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American Morning

Look at Murder That Shocked Wealthy Enclave of East Hampton, New York

Aired January 28, 2002 - 09:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: It was a murder that shocked the wealthy enclave of East Hampton, New York. Millionaire philanthropists Ted Ammon was found bludgeoned to death in his bedroom back in October. The case raised questions about his personal life, specifically the stormy divorce battle with his wife, Generosa.

Well now, the murder mystery deepens with word that Ammon's widow has married her electrician. She's actually left the country for her estate in England with her children.

And "Vanity Fair" contributing editor Michael Shnayerson has investigated the case and joins us now.

Good to see you, welcome.

MICHAEL SHNAYERSON, "VANITY FAIR": Good morning, thank you.

ZAHN: This is a real whodunit, isn't it?

SHNAYERSON: It really is.

ZAHN: Describe to us the life that Ted Ammon led and tell us a little bit more about his now ex-wife and his children?

SHNAYERSON: Well, he was a very successful investment banker who made a fortune with -- through the Clavis operation, and he had gone out on his own. He was worth upwards of $80 million. And I think he liked to live well. He and Generosa had a townhouse in New York and an estate in East Hampton, and an estate in England, but it seemed to me from my reporting that she really liked to live well.

ZAHN: Let's show a picture now of Generosa. I think this is a family portrait we are going to see. How did the two of them meet?

SHNAYERSON: They met, as I understand it, because she was back in the mid-80s a struggling rental apartment agent who showed him an apartment, and he took the apartment and he took her.

ZAHN: And you said she has been said by the people who talked to liked the high life. What have you learned about her since the story broke?

SHNAYERSON: Well, you know, obviously I don't know who killed Ted Ammon, and the police if they know aren't saying. All I can do in my story is try to tell a story of what the marriage between Ted and Generosa was like, and led readers assume what they would.

ZAHN: It started out OK.

SHNAYERSON: Yes, the marriage started out fine. There was even, some people said, some warm passion between them. But that passion seemed to darken into a kind volatility on Generosa's part that made it a very stormy marriage indeed, until by the mid-90s Ted was telling friends he wanted to get out.

By then, however they had adopted two young children from the Ukraine, and my sense he stuck around a bit longer for them.

ZAHN: And then entered entering into Generosa's life is this electrician. What's his name? Daniel Pelosi?

SHNAYERSON: Yes, Daniel Pelosi is quite a character in this drama.

ZAHN: Does he enter her life as the marriage is imploding, or is it before that?

SHNAYERSON: The reason I believe he entered her life, is that once Ted and Generosa had separated in 2000, Generosa went to live at the Stand Hope Hotel while a $9 million dollar townhouse, which Ted had bought for her as part of the settlement was being renovated. The head of the crew renovating the townhouse was Daniel Pelosi. And so, if you were an angry wife, it was the perfect revenge. She's gets a boyfriend and...

ZAHN: And the $9 million townhouse.

SHNAYERSON: And all the money is going to refurbish it is going from Ted to her boyfriend.

ZAHN: And subsequently, she has married this man. There's a picture of the two of them leaving her estate. Now are either she or her new husband considered suspects as far as the police are concerned?

SHNAYERSON: You know, the police have been completely tight lipped. So the answer would have to be no, they're not considered suspects. They certainly haven't been charged. They have, according to their lawyers, cooperated minimally with the police, but certainly not as much as the police would like.

ZAHN: Now this new husband is out there denying in newspapers he had anything to do with the killing of Ted Ammon. He certainly expects perhaps he will be investigated.

SHNAYERSON: Well, in the press, he's certainly been a suspect. And you have to wonder at their decision to, a, move to England, and, b, to get married so quickly. I mean, would a grieving widow, an innocent grieving widow, really marry someone else three months later. It's peculiar, to say the least. ZAHN: And then another bomb was sort of dropped at the beginning of this investigation with a possible double life that Ted Ammon lived. Have those theories been shot down? You quote people in this story who say, this absolutely could not be.

SHNAYERSON: In the days after the murder, there was a Cindy Adams column that really got the gossip going, which stipulated that Ted may have been gay, that he may have been killed by a gay lover, et cetera, et cetera. When I started my reporting after that, obviously, I asked everyone I could that had known Ted Ammon, did that seem plausible to them? And to a person, they all said it was completely implausible, and I frankly think, in fact, I know that a lot of that gossip was generated by Generosa through her lawyers.

And therefore, it's quite ironic that Daniel Pelosi, last week, stand on the front steps of the mansion in Surrey and say to British reporters, first after telling them to get off his property, then to say to them that the reason that he and Generosa moved was for the sake of the children, because they were hearing terrible things about their father. Go figure.

ZAHN: And you're thinking, I wonder who started those rumors.

SHNAYERSON: Yes.

ZAHN: Bottom line, though, cops not saying much. They don't seem to be close to any arrests here.

SHNAYERSON: No, they don't. They say they want to avoid a JonBenet Ramsey sort of confusion, circus, and maybe that's smart of them. As everybody knows the trail goes cold quickly. Now three months and no one named a suspect and no one indicted.

ZAHN: Michael Shnayerson delighted to have you with us and talk to us about your piece in "Vanity Fair."

SHNAYERSON: Thank you.

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