Astoria resident Peter Zisopoulos was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 20022 brutal slaying of FDNY EMS Captain Alison Russo in a murder that shocked the city. Photo by Dean Moses
June 30, 2025 By Bill Parry
An Astoria man was sentenced on Monday to 25 years to life in prison for the brutal 2022 murder of FDNY EMS Captain Alison Russo during an unprovoked knife attack just around the corner from her stationhouse.
Peter Zisopoulos, 37, of 41st Street, was convicted by a jury last month that needed less than an hour to reach the guilty verdict.
“New York will always remember FDNY EMS Captain Alison Russo as a hero, who — for 24 years — served our city and saved countless lives,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
According to the charges and trial testimony, According to the charges and trial testimony, on Sept. 29, 2022, at approximately 2:10 p.m., Alison Russo, 61, of Huntington, LI, a lieutenant at the time, was in uniform and on duty as she left Station 49 and walked along 41st Street near 20th Avenue.
Russo was on her way to lunch when she was stabbed to death during an unprovoked attack. Photo courtesy of FDNY
Zisopoulos emerged from his apartment building, charged at Russo, and shoved her to the sidewalk. Zisopoulos got on top of her and plunged a kitchen knife into the 61-year-old woman’s chest and abdomen 20 times, penetrating her liver, lungs and heart.
According to trial records, a man on a scooter tried to intervene and shouted at the defendant. Zisopoulos yelled at the man on the scooter and then chased him away with the knife in his hand.
After running toward the witness on the scooter, Zisopoulos walked past Russo as she bled on the sidewalk, turned the corner, and walked into his apartment building at 19-80 41st St. and locked himself in the third-floor apartment he shared with his mother.
A good Samaritan followed Zisopoulos and then ran to the nearby EMS station to get help.
Police from the 114th Precinct in Astoria responded to the scene. After a standoff during which Zisopoulos refused to open his apartment door, NYPD hostage negotiators were able to talk him out of his apartment, and he was arrested. A knife was recovered from the defendant’s front pants pocket.
Hundreds of EMS personnel and firefighters gathered at Station 49 for a plaque dedication ceremony on the one-year anniversary of her death. Photo courtesy of FDNY
Testing determined that a mixture of DNA was found on the knife belonging to both Russo and Zisopoulos. EMS rushed Russo to Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria, where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead. She was promoted posthumously to the rank of Captain.
“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. This defendant will now serve 25 years to life in prison for this brutal and senseless crime.”
Queens Supreme Court Justice Ushir Pandit-Durant, who presided at trial, sentenced Zisopoulos to 25 years to life imprisonment. Trial openings began May 7 and summations took place on Monday, May 19. Zisopoulos was convicted of murder in the second degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree after trial.
The ranks moved outside Station 49, where 42nd Street between 20th Avenue and 19th Avenue was co-named “Captain Alison Russo Way” on a fire engine red street sign. Photo courtesy of FDNY
“Alison Russo was the best of the best: a long time public servant and friend who has been missed every single day since her senseless murder in 2020,” FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker said. “Today, we are appreciative that her killer has been sentenced to the maximum punishment of 25 years to life. This sentencing speaks to the brutality of the crime, and though it won’t bring her back, I pray it will finally giver her family the closure they deserve. I want to give a special thanks to the Queens District Attorney’s Office, whose tireless efforts in bringing her killer to justice, have provided comfort and care to a Department that still continues to mourn Alison’s loss.”
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