped in a conference room with her 1-year-old son outside while he pleasured himself for more than 10 minutes, according to the suit filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
She also alleged he committed other misdeeds like “forcibly kissing” her, and putting his hands down her blouse to feel her breasts.
More recently, Strazzullo found himself facing criminal theft and fraud charges alleging he ripped off elderly clients to bankroll a lavish lifestyle.
In April, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez alleged that Strazzullo had used his escrow account as a Ponzi scheme for years, taking funds from one client to pay off another while racking up tens of thousands in charges at fancy restaurants and expensive hotels.
He was accused of stealing nearly $3.8 million in total, which he spent on extravagances like a $100,000 BMW and a tony apartment at the Battery Park City complex for $13,000 per month, prosecutors said.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree grand larceny, four counts of second-degree grand larceny and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud.
“This defendant is accused of stealing a tremendous amount of money that represents the nest eggs of his victims, senior citizens who trusted him to handle their affairs,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
He also pleaded not guilty last December in a different Brooklyn criminal case, where prosecutors alleged Strazzullo stole $1.5 million from three other clients.
Both cases were still pending at the time of his death.
Emergency responders found Strazzullo unresponsive in his vehicle on Saturday.
His cause of death was not immediately clear Monday.
With Post wires
