Photograph Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Every day Beast/Getty Photos, Pinellas County Sheriff and Fb
It was a routine civil lawsuit that felony protection lawyer Jake Pillsbury figured he might make pretty quick work of.
The grievance had been filed in 2019 by a South Florida plastic surgeon who claimed that errors by his former employer’s insurance coverage biller had prompted damaging on-line critiques—and at the least one in-person protest—by an enraged most cancers affected person who referred to as him a “butcher.”
Because of this, Tomasz Kosowski, a Polish-born U.S. citizen with a formidable array of superior levels, claimed his popularity had been “obliterated” and his earnings dropped off by some $50,000 a month. He had since gotten a brand new job in Miami, working alongside physicians referred to as “Dr. Magic Mike” and “Dr. Stage Up,” and lived in a $1.3 million waterfront dwelling as soon as used as a backdrop for a music video starring Patricia Krentcil, the briefly-tabloid-famous “Tan Mother.”
Pillsbury, who doesn't usually follow enterprise regulation, mentioned he bought concerned with the case final yr, as “primarily a favor,” after a earlier legal professional had his license suspended and needed to bow out. Now, Pillsbury would assist convey the case in for a touchdown.
“And it’s like, it couldn't have gone weirder,” he mentioned.
Pillsbury labored alongside legal professional Steven Cozzi, who had been on the case because the starting. Cozzi defended the medical follow whereas Pillsbury defended the medical biller Kosowski blamed for his woes. It ought to have been easy, however Kosowski appeared to experience making issues as tough as doable, simply because he might, in accordance with Pillsbury. And because the case grew more and more contentious, Pillsbury started to develop an intense dislike for Kosowski. Not as a result of he was on the opposite facet of the lawsuit, Pillsbury defined. Fairly, Pillsbury mentioned, “We didn’t like him due to how terrible he was.”
“I’ve represented some folks accused of some fairly horrible issues,” Pillsbury instructed The Every day Beast in an unique in-depth interview. “And I’ve grow to be fairly good at figuring out people who find themselves harmful. And I used to be involved about this man fairly early on.”
Then, late final month, the unthinkable occurred.
Cozzi vanished after getting up from his desk to make use of the restroom at his Largo regulation workplace. 4 days later, Kosowski was arrested and charged with first-degree homicide.
Surveillance video confirmed the 44-year-old breast reconstruction specialist sneaking into the constructing carrying denims and black gloves, then leaving a few hours later with what seemed to be a human physique wrapped in a blanket, in accordance with Kosowski’s arrest affidavit. His left index fingerprint was found in a breaker closet adjoining to the bathroom, it says, including that forensic technicians “found a big amount of blood that had been cleaned up from the lavatory ground.”
In Kosowski’s automotive, police discovered, amongst different issues, a bag of masks, duct tape, brass knuckles, a taser, a ballistic vest with “a considerable quantity of blood on it,” $280,000 in money, and intravenous sedatives—specifically, succinylcholine, a robust paralytic. A short lived danger safety order filed by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned Kosowski owned upward of 200 handguns and rifles, and had 1000's of rounds of ammunition available.
An extract from Tomasz Roman Kosowski’s arrest affidavit.
Cozzi, whose physique has not but been positioned, “had the endurance of Gandhi” when coping with Kosowski, in accordance with Pillsbury, who mentioned he “was far more of an asshole” to Kosowski, a Dartmouth-educated doctor who was representing himself regardless of not having a regulation diploma.
“I really feel like I used to be going to be inevitably focused by this man, due to the best way he handled us each all through the case and the way contentious it turned,” Pillsbury mentioned. “It’s very tough for me to wrap my mind round the truth that this occurred. I’m continuously retelling the story, however I can by no means make any sense of it.”
An more and more contentious authorized battle
As 2023 bought underway, Kosowski’s lawsuit nonetheless hadn’t been resolved. And he seemed to be getting pissed off.
Kosowski accused Cozzi and Pillsbury of slow-walking issues, and tried to get Cozzi sanctioned and booted from the case, submitting a movement accusing the beloved 41-year-old of getting “violated requirements of professional conduct,” calling him a liar who refused to offer him the documentation he had been requesting.
“Mr. Cozzi’s obstruction to Plaintiff’s entry to proof is illegal and one of many essential causes this trial in [sic] now in its 4th yr and nonetheless fraught with unresolved discovery disputes,” Kosowski wrote, asking the choose besides Cozzi from the case “given his recurrent disregard” for the foundations.
The 2 sides went backwards and forwards, with Cozzi arguing it was Kosowski who needs to be punished for improperly questioning his integrity. He mentioned in a single submitting that Kosowski didn’t perceive authorized process, and that he was now merely submitting redundant requires info and paperwork he had both already gotten, didn’t exist, or had no proper to see.
On Jan. 26, issues reached a turning level, Pillsbury mentioned, offering probably the most detailed perception but into what occurred.
Steve Cozzi’s regulation workplace.
Josh Fiallo/The Every day Beast
That day, the 2 sides have been at a deposition at Cozzi’s regulation workplace that turned ugly, in accordance with Pillsbury. Kosowski was mercilessly grilling an workplace employee from his outdated follow, spending greater than three hours aggressively questioning a witness who Pillsbury mentioned was probably not central to the case.
She was “simply being beat up on this deposition—and never in a method that made lots of sense,” Pillsbury went on. “It was laborious to look at, from a human perspective, as a result of it was simply pointless.”
Pillsbury mentioned he and Cozzi reminded Kosowski “a number of instances that this isn't a trial,” and needed to ceaselessly minimize in to maintain the continuing on observe.
“He was simply very sad about how a lot of his questioning was being objected to,” Pillsbury mentioned.
Throughout a break within the testimony, Kosowski bought up and confronted Cozzi within the restroom, in accordance with Pillsbury. The altercation was solely a verbal one, so far as anybody is aware of. It's unclear what was mentioned.
Over the following days and weeks, issues largely didn’t go Kosowski’s method. A earlier ruling in Kosowski’s favor was put aside in February, and the case was referred to non-binding arbitration.
On March 20, rather less than two months later, a pissed off Kosowski wrote to the choose in his case, slamming the newest discovery supplies he had been supplied as “unexpectedly ready tripe which fail to offer good religion solutions.”
The following day, Cozzi could be useless.
“Steve filed a movement that upset him and I believe he simply determined to go scorched earth,” Pillsbury instructed The Every day Beast. “That’s simply my learn on it.”
On March 21, instantly after he allegedly killed Cozzi, Kosowski joined a scheduled 10:30 a.m. court docket listening to by way of Zoom, from the car parking zone exterior Cozzi’s workplace. He and the others, together with Pillsbury, waited for greater than half-hour however Cozzi by no means confirmed, in accordance with the arrest affidavit.“As quickly because the defendant disconnects from the court docket listening to, video captures the topic on the crime scene starting to maneuver once more,” it says, noting that Kosowski was seen on video “struggling to get [a] heavy cart into the mattress of [his] truck.”
Cozzi was by no means seen leaving the constructing. When investigators requested his boss, Jake Blanchard, if Cozzi had any enemies, he mentioned he gave them Kosowski’s title, telling police that the plastic surgeon was the one individual he might consider that didn’t like Cozzi.
A beloved lawyer
“I’m not good at speaking about my private life, however to say we’re heartbroken, we’re befuddled, is only a traditional understatement,” Cozzi’s mother, Lois, instructed The Every day Beast. “I believe one of the best ways to say it's, I really feel like I’m studying an affordable novel, that, if I ever get to shut it, it’ll all go away.”
Steve Cozzi
Fb
Cozzi labored on Broadway as a wardrobe designer earlier than going again to high school later in life for a regulation diploma. He had a robust perception in social justice and held a birthday fundraiser every year to profit his native authorized help group, in accordance with his mom.
Cozzi and his husband Michael had simply gotten married in October 2021, and have been deeply in love, Lois continued, recalling her pleasure in serving to Cozzi examine for the bar examination.
“We'd get sidetracked and go, ‘Why was this regulation written this fashion?’ ‘Why did this occur?’ He was simply endlessly curious. Most individuals have been glad to be his pal… I do know I’m biased, however I believe he was fairly a rare individual.”
Cara Lea Powell, a household lawyer in Tampa who knew Cozzi professionally, instructed The Every day Beast she merely couldn’t perceive what killing Cozzi would possibly accomplish.
“I do know of precisely zero circumstances the place murdering your opposing counsel has resulted in your obviating the problems at hand,” she mentioned.
Pillsbury mentioned Cozzi was extremely useful in bringing him in control when joined the Kosowski go well with, noting that Cozzi would even attain out to remind him of a deadline, as an illustration, “as a result of he was only a good man.”
Cozzi “truthfully cared” about his purchasers, and was pleased with the witness on the Jan. 26 deposition for dealing with herself so properly beneath Kosowski’s strain, in accordance with Pillsbury.
The 2 turned pals attributable to their “shared expertise of coping with this loopy plaintiff,” Pillsbury mentioned.
“Everyone who comes into contact with him feels creeped out,” he mentioned of Kosowski. “There’s one thing very off-putting about being round this man.”
Tomasz Roman Kosowski
Pinellas County Sheriff
However that was not the individual Kosowski’s outdated medical buddies knew, with three former pals telling The Every day Beast they have been dumbfounded by the allegations towards a person they described as a pleasant man with a giant coronary heart.
“I’ve by no means even seen him cranky, not to mention offended,” a pal who roomed with Kosowski in medical college mentioned. “Once I was despondent over my spouse leaving me and my first divorce, Tom was the one that made certain I ate. Referred to as to test on me.”
One other med college pal remembered Kosowski as a “joyful, type of goofy, foolish, casual man,” describing the allegations as “fully out of left area.” And whereas police mentioned Kosowski had lots of of weapons at dwelling, the pal mentioned Kosowski by no means expressed any curiosity in firearms in any respect, despite the fact that they have been dwelling in New Hampshire, the place possession guidelines are comparatively unfastened.
Dr. Shaun Wason, a doctor in Boston who skilled as a resident with Kosowski, mentioned, “I haven’t spoken to Tom in a few years. However I can say, this was not one thing anybody would have anticipated.” And Anita Smith, a medical biller who final labored with Kosowski in 2019, mentioned she didn’t recall Kosowski having any form of violent tendencies. She referred to as Cozzi’s loss of life “Tragic. So unhappy.”
Kosowski's dwelling in Tarpon Springs, tucked away on the finish of a quiet street lined with ritzy spreads, appeared to take a seat empty on a latest weekday afternoon, with no lights seen from the large home windows that overlook the Gulf of Mexico and a glistening pool within the again.
A neighbor, who requested to stay nameless, instructed The Every day Beast that she hardly ever noticed Kosowski exterior, in order that they spoke just a few instances within the 5 years she estimated he lived there.
Kosowski was “actually quiet” and “minded his personal enterprise on the finish down there,” she mentioned. When he'd move by in his automotive, she mentioned he was seemingly at all times driving alone.
Kosowski’s Tarpon Springs dwelling.
Josh Fiallo/The Every day Beast
Kosowski has pleaded not responsible, and his canines are protected and with pals, his protection legal professional, Bjorn Erik Brunvand instructed The Every day Beast.
In an electronic mail, he wrote, “Past the not responsible plea and the presumption of innocence, there may be not something that I can add right now.”
Malpractice accusations
Kosowski might have assembled a top-notch educational pedigree, however his skilled life hasn’t been notably clean.
Practically three years into his lawsuit towards his former follow, Kosowski was sued for malpractice over a botched Brazilian Butt Carry.
In a Jan. 2021 civil grievance filed in Pinellas County Circuit Courtroom, the affected person mentioned she was simply 19 in 2019, when Kosowski DMed her out of the blue on Instagram (@Dr.TampaBay69) with a solicitation for a reduced BBL. The teenager checked out Kosowski’s profile and scheduled a session with him on the follow he sued later that yr, in accordance with the grievance.There, he “instructed her that she was an awesome candidate for a BBL,” it continues, noting that Kosowski—who isn't board licensed, an official with the American Board of Plastic Surgical procedure instructed The Every day Beast—instructed the younger girl to offer him with footage of celebrities she needed her physique to resemble. However whereas the affected person shared the requested images with Kosowski, the lawsuit claims Kosowski “by no means mentioned with [the patient] whether or not he might realistically and safely mannequin her physique to seem like celebrities she recognized.”
“It was a catastrophe,” a supply with direct data of the scenario instructed The Every day Beast, emphasizing how “bizarre [it is] for a health care provider to be soliciting a 19-year-old lady for surgical procedure.”
The grievance says Kosowski over-injected the affected person’s buttocks with fats, which led to a “massive, open, painful wound and an infection.” This precipitated the affected person, who declined to remark and whose title The Every day Beast is withholding for her privateness, “ache, numbness, and vital scarring,” in accordance with the grievance.
“Kosowski defined to [the patient] that the wound was attributable to a surgical instrument being too deeply and aggressively inserted through the BBL process within the location the place the wound shaped,” it states.
However strive as he would possibly, Kosowski was unable to repair it, in accordance with the grievance. When Kosowski then left the follow amid his insurance-and-defamation lawsuit, he gave the younger girl his cell quantity and mentioned to textual content him in a few weeks. Kosowski mentioned he’d proceed to deal with her if issues didn’t get higher quickly, and when the affected person started to expertise additional problems, together with cellulitis, she contacted him. Kosowski, the grievance says, by no means responded.
Wound-care specialists at an space hospital lastly bought concerned, and have been in a position to reverse a number of the harm. However when the affected person started to contemplate a lawsuit and referred to as the follow to request her medical data, the data have been nowhere to be discovered, in accordance with the grievance, which mentioned Kosowski had “refused to permit” anybody else on the follow to photograph the outcomes of the process. The case continues to be listed as open on the docket, however the supply mentioned it was settled out of court docket. They mentioned they weren't allowed to debate the phrases of the settlement.
Kosowski has by no means been board licensed, and his eligibility for certification expired in 2019, Cassandra Kosielowski, an official with the American Board of Plastic Surgical procedure, instructed The Every day Beast.
‘All of us lose right here’
At the moment, Kosowski sits within the Pinellas County Jail, dealing with a possible loss of life sentence. He has a stability on the detention heart commissary of $193.53, in accordance with reserving data.
A pal of Kosowski’s, actuality TV producer Adam Barta, mentioned he’s “praying that this someway involves some form of decision.”
“It doesn’t seem to be it’ll be any type of good decision,” Barta instructed The Every day Beast, “however we’ll simply have to attend and see.”
Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD detective sergeant who now teaches at New York Metropolis’s John Jay Faculty of Prison Justice, mentioned this case isn't an outlier.
“No person’s resistant to homicide as a way to an finish, it doesn't matter what class you're, it doesn't matter what job you could have,” he mentioned. “Is it uncommon, within the quantity of violence you could have? Sure.”
In the meantime, Lois Cozzi continues to stay out what she described as a foul dream, noting that Cozzi’s dad stays too traumatized to speak concerning the scenario.
“We’ve all been robbed,” she mentioned. “My husband and I've been robbed of our son, Steven’s brother has been robbed of a brother. And Michael’s been robbed of the love of his life.”
Pillsbury, for his half, will now have to complete out his protection of the Kosowski civil case with out Cozzi. It's unsure the place issues go from right here; six days after Kosowski’s arrest, an arbitration listening to scheduled for April 11 was postponed indefinitely.
“All of us lose right here,” mentioned Pillsbury. “I genuinely assume the world was higher when Steve was in it. It hurts. It hurts lots. And the truth that we don’t know the place he's, is so devastating.”
—with extra reporting by Josh Fiallo