State Assembly candidate Dario Gristina made his first public comments Thursday since ex-wife Anna Gristina was arrested for allegedly running a multi-million dollar prostitution ring, telling NBC New York his only concern was for the couple's teenage son, Stefano.
"He's 17," said Dario Gristina. "It went overnight from planning his prom and planning his graduation to crying hysterically about his mother and the fact that he's embarrassed and doesn't want to go to school."
Prosecutors said the 44-year-old Anna Gristina, a mother of four, said she made millions of dollars from arranging trysts and claimed she had law-enforcement connections who'd let her know if charges loomed.
She charged up to $800 an hour and $25,000 for a whole weekend with prostitutes, working out of an apartment at 304 East 78th St., prosecutors said.
Until Thursday, Dario Gristina had been avoiding reporters, hoping to keep focus on his candidacy for the state Assembly in Putnam Valley. Now he's vehemently denying to NBC New York that he had any knowledge of his ex-wife's alleged prostitution business.
"It was a very big shock," said Dario Gristina, who said he learned of Anna Gristina's arrest from their son.
Anna Gristina's current husband of 10 years, Kelvin Gorr, has said he was "heartbroken" about the case.
"We are just a great family ... and my wife means everything to me," Gorr told the Daily News Tuesday.
Dario Gristina has had his own controversy in the past: according to the Daily News, the political hopeful was arrested in 1998 for soliciting a prostitute, and has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. Gristina Thursday refused to comment on the charges.
