A former NYPD cop who spent a decade working with the Manhattan DA's office also acted as a bodyguard for the alleged high-end Upper East Side brothel boss -- who is now being prosecuted by that same district attorney's office, sources told The Post today.
Ex-cop Sly Francis appeared in a photograph published today in The Post grinning broadly as accused madam Anna Gristina sat cozily on his lap with her arm slung over his broad shoulders.
The photo was taken around the same time that Francis, a second-grade detective with the NYPD, was assigned to a detail in the office of the Manhattan District Attorney before retiring in the mid-2000s, sources said.
Gristina, a Scottish-born blonde, allegedly fed information about competitors in the prostitution rackets to the Manhattan DA's office, sources said.
"Nice photo of me from back in the day," Francis wrote this morning on his Facebook page, which linked to The Post's story, which featured an exclusive, bombshell interview with Gristina in the jails of Rikers Island.
DA prosecutors has claimed that Gristina, a 44-year mom-of-four who lives in upstate Monroe, was caught on wiretaps during a five-year-long investigation boasting of friendships with cops, FBI agents and politicians.
Before he worked the DA's office with a group of NYPD detectives assigned to assist prosecutors with their criminal investigations, the burly Francis was a chauffeur and bodyguard for Deputy First Commissioner John Pritchard in the early 1990s when current Police Commissioner Ray Kelly held that same top NYPD job.He also had worked in the Manhattan North Narcotics division of the Police Department, sources said.
It was only after Francis' picture appeared in The Post today that Manhattan DA investigators realized his connection to Gristina, a law-enforcement source said.
"They just found out about this," the source said, adding that the DA's office was no in "circle-the-wagons" mode over revelations that someone previously inside the office had dealings with the woman accused of running a 15-year-long illegal escort service that catered to the ultra-rich.
"Now they're going to go back and look at his record when he was working in the office," the source said. "I'm sure they're going to want to talk to him."
Francis did not respond to several requests for comment today.
Gristina is being held on $2 million bond on Rikers, in large part because authorities claimed she had rich friends who had an interest in seeing that she was not prosecuted.
She was also considered a potential flight risk given that she holds both a British passport and owners property in the province of Quebec in Canada.
A Manhattan DA spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about Francis today.
The NYPD had no immediate comment.
Accused Madam: D.A. Out To Get Heavy Hitters: MyFoxNY.com
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