$LIMED MOMS TEAM UP TO HUNT DOWN DEADBEAT
By SUSAN EDELMAN
December 19, 2004
-- A man listed on the city's "Deadbeat Hall of Shame" has dodged the child-support enforcement system for 16 years — refusing to pay for three children from three different mothers.
Women say Peter Milazzo, 37, is a smooth-talker who turns violent, moves from place to place and hides his earnings to stay a step ahead of authorities.
After learning that Milazzo impregnated a fourth woman, ex-wife Megan Pepper-Leavy posted a warning on a discussion board for single mothers:
"Peter Mark Milazzo — If you're thinking of dating him, or he's moved into your house and is beginning to borrow money, don't do it."
She asks anyone who knows where Milazzo lives to notify New York City's Child Support Enforcement office, pleading, "Do it for the children, please!"
Aprile Pietro of Staten Island saw the message and replied that she has a 9-year-old son from Milazzo, who abandoned the boy.
The two struggling single moms, both frustrated at the failure of the child-support system, have become allies in their mission to track Milazzo down, and make him pay him up.
While working to support their kids, the moms constantly e-mail each other with any bit of information on Milazzo's whereabouts — he gives phony addresses and moves from place to place on Long Island, they say.
"If Megan gets an address, Suffolk County won't share it with Richmond County, and vice versa," Pietro complained. "We do all the legwork."
Despite their vigilance, Milazzo has managed to avoid punishment for his neglect, though he's done time for repeatedly driving without a license — which was suspended for failure to pay child support.
The child support office served Milazzo with a subpoena last year, ordering him to come in and explain why he hasn't paid. He never showed up and his case was referred to the city's Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
"Our guys haven't found him," a city spokesman said.
Ordered to pay Pepper-Leavy just $45 a week for his 16-year-old son, Peter, Milazzo has fallen nearly $26,000 behind. "My son is a Boy Scout, on his high-school swim team and just starting to look at colleges — colleges I can't afford," she said.
After living with Pietro for a year, he left her with a mountain of debts, she said. In 1999, he was ordered to pay her $290 a week for their son, Steven. He has forked over just $125, and owes more than $86,000, city officials said.
Dorinda Gordon, a third woman who bore a daughter from Milazzo 12 years ago, after his divorce from Megan, doesn't bother seeking support. She is now engaged and living in Florida with her daughter.
"She doesn't want any part of that jerk. She has never gotten one penny from him," said Gordon's mother in Suffolk County.
Milazzo repeatedly beat and threatened Pietro, once breaking her nose and ribs, according to police and court records.
More recently, another woman let Milazzo move into her Suffolk County home but she kicked him out a year ago because he choked her when she asked him to help pay the rent, she told The Post.
Milazzo keeps his earnings out of reach, the women say, by working off the books. He runs small businesses in landscaping, fish-tank maintenance and go-kart engine repair.
He quit a job at a pet store years ago when the county tried to garnish his wages for Pepper-Leavy's child support.
Milazzo's attorney, Alonzo Jacobs, said, "No comment."