Posted on 08/20/2007 7:29:03 AM PDT by Sleeping Freeper
Leona Helmsley, the hotelier who went to prison as a tax cheat and was reviled as the "queen of mean," died Monday at age 87.
Helmsley died of heart failure at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn., said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.
Helmsley and her husband, Harry, ran a $5 billion real estate empire that included managing the Empire State Building. She was tried in 1989 on tax evasion charges in a sensational trial that included testimony from disgruntled employees who said she terrorized both menial and executive help at her homes and hotels.
Her image was sealed when a former housekeeper testified that she heard Helmsley say: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes."
She denied having said it, but the words followed her the rest of her life.
resposible => responsible
Edward G. Robinson in drag.
Yep. Tyrants are so predictable.
I was always a fan of Leona’s. Didn’t know her personally but only through the terrific towels ALL Helmsley Hotels provided, even their low-end hotels. I suspect that changed after she went to the slammer.
Happy Landings, Leona, wherever you are.
““After her son died, she sued the estate for money and property she said her son had borrowed, and an eviction notice was served on her son’s widow, Mimi.”
That did it- rot, Leona.
That one threw me for a major loop. They were playing an old interview with him today on 89.9 FM (my favorite music station) here in NYC and I couldn`t understand why, then they announced what happened and it was all over as far as I was concerned. Check it out, you may find a re-broadcast of that interview here...
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/wkcr/
By the way, my favorite video of him...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-xiX64HGQ
RIP.
“I wonder who she willed all her shoes to.”
I think you have her confused with Imelda Marcos;)
Ouch! She makes Helen Thomas look like Marilyn Monroe;)
I think you have her confused with Imelda Marcos;)
You’re right! Color me embarrassed.
The Queen of Mean's dog will continue to live the royal life, and then be buried alongside Leona Helmsley in a mausoleum maintained by a multi-million-dollar fund.
But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got zilch from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's estate.
Helmsley left her beloved white Maltese, named Trouble, a $12 million trust fund, according to her will, which was made public Tuesday in surrogate court, according to published reports.
She also left millions for her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who was named to care for Trouble in her absence, as well as two of four grandchildren from her late son Jay Panzirer, so long as they visit their father's grave site once each calendar year.
Otherwise, she wrote, neither will get a penny of the $5 million she left for each.
But no one made out better than Trouble, who once appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels, and lived up to its name by biting a housekeeper.
"I direct that when my dog, Trouble, dies, her remains shall be buried next to my remains in the Helmsley mausoleum," Helmsley wrote in her will.
The mausoleum, she ordered, must be "washed or steam-cleaned at least once a year." She left behind $3 million for the upkeep of her final resting place in Westchester County, where she is buried with her husband, Harry Helmsley, and where the pair have a view of the New York skyline.
She also left her chauffeur, Nicholas Celea, $100,000.
Everything else, including cash from sales of the Helmsley's residences and belongings, reported to be worth billions, she ordered sold and the money given to the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the New York Post reported in Wednesday editions.
"I will have no comment concerning Mrs. Helmsley's will," said her longtime spokesman, Howard Rubenstein, in the Post.
Helmsley died earlier this month at her Connecticut home. She became known as a symbol of 1980s greed and earned her famous moniker after her 1988 indictment and subsequent conviction for tax evasion. One employee had quoted her as snarling, "Only the little people pay taxes."
That’s correct , the dog pays or shares a cell with Micheal Vick .
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