Photo Courtesy of Irving Scrap Metal
Detectives investigating the incident obtained information from a friend of the Polizzi family who saw two men leaving the location on Sept. 14, with one wearing a T-shirt that read, “Irving Scrap Metal.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday that Gerald Griffin has been convicted of killing a man found naked and bludgeoned in his Ridgewood home in 2011.
Griffin, 46, of Brooklyn, was convicted by a jury of murder in the second degree, burglary in the first degree, robbery in the first and second degrees, intimidating a witness in the third degree, attempted tampering with physical evidence, criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Griffin faces 25 years to life in prison on the murder conviction when he is sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant on June 15.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Polizzi’s body was discovered inside his Ridgewood home.
According to the charges and trial testimony:
- On Sept. 14, 2011, at approximately 5 p.m., Peter Polizzi, 31, was found by his brother inside his apartment on Clover Place in Ridgewood. He was underneath a couch, naked and badly beaten. The apartment had been ransacked and various items were missing. Polizzi died three days later.
- Officers responding to the location recovered a used wine glass and a bloody baseball bat. Detectives investigating the incident obtained information from a friend of the family who saw two men leaving the location at approximately 11:15 a.m. on Sept. 14, with one wearing a T-shirt that read, “Irving Scrap Metal.”
- The NYPD’s Cold Case Squad received the case in 2015. Working with Polizzi’s phone records, they found a woman who revealed she was inside the apartment at the time of the murder.
- The woman said she had been taken to the address by Griffin, who was her pimp at the time, and another man. Griffin attacked Polizzi with a baseball bat and the other man beat him. After the attack, the men ransacked the apartment and removed two cell phones, money, a unique watch with a diamond-encrusted face and a box containing a white powdery substance.
- DNA taken from the wine glass matched the woman’s DNA profile. In 2017, she identified Griffin in a photograph as the perpetrator with the bat. Griffin’s Facebook account included a photograph of him wearing the stolen watch. Additionally, business records from Irving Scrap Metal identified Griffin as a customer of the company at the time of the murder.
- Griffin was indicted 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,” Katz said.
