Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Mob lawyer's widow gets tricked by kids out of her vacation home


A Brooklyn mob lawyer’s elderly widow is claiming her kids tricked her into signing away her Connecticut vacation home — by pretending the papers were a “do not resuscitate” order for her dying husband, a new lawsuit charges.
The eldest child named in the bitter suit is legal heavyweight Nicholas Gravante, Jr., who, as a partner to Al Gore attorney David Boies, has repped the Andy Warhol Foundation and the family of vice president Joe Biden.
“She did not understand what she was signing,” lawyers for the angry mom and plaintiff, Elinor Gravante, 81, claim in the Brooklyn federal court lawsuit, filed Friday.
“She believed she was signing a “do not resuscitate” order.”
The lawsuit also accuses Gravante Jr., and his brother and sister, of pocketing some $600,000 in rental income from their dead dad’s buildings in Park Slope, Bensonhurst and SoHo.
It’s the latest volley in a raging family feud over tens of millions of dollars in property in Connecticut, Florida and New York, amassed during the 50-year career of longtime Bensonhurst-based Lucchese and Gambino family lawyer Nicholas Gravante, Sr., who died in 2015.
The feud simmered to the surface two weeks ago, when Nicholas Jr., fired off the first lawsuit against his mom in Florida, where she lives.
Nicholas Gravante Jr.
The son’s suit asks a Collier County judge to stop the mom from claiming to family, friends, and even the press that her children tricked her out of the lakefront house, a $1.8 million property in New Fairfield.
Christine Gravante Castellano
The so-called bogus “do not resuscitate” order is a three-page, notorized document that clearly states “Warranty Deed” at the top, Nicholas Jr. said.
His mom had wanted to give the house to him and his siblings since they’d inherit it anyway, and she had no interest in living there — then cried fraud last summer after an argument with her daughter, Christine Castellano, who now lives there, the lawsuit says.
The third child, Richard, is a Brooklyn-based lawyer.
The mom had long agreed that the rental income could be used by her 11 grandchildren toward college tuition, Nicholas Jr. told The Post.
“It is unfortunate that our mother, who has been dealing with serious health issues, including memory loss, has been advised to take action that delays progress and closure,” the three Gravante children said in a statement Friday.
“We love her and will continue to support her financially and emotionally through this painful period,” the statement added.

http://nypost.com/2016/04/09/kids-tricked-mob-lawyers-widow-out-of-1-8m-vacation-home-suit/


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