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Crystal Quinn, 37, died Aug. 1 in a home on Scott Avenue in the village of Wellsville, roughly 85 miles southeast of Buffalo. A team of FBI agents searched the home for evidence on Aug. 8.

“The cause of death has not yet been determined,â€� Dylan Foust, an Allegany County coroner, told The Buffalo ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ on Thursday. “The investigation is continuing.â€�

Foust added that his office is waiting for the results of toxicology tests to determine if Quinn died of a drug overdose. He said he saw no signs of foul play at the Wellsville home, but added that he does not know what the FBI is investigating.

One week after Quinn’s death, a large team of FBI agents – some of them carrying semi-automatic weapons – searched the home where Quinn’s body had been found.

During the raid, some of the FBI agents exploded what appeared to be flash-bang grenades, according to a newsman who was on the scene. reported the home is owned by , a man with a history of arrests.  

FBI agents are investigating Quinn’s death, according to four sources familiar with the probe. No one has been arrested in connection with the death.

“There had to be close to 50 FBI vehicles there,” said John Anderson, a reporter and editor with the website who photographed the FBI raid. “It was a huge federal police presence. Everybody in Wellsville is wondering what all this was about.”

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices in Buffalo declined Thursday to discuss Quinn’s death. FBI spokeswoman Jeannie McBride did confirm that FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search of the Wellsville home.

According to her attorney, Quinn had been interviewed at least three times by Buffalo FBI agents, and she had agreed to testify in the upcoming trial of Gerace, owner of Pharoah’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga. Gerace has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, sex trafficking and bribery of a federal drug agent.

“She had agreed to testify,â€� Quinn’s attorney, Michael L. D’Amico, told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ on Thursday. “I spoke to her on the phone the night before she died. Nobody ever wants to testify as a government witness in a criminal trial, but there was nothing she said that gave me any indication that she felt in danger for her life, or that she was suicidal.â€�

D’Amico added that Quinn was “afraid, scared� in early March, when someone left dead rats on two cars outside the Depew home where she was living. But he added that she did not seem to be in fear for her life.

“She never indicated to me that she felt that she would be harmed by Peter Gerace,� D’Amico said. “And I never saw any indication that she felt she was under any undue pressure from the FBI.�

“At this point, I just don’t know,� D’Amico said, when asked if he believes she died from an accidental overdose, suicide or foul play. “This is a very sad situation. This is a young woman who had gone through some issues in her life and was trying her best to deal with her issues. She was stressed about testifying at the trial, but she appeared to be under no more stress than other clients I have represented in the past.�

D’Amico added, “It’s also very possible that her death had nothing to do with this trial. There are a lot of very dangerous drugs out there, and I’ve had other clients who died from them.�

Although he did not mention her name, prosecutor Joseph M. Tripi discussed during a federal court appearance on Aug. 3, two days after Quinn died.

Tripi lamented that the witness would have testified for the prosecution if the trial of Gerace and retired DEA Agent Joseph Bongiovanni had not been postponed from its originally planned June 21 start date.

Now, jurors may never know what the witness would have said in court, Tripi added.

Earlier this year, prosecutors stated that the witness had contacted the FBI on March 14 to report her mother and roommate had where she lived.

Tripi mentioned the dead rats on Aug. 3 when revealing in court that the witness had died.

While Tripi said in court that the death was under investigation, Gerace’s attorney, Steven M. Cohen, said that day that the witness committed suicide after prosecutors had put her under pressure to testify against the strip club owner.

Tripi did not return a message from a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ reporter Thursday, and Cohen said he could not discuss Quinn’s death.

Gogolack and a member of Quinn's family also did not respond to messages left by The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ obtained court records on Thursday showing that Quinn was arrested in February by FBI agents, who accused her of using Facebook to send vulgar and threatening messages to another former exotic dancer who was expected to testify for the prosecution in Gerace’s trial.

The Facebook messages called the government witness a “snitch� and a “nark� and threatened harm against her, according to court papers filed by Tripi’s team of federal prosecutors.

Quinn was charged with felony witness tampering, but the charges against her were dropped on April 6, at Tripi’s request, court records show.

“I can’t comment,� D'Amico said, when asked if the charges against Quinn had been dropped because she agreed to testify against Gerace.

Quinn’s death is the latest strange turn in an investigation that began more than four years ago.

Bongiovanni, the former DEA agent, was arrested on bribery charges – which he denies – in November 2019.

In 2021, new charges were filed against Gerace and Bongiovanni, who was accused of accepting bribes from drug dealers who he believed were associated with Italian organized crime. Gerace was accused of of drug trafficking, sex trafficking and paying bribes to Bongiovanni to keep him out of trouble. Bongiovanni and Gerace both have denied the accusations.

Gerace is a nephew of Buffalo restaurateur , who has been identified by federal agents and prosecutors as a leader of Buffalo’s organized crime family. Todaro denies the mob accusations and has never been charged in connection with any of Gerace’s suspected activities.

In April 2022, State Supreme Court , who was a close, long-time friend of Gerace, committed suicide at his Amherst home 12 days after federal and state police executed a search warrant there. Friends and his former attorney told The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ that Michalski had been under pressure from federal authorities to testify against Gerace.

In June this year, U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. recused himself from the case, saying that he was required to do so because someone he knew was listed as a potential witness by Gerace’s defense team.

The case is now before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo, who has scheduled the trial to begin in October.

People in Wellsville are wondering what, if any, connection their village has to all this, said Anderson, the Wellsville reporter.

“You had this huge raid, with all these FBI agents with semi-automatic weapons. They searched that house for eight hours, must have searched every inch of it,� Anderson said. “Since then, there’s not been one official word from the FBI or the U.S. Attorney explaining what it’s all about. People are wondering, 'What in the world is all this about?' �