State Parole Board hears release bid from mid-’80s ‘Mall Rapist’

PEABODY – The state Parole Board on Tuesday heard a plea for release from Phillip A. Pizzo, the so-called Mall Rapist who in the mid-1980s terrorized women at shopping centers across Massachusetts in a spree of kidnaps and rapes.The Westford engineer and wealthy bachelor pleaded guilty in 1985 to raping dozens of women at suburban malls, including the Northshore Shopping Center in Peabody. He was declared a sexually dangerous person and sentenced to life imprisonment at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane.Pizzo pleaded guilty to 30 counts of aggravated rape, armed robbery while masked, kidnapping and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.The sexual attacks presented at trial involved seven women in their teens or early 20s and occurred between August 1983 and January 1984 at shopping malls in Peabody, Natick, Braintree, Woburn and Medford. In most cases, Pizzo wore a ski mask and brandished a knife as he blindfolded and bound the victims in their own cars. The women were then transferred to his car and taken to his Westford home, which had an attached garage. Following the rapes inside the home, the victims were pushed into a shower stall or built-in swimming pool to remove evidence. One woman kidnapped at Meadow Glen Mall in Medford was stabbed in the face when she attempted to flee.Pizzo was arrested after police spotted his blue 1976 Cadillac being driven aimlessly through a shopping mall parking lot. Victims later identified Pizzo through items in his home or car. The sex crimes spanned Essex and Middlesex counties, and other Pizzo rapes were suspected in Norfolk County.Scott Harsbarger, the Middlesex district attorney in 1984, said at the time Pizzo would be eligible for parole in 1999 because the sentences would run concurrently. At age 60, Pizzo has asked the parole board for his freedom, a request that was taken under advisement Tuesday.A letter written by Essex County Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Bresler to Mark A. Conrad, chairman of the Massachusetts Parole Board, was submitted at the hearing in opposition to Pizzo’s release.”Philip Pizzo may be the worst rapist in the history of Massachusetts,” wrote Bresler. “He is a serial rapist who is serving concurrent life sentences.”Drawing from Peabody Police Department records, Bresler cited the case of a woman Christmas shopping on Dec. 12, 1983, at the Northshore Shopping Center. Pizzo put a knife to her throat, demanded money, punched her in the eye and threatened further harm unless she cooperated.Pizzo nailed black plastic trash bags to the bedroom walls in his home to disguise the wall paper. He raped the woman repeatedly, made her shower and vowed to kill her if she contacted police. “He drove her back to the mall, wearing white garden gloves, and told her to get out of his car and not turn around until he drove away,” said Bresler, noting Pizzo had the woman’s driver’s license and other personal information.Pizzo struck again on Jan. 13, 1984, just outside the Jordan Marsh store at the Northshore Shopping Center. Once kidnapped, the Gloucester woman began crying. Still in the car, Pizzo pushed the woman’s skirt above her waist and fondled her. “He asked about the bars that she hung around in and said that it was too bad that they hadn’t met in another way, such as in a bar,” Bresler said.Pizzo told the woman he had purchased muffins from her in a local bakery.”His crimes were planned and calculated. He took multiple steps to conceal them,” Bresler told the board. “His crimes had a larger impact than on his victims alone. He made thousands of women feel unsafe who lived, worked and shopped near Route 128.”According to Bresler, Pizzo shows no signs of remorse and remains delusional. “His post-release plans seem ill-defined. He plans to live with his 92-year-old father, although it is doubtful whether his father can provide, even indirectly, the structure that the inmate will need, especially after 25 years of confinement.”Bresler further