Ex-Cop Sentenced For Running Brothel Ring, DA Says

QUEENS, NY — A retired NYPD detective was sentenced Tuesday to four to 12 years in prison for running a sprawling, multimillion-dollar prostitution and gambling ring.

Ex-cop Ludwig "Agua" Paz admitted to charges of attempted enterprise corruption and promoting prostitution as part of a plea deal reached in May. He also agreed to forfeit over $20,000 in profits.

The Queens resident, who was a detective in the NYPD's vice unit, allegedly used his knowledge to protect the scheme from police raids, prosecutors said.

At least seven NYPD officers were involved in the crime ring while they worked for the department, including Brooklyn South Vice Detective Rene Samaniego, who pleaded guilty in May.

Other cops who faced charges are NYPD sergeants Carlos Cruz, Cliff Nieves and Louis Failla; police officers Steven Nieves and Giancarlo Raspanti and Detective Giovanny Rojas-Acosta.

"A former vice detective used his insight and knowledge of NYPD operations to run lucrative prostitution and gambling rings," Acting Queens District Attorney John M. Ryan said in a statement. "Furthering his criminal actions, the defendant used his connections with active duty officers to corrupt them into participating in his illegal ventures."

The network of eight brothels spanned Queens, Brooklyn and Hempstead, Long Island, and raked in over $2 million in 13 months, according to prosecutors. The two Queens brothels were on Onderdonk Avenue and Liberty Avenue.

Gambling operations included illegal lotteries in a Springfield Boulevard deli, and another ran out of a hair salon on 243rd Street, both in Queens.

Defense lawyer Frank Kelly told the New York Post that Paz's plea deal was an effort to "save his family" — he originally faced up to 25 years in prison.

Paz's wife, Arelis "Maria" Peralta, is spending just under a year in jail in a plea deal for her role in the scheme.

The NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau began investigating the scheme in 2015 after receiving an anonymous tip that active and retired police officers were participating in a crime ring.