Earlier today, Peter Gerace — the beleaguered former owner of the now-shuttered Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga, New York — was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for bribery, drug, and sex trafficking charges.
According to prosecutors, Gerace committed his crimes between 2005 and 2019, during which time he evaded legal scrutiny by bribing former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni. In addition to distributing controlled substances, authorities say Gerace forced and coerced exotic dancers to engage in commercial sex acts. (Bongiovanni was sentenced to five years behind bars for his role in Gerace’s alleged criminal enterprise and is currently appealing his case.)
Gerace has consistently maintained his innocence, but he was nevertheless found guilty of the aforementioned charges. His bid for a new trial was denied, and he will now begin serving his debt to society.
And Gerace could end up serving even more time, depending on the outcome of another ongoing case against him for witness tampering. He and several other defendants, including known associates of the Outlaws motorcycle club, are accused of conspiring to kill Crystal Quinn, a former Pharaoh’s dancer who was slated to testify against Gerace in his drug and sex trafficking case. Prosecutors believe that 39-year-old Quinn was forcibly overdosed with drugs, and that her killers staged the scene to make her death appear accidental or suicidal in nature.
What do Peter Gerace or his case have to do with Luke Wenke?
In short, nothing. Peter Gerace’s legal matters are completely un-associated with Luke Wenke’s cases. It appears as though the two were housed in the same jail for a time period, but it’s unclear whether they ever met. I therefore don’t know what triggered Luke Wenke to develop a bizarre obsession with Gerace that began over a year ago and persists into the present day.
But as anyone familiar with Wenke already knows, it often takes very little, if anything, to pave the way for a new fixation. In other words, Gerace’s presence in the jail would’ve likely been enough to set Wenke’s imagination in motion.
Luke Wenke mentioned Peter Gerace in his letters to the court for the first time in January 2025. He has continued to obsess over Gerace ever since in his correspondence to the court and other recipients, as well as his social media posts.
Wenke’s tone toward Gerace, which he misspelled as “Grazi” until late last year, ranges from sympathetic to jealous to disapproving. In at least one email to the court, Wenke claimed (I’m assuming falsely) that Gerace is related to the federal judge who oversaw Wenke’s first cyberstalking case. In another email, Wenke called for a plea deal for Gerace, essentially arguing that people who are related to judges should be let off the hook for their crimes.
Luke Wenke ultimately became so seemingly fixated on Peter Gerace that it was even mentioned in the government’s most recent criminal complaint against Wenke.
I’ll let the following examples speak for themselves.
Luke Wenke’s Peter Gerace Obsession
Examples:
Letter from Luke Wenke to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 04/29/2026:
Case #23-6964, Doc. #51:
“Whether the first week of May we follow through on what Victoria said to my mother on February 23rd what should happen the first week of May, or whether there’s a surprise attack behind the scenes before court and the Buffalo FBI agents who pointed guns at me December 2025 over a witness exempt speech crime are there to point guns at me again and force me to plead guilty, it appears I will only be safe in this world ever again if I add John Sinatra himself to the list of codefendants in the courtroom of L. Vilardo. Again, what was said over that December 2025 email I don’t remember sending? Let me check; “How about I sue John Sinatra in L. Vilardo’s courtroom where John’s relative Peter Gerace got sentenced. Constitutional lawsuit, Free Speech rights everyone else gets to have on the internet that I apparently have to fight for like nobody else does. A high school dropout leads NASA and we just went to the Moon. Put a high school dropout in John’s position.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, 03/30/2026:
Case #25-1165, Doc. #22:
“…Katie is behind the confidential legal mail that was sent to me, and that the confidential legal mail contained receipts for Cashapp payments made to frequent members of grand juries, copies of papers concerning John Sinatra’s relative Peter Gerace’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, as well as a signed statement concerning John Sinatra’s resignation and his signed referral for that Katie [last name] be interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee to take his place.”
Emailing Buffalo lawyers about how everyone in the vicinity of US District Judge John L Sinatra Jr needs to be sued for $500,000. Maybe lawyers would like to participate in a @lpnyofficial protest in front of his driveway until he admits his connections to Peter Gerace?
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) December 13, 2025
I get so upset every time I go into my house to get something. How easy it would be to get the @lpnyofficial to block John Sinatra’s driveway until he makes a formal statement to the press on behalf of his relative Peter Gerace — legalize all vice industries.
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) December 11, 2025
Everyone who knows Peter Gerace deep down wants to see Peter do what Steven Carrillo did in 2020 and Donald Trump wants to do the same thing to the police officers who raided Mar A Lago.
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) December 8, 2025
Ancient Israel had ecstasy. Ungodly police officers arrested Peter Gerace of Pharaoh’s Strip Club of Buffalo.
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) December 8, 2025
I am the permanently former Cattaraugus County Libertarian Chairman and I am not a sellout.
Legalize ALL drugs so US District Judge John L Sinatra Jr’s relative Peter Gerace can get out innocent.
No war with Venezuela.@realDonaldTrump YOU will be a sellout if you go to war.
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) December 1, 2025
Email from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 11/08/2025:
case #1:22-cr-00035, doc. # 241
Attn: @LarrySharpe @adamkokesh
The owner of Pharaoh’s strip club is US District Judge John L Sinatra Jr’s homosexual lover AND maternal half brother, and he will be an excellent “Eugene Debs-style” candidate for US Senate with Libertarians.https://t.co/ZjhfiIgh3F
— Luke Wenke (@KLukeIQ) November 7, 2025
Email from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 11/07/2025:
case #1:22-cr-00035, doc. # 240
Email from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 10/31/2025:
case #1:22-cr-00035, doc. #235
Letter from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 07/17/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #217:
“I should not have to cling to religious thoughts in order to cope with an exaggerated and elongated personal situation like this. If Peter Grazi truly has depression mental health issues then that dream is Biblical like all the others I have had.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 07/03/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #216:
Image 1:“Does Peter Grazi’s family and friends entourage want to live in a world where police officers have a right to lie or mislead US citizens on duty? So I will start by suing the Olean Police as I accuse them of destroying my entire house during a search and seizure I was not present for, and William J. Aiello can start settling things with me by passing a citywide law saying law enforcement cannot lie to or mislead US citizens on duty otherwise if a provable lie or misleading is ever present then any potential charges are immediately dropped. I imagine Bill Aiello’s daughter doesn’t want to be lied to about her excess in city traffic ticket dues so William J. Aiello can pass this law after I play bigger fish and accuse the Olean Police of wrecking my house. Until then, all law enforcement officials associated with my situation are no better than the ‘lying Iranian regime’ Fox News complains about.
“Katie is violating my HIPPA rights. What if I had to give out my Social Security information to a bank from this facility? There is a 44 year old Navajo native here preparing to get $90,000 of back payments upon release next year. Why is everything on Katie’s website even findable to begin with? Do we get to FOIA/FOIL and find out what Peter Grazi spikes his bourbon with before he pours it down a funnel lodged up his ass? That detail of Peter Grazi’s case should be protected by his HIPPA rights.”
Image 2:“Let it be known I would gladly sign over an entire wrongful incarceration check over to the Buffalo Federal Public Defender’s Office. Peter Grazi’s embezzled attorneys need help. I will also write a book and sign off all proceeds to Prince Harry’s ‘WellChild’ charity. I’m about to make 7 digits per year in 2 years or less anyways now that I know the maximum of when this will end.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 06/26/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #214:
“I don’t know what Peter Grazi truly is to you. All I know is I’ve absolutely had Uber/Lyft customers from Pharaoh’s strip club and all I know is inmate gossip. Waleed Abughanem told me he’s your half brother and homosexual lover at the same time. I said well don’t worry Waleed, Lawrence of Arabia was homosexual and Jupiter married his sister Juno and Jupiter is also with Ganymede(?); Priests of Jupiter being in the New Testament. So I’m sorry Peter Grazi got 15 years. I’m sorry the Libertarian party never provided us with the opportunity to attend your family yacht and martini parties over at Bohemian Grove.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to Judge John Sinatra, 06/17/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #213:
Image 1: “I bet Mr. John L. Sinatra would love to go find that $100,000 so we can help his Chris Farley/David Spade counterpart Peter Grazi out with financing his furthered criminal defense in the Buffalo Federal Public Defender’s Office through US Appeals because yes I would absolutely sign over a wrongful incarceration check entirely in that direction no matter how big it is.”
Image 2: “I bet Peter Grazi would love mine and Harry’s help taking his business to London where Recon of my FBI Discovery is headquartered. My grandmother [name] for ancient American legally binding reasons regarding that Queen’s Card, transcends Sinatra Vatican royalty.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to the federal Pro Se Assistance Unit, 05/02/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #198:
“The Pro Se Litigation Unit at the Robert H. Jackson U.S. Courthouse has absolutely heard from me before and responded to me before. I do not know who at the Pro Se Litigation Unit reads these but I am aware of how tense are things these days up there given Judge Richard Arcara’s investigation against him concerning sleeping during trials, and Peter Grazi’s dehumanizing gag order.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to the Honorable Richard J. Arcara, 05/02/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, Doc. #197:
“John Sinatra can’t even help his very close accomplice Peter Grazi, a former productive contributor to the tax base, get out of his dehumanizing gag order. I absolutely got a corrections officer in trouble here at Niagara County Jail in trouble for helping P2-36 get cocaine into the facility. Can you imagine if Peter Grazi was suffering a humanitarian issue while in incarceration and wasn’t allowed to speak out about it? Last year I was absolutely getting Orleans County Judge Sanford Church investigated by the NY Commission on Judicial Conduct for conflicts of interest issues.”
Letter from Luke Wenke to the Honorable John L. Sinatra, Jr., 01/10/2025:
Case #1:22-cr-00035, doc. #174:
“Not only are we hearing about the owner of Pharaoh’s strip club’s private defense lawyer getting paid now through the public defender’s office in the greatest example of insider favoritism circle jerking I’ve ever heard of (we hear his name is Peter or Chris Grazi…”