Murder In The Hamptons
Danny Pelosi, an electrician who married Generosa Ammon three months after her multimillionaire husband was bludgeoned to death in his Long Island mansion, was convicted of second-degree murder on Dec. 13, 2004.
This Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT, Correspondent Richard Schlesinger updates a 48 Hours report on the Ted Ammon murder case, which was broadcast last February.
It has all the ingredients of a Hollywood drama. It's a horror story, in a fairy-tale setting, complete with love and hate, money and murder.
"Bad news is a good story," says Kieren Crowley, a reporter for the New York Post, who has written a book, "Almost Paradise," about the murder of Ted Ammon. "This guy was tall, dark and handsome. He was brilliant."
Ammon, who grew up in a middle-class childhood, breezed through Bucknell University as a frat boy and lacrosse player. He married in 1973 and moved to London to practice law.
When his first marriage ended less than 10 years later, Ammon started looking for an apartment in New York City. He booked an appointment with a real estate agent named Generosa Rand.
Generosa was tough and outspoken, and Ammon wanted to meet her in person. They married in 1986, and Ammon went on to make tens of millions of dollars on Wall Street before he quit. That's when the couple adopted 2-year-old twins from the Ukraine, Greg and Alexa.
A few years later, the Ammons abruptly left New York to move into a rambling, stone manor house in the English countryside.
"She was trying to pull Ted out of New York City and the very busyness of his life," says Ed Meyer, one of Generosa's lawyers. "She persuaded him to start to relax, to enjoy the family. Enjoy the English countryside."
But the couple didn't enjoy it for very long. Ammon took frequent trips back to New York, and Generosa became convinced that they weren't all business-related. She began telling friends he was having an affair.
By the summer of 2000, they were both back in Manhattan, living apart. Generosa had filed for divorce and was looking for more than $1 million a year in living expenses.
"Between $100,000 and $150,000 a month was not that much, believe it or not, when you're talking about that kind of income," says Meyer.
Generosa evidently wanted to hurt Ammon, and not just financially. Before the divorce was final, she found a new boyfriend – Danny Pelosi. And he was everything that Ammon was not.
"It was the princess and the pauper. That was the relationship," says Pelosi. "She came from a world of enormous wealth. Been to every continent, and I've been to Florida."
To see the full report, tune in to 48 Hours Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT.