A wealthy engineer who assaulted multiple women on a Boston mall in the 1980s continues to “humiliate and exploit women” while in prison, according to two district attorney’s offices.
Phillip Pizzo, 75, appeared before the parole board for the fourth time on August 12, 2025. Both the Essex District Attorney’s Office and the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said they opposed granting him parole, fearing he would “pose a significant risk to public safety if released.”
Between August 12, 1983, and January 19, 1984, Pizzo, 33, kidnapped eight to 20 women in their late teens or early twenties from at least three Boston-area shopping malls. Officials said he would open the door, hold a knife to the woman’s throat and push her into the passenger seat. He would place a ski mask over the woman’s face and tie her hands behind her back.
Pizzo told each woman that he was not going to hurt her, that he just wanted their money.
He would then take their money but also drive the woman’s car to his car parked far away. He would then drive to his home in Westford with the woman inside. On the way home, Pizzo would talk to the women, asking them about their personal lives, including questions about employment and relationship status.
After entering the house through the attached garage, Pizzo would force the women to drink alcohol and then take them upstairs to the bedrooms. Pizzo then removed the ski masks from the women’s faces and raped them, according to the parole board.
After raping the women, he would make them shower and then return them to the mall where he abducted them.
The Daily Mail reported in 1984 that a woman escaped after being stabbed in the mouth.
Officials reported finding several items belonging to women in his home, The Daily Item reported in 1984.
On November 6, 1984, Pizzo pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to multiple charges, including seven counts of aggravated rape, three counts of masked armed robbery and five counts of kidnapping. He also admitted three counts of aggravated rape, masked armed robbery and three counts of kidnapping at the High Court in Essex.
He was sentenced to eight concurrent life sentences. He will be eligible for parole after 15 years.
In 1985, Pizzo was declared a “sexually dangerous person” and sentenced to life in prison at a Massachusetts treatment center. In 2009, Pizzo was released from his civil commitment and was deemed by the court to be no longer a sexually dangerous person. In 2013, he completed a sex offender treatment program.
In 2010, he first applied to the parole board but was rejected. He was also rejected in 2015 and 2020.
The parole board noted that he had been served with multiple disciplinary reports, including one in September 2025, and “continued to engage in sexual misconduct while incarcerated.” Five of his seven disciplinary reports were filed since his last parole board hearing.
“The nature of the increasing offenses is particularly concerning given his involvement in (sex offender treatment programs) over the years,” the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office wrote in a letter to the parole board.
Three of the incidents involved female prison guards announcing their presence in his unit.
“These three incidents demonstrate Pizzo’s ongoing desire to humiliate and exploit women,” the Essex District Attorney’s Office wrote. “In one case, he also ignored an officer’s order to cease such behavior. These incidents overwhelmingly demonstrate that Pizzo would pose a significant threat to public safety if released, as he is unable to control his impulses even in an institutional setting while participating in programming specifically addressing these issues.”
Two of the incidents were drug-related, according to officials. It’s unclear whether he understood the role alcohol played in the crime.
He previously denied alcohol gave him the courage to commit the crime at his parole hearing. However, he later said in 2025 that alcohol had helped “empower him to commit the crime”.
“It is highly questionable whether Pizzo was simply trying to project to the board a state of mind that would lead to his release, rather than honestly recognizing the circumstances of his alcoholism,” the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office wrote.
On January 13, he was denied parole for the fourth time by a unanimous decision of the parole board members. He can appear before the parole board again after three years.
More information about the Massachusetts Parole Board
Read the original article on MassLive. Click here to add MassLive as your preferred source.
