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CNN Live Today
Story of Wealthy Businessman Found Dead in Hamptons
Aired April 03, 2002 - 11:35 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: This next story has all the elements of a salacious movie of the week. There is money, and matrimony and murder. It has been five months since a wealthy businessman was found dead in the Hamptons. That's a pricey Long Island getaway for Manhattan's jetsetters.
Deborah Feyerick has the latest on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The brutal murder, Ted Ammon, a multimillionaire on both ends of several lawsuits and entangled in a bitter divorce, found naked, bludgeoned in his bed in this very rich part of East Hampton, a beach getaway for Manhattan's elite.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are no sign of forced entry.
FEYERICK: Police and prosecutors say very little.
THOMAS SPOTA, SUFFOLK CO. D.A.: I'm not going to saying that there are or are not suspects.
FEYERICK: One person who's acknowledged its common sense he would be a suspect is Daniel Pelosi, but Pelosi, an electrician now, married to Ammon's widow Generosa, says in a written statement to CNN, "I had nothing to do with Ted Ammon's death." He had lived in the Hampton's house with her before the murder. It's just one of the details that has the Hamptons and Manhattan's high society ripe with speculation.
DAVID MOORE, CHAIRMAN, 24,7 REAL MEDIA: Being a tough businessman, you are bound to make some enemies.
FEYERICK: Ammon made his millions in investment banking as a partner at Colbert, Cravis, Roberts, a key player in the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco.
JURATE KAZICKAS, AMMON FAMILY FRIEND: He was such a charming, funny, warm, outgoing, just a delightful person, who had done so much in his life.
FEYERICK: And he found love in artist and real estate broker Generosa Rand. LENNY GOLAY, AMMON FAMILY FRIEND: She was sparkly, bubbly, you know, one of those special personalities that you can't put your finger on it, but you would just like to be with them, because you know you will enjoy yourself.
FEYERICK: Ted and Generosa tied the knot in 1986, adopting twins from the Ukraine seven years later. Ammon, taking over a newspaper ad company, turning it into a $2 billion a year business before starting his own venture capital firm.
MOORE: His reputation was of that a preeminent deal maker, very smart guy, and able to make money.
FEYERICK: Ammon, also a philanthropist, generous with time and money, chairing the prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center, and donating $15 million to his alma mater, also saving New York City landmarks.
PHILIP HOWARD, CHMN., MUNICIPAL ART SOCIETY: Most people are so overworked, you sort of have to beg for their attention, and eventually you'll get some help. Ted actually affirmatively enjoys going out and doing something that made the city a better place.
FEYERICK: Generosa Ammon gave her husband a surprise 50th birthday party, taking 20 of his closest friends to the Virgin Islands. Friends, unaware the outwardly golden marriage was unraveling. In the summer of 2000, Generosa filed for divorce.
HOWARD: There were problems at home. I mean, everyone knew that, and Ted would talk to me about how worried he was about the children.
FEYERICK: As he battled his wife over custody, she moved with the children to a $2,000 a night suite at the Stanhope (ph) Hotel across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and that wasn't the only legal battle Ted Ammon was involved in. Two former personal assistants sued him, saying he stiffed them $2 million in pay and other promised benefits.
Meanwhile, Ammon was suing his Fifth Avenue apartment building for rejecting a $9 million buyer. Both suits active last fall. But late October of last year, the divorce was about to be resolved, giving Generosa about half of the estimated $51 million fortune.
And despite more than a year of litigation, Ammon never changed his will. His last weekend alive, Ted Ammon ate dinner in New York City Friday night, later driving alone to his Hamptons estate, where he would later be murdered. To police, robbery didn't seem like a motive.
LT. JOHN GIERASCH, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE: The house is generally neat. It is not ransacked. Having said that, I'm in no position to say whether or not there is anything missing.
FEYERICK: Pelosi's attorneys says he has provided DNA evidence to police, but wouldn't say whether he has spoken to them. Generosa's lawyer and police say she's cooperating with investigators. Her only statement, on paper: "It is true that at the time of my husband's death, we had been embroiled in a very difficult matrimonial proceeding. However, I believe the most important consideration now is that out children be protected from things said about their parents that can only bring them further pain."
After the murder, she moved with the children, and new husband to Ammon's palatial estate in England.
In his statement to CNN, Pelosi said he had no motive for murder: "The divorce agreement paved the way for my marriage to Generosa, and for Ted, the freedom that he wanted, my personal relationship with Ted was cordial and friendly," Pelosi said, adding, "I had no reason to see Ted Ammon dead."
Pelosi is now back on Long Island facing drunk driving charges from a month before the murder. Police say he was driving Ted Ammon's BMW at the time. He denies he was behind the wheel, but the judge asked him to surrender his passport. He has been convicted of DWI twice before. Friend's of Ted Ammon, who packed a memorial service at Lincoln Center are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
MOORE: I hope that the police find who did it and that that person or persons are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. What happened to him should happen to nobody.
FEYERICK: Questions surrounding the Ammon murder still very much alive.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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