Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Giuseppe Canzani was sentenced to 23 years in prison for fatally shooting 51-year-old Anna Torres shortly after she opened the door to her Ozone Park home in May 2022. The victim was a tarot card reader and Canzani believed she was a witch who had put a curse on him.

District Attorney Katz said: “The defendant shot Anna Torres in broad daylight in the doorway of her own home, sending pedestrians running for their lives at the sound of the gunfire. This senseless act of violence shattered the victim’s family and shocked the Ozone Park community. Nothing can undo what happened, but we hope today’s sentencing provides Ms. Torres’ loved ones another step forward in the healing process.”

Canzani, 45, of 88^th Street in Howard Beach, pleaded guilty on September 8 to manslaughter in the first degree in satisfaction of the charges against him. Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder sentenced the defendant today to 23 years in prison to be followed by five years of post-release supervision.

According to charges, on May 4, 2022, at approximately 2:26 p.m., Canzani knocked on the front door of Torres’ residence on 109^th Avenue in Ozone Park. When Torres answered the door, Canzani shot her in the neck and arm and fled in a Chevrolet Traverse.

Police responded to the scene at approximately 2:35 p.m. and the victim was pronounced dead.

At approximately 3:22 p.m., the defendant pulled up outside the 106^th Precinct in a Chevrolet Traverse. He placed a .45-caliber silver gun on the sidewalk and said, “I want to turn myself in, I’m not here to hurt you guys. I’m here because of the woman I shot.”

Canzani told police Torres was “a witch” and that because of her someone was going to harm his family.

Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Zawistowski, Assistant Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys John Kosinski, Bureau Chief, and Karen Ross and Jonathan Selkowe, Deputy Bureau Chiefs, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney of Major Crimes Shawn Clark.