‘Hooker’ eyes deal in hockey mom 'madam' case

Skooter reporting 06/01/12

To save her own hide, accused hooker Anna Gristina and Mhairiangelo “Maz” Bottone has turned up talking to prosecutors.

Bottone, one of the only two prostitutes charged in the hockey mom madam case, was secretly jostled into Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday for a secret meeting that included Judge Juan Merchan, The Post reported.

The slender and attractive Bottone, 31, and her lawyer were given full protection and special treatment, with a reporter kept at arm’s length by a court officer as they were whisked into Merchan’s chambers.

The closed-door meeting will come as a surprise to Gristina, who said she trusted Bottone totally, and would be shocked if Bottone flipped on her, the Post said.

Gristina who is sitting in Rikers, and unable to post $2 million bail said, Maz is a very, very sweet girl. She did nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve to be involved in this.

After the court engagement Bottone, escorted by a guard from the District Attorney’s Office, scampered from the courthouse. The British-bred Bottone covered her face with a scarf, arched her shoulders and refused to answer questions from the press. Records of the secret meeting were immediately sealed by Merchan.

“Maz” Bottone and Catherine Devries, 32, another alleged prostitute were arrested in the days following Gristina’s own Feb. 22 bust. It was reported Devries is also liaising against Gristina who before was locked up in her upstate farm.

The two women have met various times with prosecutors and before the judge, according to court records. Investigators clandestinely taped the two women in a hot and sticky July 17, 2011, sex twosome, set up by Gristina and “enjoyed” by a client who said to be an undercover cop.

Prosecutors said the cop watched “Maz” Bottone and Devries performed their show at Gristina’s Upper East Side brothel. They were then charged with prostitution and pleaded not guilty. But they were released without bail with the promise that they will cooperate with the probe, sources said.

The two prostitutes shared a prominent, politically and socially linked to a New York billionaire as a “boyfriend,” who lavishly spent tens of thousands of dollars on Bottone and Devries, the sources said.

It’s unclear if either woman knew about the other’s relationship with the powerful businessman when they supposedly got up close and personal, in front of the undercover cop.

The unnamed billionaire was one of a dozen that appeared on the prosecutors’ list that was showed to Gristina during an hours-long questioning before her arrest, according to sources.

The prosecutors were on a “fishing expedition” according to Gristina and only arrested her because she refused to meet their demands to give up the merchandise about the men on the list.

New York Post