The maniac who fatally stabbed a beloved FDNY paramedic in an unprovoked attack got the max prison sentence Monday — as dozens of EMS workers packed the Queens courtroom.
Peter Zisopoulos, 37, who was found guilty of second-degree murder last month in the senseless 2022 killing of veteran and 9/11 hero FDNY Capt. Alison Russo, looked bored at the hearing — until the judge gave him a massive wake-up call, slapping him with 25 years to life behind bars.
“Thank God,” the slain EMT’s daughter, Danielle Russo, told reporters afterward.
“I just hope she can see what we are doing, what’s being done for her,” Danielle added of her mom. “I hope she is proud of the way I handled everything.”
Russo, 61, was grabbing lunch just a half-block from her stationhouse on Sept. 29, 2022, when Zisopoulos walked out of his apartment building near 20th Avenue and 41st Street and suddenly rushed at Russo, whom he didn’t know, shoving her to the pavement and getting on top of her while clutching a serrated kitchen knife.
The killer chased away a bystander who tried to intervene and stabbed Russo nearly two dozen times in the chest and abdomen before fleeing to the apartment he shared with his mother.
Another bystander ran to a nearby EMS station for help, and Zisopoulos was quickly arrested in the attack — which was captured on chilling surveillance footage.
A Queens jury convicted the killer May 19 after a 12-day trial.
“Alison Russo was the best of the best: a longtime public servant and friend who has been missed every single day since her senseless murder in 2022,” city Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said in a statement following the proceedings.
“This sentencing speaks to the brutality of the crime, and though it won’t bring her back, I pray it will finally give her family the closure they deserve,” he said.
Queens DA Melinda Katz said Russo will not be forgotten.
“New York will always remember FDNY EMS Captain Alison Russo as a hero, who — for 24 years — served our city and saved countless lives,” Katz said in a statement.
“In the dark days after September 11, she worked in search and recovery efforts in Lower Manhattan,” Katz said. “Nothing will bring Captain Russo back, but we hope that the pain and grief over her loss will lessen with today’s sentencing.”
Danielle Russo told reporters, “Thank God I can put this piece of the process behind me for a little bit.
“Obviously the situation will never go away. It’s something I have to live with every single day.
“What you see going is all the support that I have from family, friends and the fire department,” she said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. Basically, they’ve carried me through this process.”
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