John Beale, Post-Gazette Attorney General Tom Corbett with a chart of the structure of an alleged drug and prostitution ring run by Amy Schifano, top, and John Robert "Buck" Buczkowski, below her. Click photo for larger image.

A routine drug investigation led investigators from the state attorney general's office to a sophisticated prostitution and drug ring operated by a former NFL and University of Pittsburgh lineman and a Plum woman.

The business advertised extensively in City Paper to solicit customers and recruit employees, while principles John Robert "Buck" Buczkowski and Amy Schifano used cellular telephones to stay in touch with drug sources, dealers and the prostitutes in their employ, according to documents filed yesterday with criminal charges by Attorney General Tom Corbett.

For Buczkowski, known in his playing days as Bob, the business apparently was a family affair. A statewide grand jury presentment disclosed that Buczkowski's parents, Diane and Robert Sr., helped process the credit card charges from "johns" and that Diane Buczkowski deposited prostitution proceeds and paid cellular telephone and other bills for the escort business, called BAG Enterprises Inc.

The grand jury recommended the elder Buczkowskis be charged with criminal conspiracy and other violations, but no charges have been filed. Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, a Corbett spokesman, said he could not comment on why the Buczkowskis were not charged.

Buck Buczkowski, 41, and Schifano, 29, conducted several drug transactions through deposits of cash and cocaine in the mailbox of Buczkowski's parents' home on Bowling Green Drive in Monroeville.

Buczkowski and Schifano, boyfriend and girlfriend, also used hotel rooms and several rented apartments in areas that included the South Side and Mount Washington for the prostitutes.

The owners accepted cash, of course, and also Mastercard and Visa. Customers with American Express cards apparently were not welcome.

Buczkowski was a standout football lineman at Gateway High School and Pitt and was drafted by the then-Los Angeles Raiders in the first round in 1986. Buczkowski retired from the NFL with the Cleveland Browns in 1991 and bought the old Gold Rush restaurant in Monroeville with his football earnings. His parents managed the restaurant.

Buczkowski, who helped collect debts from reluctant prostitution customers in addition to his other duties, is charged with 11 criminal charges, including criminal conspiracy, possession and delivery of a controlled substance, promoting prostitution and participating in a corrupt organization.

Schifano is charged with 19 similar counts.

John W. Bogovich, 33, of Chalfant, the man investigators identified as Schifano's cocaine connection, is charged with six counts of possession and delivery of a controlled substance, one count each of criminal conspiracy and criminal use of a communications facility.

Buczkowski, Schifano and Bogovich were all released on their own recognizance following their arraignments before Forest Hills District Judge Susan Evashavik.

Five women whom investigators identified as prostitutes were also arrested but all were charged with drug counts and not prostitution.

The lack of prostitution charges against the female defendants is because the investigation was primarily concerned with drugs, Hagen-Frederiksen said.

The five women are Laura Dick, 32, of Turtle Creek; Suzanne Juhascik, 24, of Ross; Melanie McKinley, 33, of North Braddock; Heather Page, 28, of Shadyside; and Michelle Roney, 38, of North Versailles.

Also facing drug charges are Leonard Rini, 29, of Plum, Schifano's neighbor who drove the prostitutes to their appointments, and Debra Prosser, 49, of Turtle Creek, whom investigators described as an aunt of a prostitute who was not charged. Rini was the only defendant who was still at large yesterday.

Evashavik ordered the female defendants held in the Allegheny County Jail on $25,000 cash bond.

Preliminary hearings for all the defendants are set for Tuesday.

The investigation of the drug and prostitution ring began with an unrelated drug probe that led to Paul Goldstine, a man who would became an informant in the case against Buczkowski, Schifano and the others. Goldstine and, to a lesser extent Heather Page, provided details to investigators about the prostitution operation and helped to set up drug deals.

Schifano apparently provided all the logistical assistance for the prostitution business, from setting up appointments to arranging for hotel rooms. The business provided service at hotels and rented apartments, as well as at locations of a customer's choosing.

In hotels, two rooms were rented -- a work room and a party room. The party room was the place where drug dealers came to buy and sell their wares and the women entertained clients.

The work room was where they got down to the sex-for-sale business.