DeFalco (Courtesy Rebecca DeFalco)

Palm Beach businessman Thanos Papalexis emotionally tortured galpal Rebecca DeFalco for months.

He got physical, too. He bit her. He choked her. Pulled her hair.

Papalexis was, she said, a sadistic lover who kept S&M equipment in a special room.

“He tortured me emotionally and physically to the point that I swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills,” DeFalco told Page2Live in her first exclusive interview since she was thrust into the limelight.

“He got in my head. I loved him. He was so charming and interesting.”

Today, DeFalco applauded the sentence that a court in England handed down against Papalexis: Life behind bars.

The former Boca Raton-based porn actress/escort actually played a key role in having an English jury find him guilty of murdering a London loner who, in 2000, stood in the way of a business deal.

DeFalco, who dated Papalexis on and off for three years, testified for five days in July. She said Papalexis admitted to her during pillow talk in 2004 at the Four Seasons Palm Beach that he killed a man.

“I testified without any desire for revenge. I just told the truth, and the truth dictates what he deserves,” she said. “You can call me a whore, but don’t call me a liar.

“The way he told me he strangled someone, from what I saw in his eyes, I knew right away it was true.”

So, why did DeFalco allow him to roam freely among Palm Beach’s elite for four more years instead of reporting Papalexis to authorities? Papalexis, 37, was nabbed by U.S. Marshals in November 2008 and extradited to England after authorities there matched his DNA to cigarette butts found at the crime scene nine years earlier.

“Early in the relationship,” DeFalco said, “he was telling me he was a spy working for the CIA and MI-6. He actually had people calling me on his behalf to say he was on a mission in Iraq and that he was made prisoner. He once disappeared for months at a time, and pretended he suffered from amnesia after falling from a building during a chase.

“I bought it all. I figured that killing someone was a part of his job,” she said. “I figured he was a good guy killing the bad guys. Now I know it was the contrary.”

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Odom

– He speaks! Newlywed (once all the paperwork is signed) Lamar Odom, a former Miami Heat star, finally opened up this morning about his wedding to reality TV’s Khloe Kardashian (Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami) over the weekend. Of course, the first question he was asked on ESPN 710 radio in Los Angeles was about the lovebirds’ monthlong courtship. “I’ve been a rock star . . . since I was 16,” the 29-year-old L.A. Laker said, “and doing it (getting hooked up) so fast, there was a lot of family members who couldn’t even agree. So I can imagine what it would look like to the outside person not involved in my life every day. . . I fell in love and the reason why I knew I was in love was because I knew how I felt when I wasn’t with that person or if she was no longer in my life . . . I never had a problem meeting women. I moved to Miami (in 2003, then he was traded to L.A. in the deal that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Miami) and we all know what that scene is like down there. But I finally met the one that I knew if I lost her, it would hurt the most.” Isn’t that sweet?

Damon on his phony directing gig (Courtesy YouTube)

– It’s Miami Beach’s Matt Damon like you’ve never seen him. One of the few level-headed people in showbiz, Damon flew off at Entourage star Adrian Grenier the other day, in a phony PSA that hit YouTube with a vengeance. The video, available below, is to promote Entourage’s season finale on HBO Sunday. Damon, as in Ocean’s Eleven and The Bourne Identity, pretends to direct Grenier in the filming of a clean water message when Damon starts lobbing four-letter bombs, too many of them to bleep. Particularly funny: Grenier’s co-star, Jeremy Piven, seems to be more embarrassed than anyone. Be advised, the video on the jump is for mature audiences only. Click (Read more…)

Papalexis' London mugshot (Courtesy Press Association)

A Palm Beach businessman dubbed by the British press “the sadistic playboy” was sentenced to life in prison this morning in London’s Old Bailey courthouse.

As he sentenced Thanos Papalexis, 37, Judge Jeremy Roberts called the murderer “totally amoral.”

“You are a totally amoral person in the sense that you do not think twice in doing or saying anything which helps you achieve your own ends,” Roberts told Papalexis, according to The Guardian newspaper.

“This was an execution carried out for financial gain. You treated Charalambos (Christodoulides, the victim) as completely expendable.”

According to the British penal code, Papalexis will have to spend a mandatory 20 years behind bars before he becomes eligible for release.

An eyewitness told me Papalexis showed little emotion as he was sentenced, but blinked his eyes incessantly and shook sightly.

“The judge strictly followed the law,” said attorney Cemil Gersel, who represents Papalexis’ two co-defendants. They have yet to be tried but are accused of helping Papalexis in the killing. “A life sentence in England doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be in jail for the rest of your life. But he won’t be released before 20 years.”

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Dolphins Coach Tony Sparano with wife Jeanette (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano might be feeling the pressure of a winless season so far, but he hasn’t lost sight of what’s really important. Holding wife Jeanette’s hand, Sparano Tuesday announced that Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills at Land Shark would be used to promote breast cancer awareness.

The players will be wearing pink cleats, wristbands, gloves, sideline caps, helmet decals and captains’ patches. Coaches are planning to wear pink caps and pink ribbon pins, and there will be pink goal-post padding in the end zone. The move, however, stops short of Major League Baseball, where some teams occasionally play in pink.

Earlier this year, the Fins’ tight ends coach, George DeLeone, lost his wife Roberta to breast cancer.

– Yikes. Model Samantha Burke, the Red Neck Riviera-based Jude Law baby mama, is bursting at the seams a week after she gave birth to a girl she says is the 36-year-old actor’s love child. Burke, 24, revealed her voluptuous new bod Monday as she drove around her hometown of Pensacola in search of baby things. Unfortunately, pictures of the little girl, Sophia, are still under wraps. Burke says she got pregnant during a short, intense affair with Law as he shot Sherlock Holmes in New York City. The British actor starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley and Cold Mountain. Should you feel generous, check Burke’s baby registry at Babies R Us here.

Samantha Burke in Pensacola on Monday (Courtesy dlisted.com)

– Holy pony, Wellington polo player Nacho Figueras is getting even bigger as the local season looms. Figueras appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Monday, telling Oprah Winfrey: “You can actually die playing [polo], so it’s a very dangerous thing. You have to be conscious, but you’ve also got to be a little bit crazy.” Well, audiences everywhere, it seems, are crazy about the 32-year-old Figueras. He was also featured on CBS’ Sunday Morning on Sept. 20, and the Ralph Lauren pitchman was voted second-most handsome man in the world by the readers of Vanity Fair in June. He placed ahead of Brad Pitt, but second to Twilight’s Robert Pattinson. Oprah airs at 4 p.m. daily on WPTV-Channel 5.

Nacho Figueras in Wellington (Bill Ingram/The Palm Beach Post)

Michael Jordan, as he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame two weeks ago (AP photo)

The plans for former NBA star and basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan’s new castle in Jupiter are in.

And the stack of papers recently submitted to town officials by Jordan’s architects, contractor, consultants and lawyer show that residents of the Bears Club, a posh golf community, better get ready for something the size of a Walmart.

The developer, Lavelle Construction Corp., submitted applications for a 37,942-square-foot building, with 26,000 square feet under air conditioning. There’s a cottage and guard gate.

In all, Jordan’s crib will have 11 bedrooms, and a yet-to-be-determined number of bathrooms.

The house, at 172 Bears Club Road, will dwarf most in the north side of Palm Beach County, and all around it at the Jack Nicklaus development.

Jordan's property (Courtesy Google Maps)

According to property appraiser records, most homes around Jordan’s are about 10,000 square feet.

Jordan’s slamming down $7,627,669 to build the two-story home, which will feature an elevator, a grand stairway, 10-foot ceilings and a giant fireplace.

So far, the Hanes undies pitchman has paid $152,553 to the town in permits and other fees.

Jordan, 46, bought two adjacent lots at the Jack Nicklaus-founded Bears Club last year for a total $4.8 million. He’s got three acres of wooded land adjacent to a golf course. Golf, and the privacy of a gated community, is what caught Jordan’s attention.

The sheer size of the soon-to-go-up digs, slightly smaller than the beachfronter in Palm Beach that Donald Trump sold for $100 million last year, is already having some local environmentalists chomping at the bit.

“Who needs that kind of a footprint,” said Joanne Davis, a growth management specialist with 1000 Friends of Florida. “It’s insane, a waste. Cities see nothing more than a tax base in these giant homes, but I can’t imagine anyone needing anything like that, except to show off.

“This house is going to require an enormous use of natural resources for no good reason.”

While Air Jordan’s manager in Washington, D.C., hasn’t commented (for reasons of security and privacy, she said), town officials said the part-owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats is well within code.

“The Bears Club was specifically designed for large lots,”said town zoning principal planner Scott Tatcher. “The Bears Club has done a good job setting aside upland pine areas and wetlands to offset construction. It’s true other homes are in the 10,000-square-feet range, but he is building on two lots.”

In yet another not-so-green move, the six-time NBA champion Chicago Bull has had most tall trees on the property taken out.

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Juliette Lewis, circa 1990, when she starred opposite Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear

Well, you won’t believe what she looks like now! Check it out below or click (Read more…)

They were not exactly beaming, but Odom and Khloe did take the plunge Sunday (Courtesy X17online)

– Hard to believe, but former Miami Heat star Lamar Odom, 29, actually passed a wedding ring onto the chubby finger of 25-year-old mouthy reality TV star Khloe Kardashian Sunday, after a courtship that lasted a whole month! The lovebirds were reportedly haggling over a pre-nupt — then a post-nupt — at the last minute, but they ended up exchanging vows. The wedding, in a private home in Beverly Hills, took place before a roster of guests that read like a reality TV All Stars, including American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, The Osbournes‘ Kelly Osbourne, funny girl Chelsea Handler, The Gastineau Girls‘ Brittny, The Insider’s Lara Spencer and smut peddler Joe Francis. According to MTV.com, the bride wore a strapless gown made by part-time Palm Beacher Vera Wang and had her sisters Kim and Kourtney, who co-star with Khloe on E!’s Keeping up with the Kardashians, as maids of honor. The 6-foot-10 Odom, who played for the Heat in 2003-04, brought his L.A. Lakers teammates, including Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, along with coach Phil Jackson. Cable’s E! reportedly footed the $1 million bill for the shindig.

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Shue

– It’s that time of year. The social season is upon us, with one of its South Florida kickoffs looming. The 20th Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Classic, a fundraising tennis tourney showcasing several celebrities and pro tennis players, is scheduled for Nov. 7 and 8 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. Among the celebs: Today host Matt Lauer; Olympic hero Bruce Jenner; movie star Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas, Hollow Man); Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade (daily on Fox News); and Natalie Cole. The singer, who’s recovering from a kidney transplant, won’t play tennis but will sing at the Nov. 7 gala at the Boca Raton Resort.

– Retired New York Mets star catcher Gary Carter, who lives in a $1 million home at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, was just spotted leaving Lexus of Palm Beach in West Palm Beach in a shiny new blue IS convertible. I’m told the Hall of Famer and former manager of the St. Lucie Mets spent close to 50 Gs on his new wheels.

The IS convertible

Barker, Friday night at the Cruzan

The California punk rockers of Blink-182 and their cult following invaded the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach Friday.

Drummer Travis Barker played almost a year to the day after a private jet in which he was a passenger crashed in South Carolina, seriously injuring him and killing two assistants. Barker’s second- and third-degree burns just finished healing.

Along on the tour is Fall Out Boy and bassist Pete Wentz. In addition to writing some of the band’s lyrics, Wentz just published a comic book, Fall Out Toy Works.

(Drew Angerer/The Palm Beach Post)

Is Rachel’s a strip bar or a steakhouse?

T & A or chops?

Ten years after the birth of Palm Beach County’s most luxurious mammary mecca, that question’s still debated.

“The fact they serve first rate food is what allowed them to stay in business that long,” said popular former Rachel’s manager Danny Winters. “The steaks made it OK for anyone to come in.”

“It’s the girls,” said Scott Mauro, Winters’ replacement at the joint. “It’s full nudity.”

Bottom line: Those who enjoy Playboy for the articles probably enjoy Rachel’s Adult Entertainment and Steakhouse for, well, the food.

Rachel’s, which is located at the corner of I-95 and 45th Street in West Palm Beach, turns 10 years old this weekend.

In a decade, it went from a controversial newbie — the city banned the opening of newer nudie bars after Rachel’s was built — to an unlikely local business institution.

Check out Page2Live’s gallery of Friday’s event:

Hauserman

And the watering hole that gave Palm Beach mansion dwellers a reason to cross the Intracoastal is celebrating its rite of passage with the unveiling of an inside face lift, drink specials and the occasional shapely female guest star.

Reality TV fixture and Playboy model Megan Hauserman hosted Friday’s party. Hauserman, who grew up in Boca and graduated from Olympic Heights, is known mostly for fronting VH-1’s doomed Megan Wants a Millionaire.

The dating show was cancelled last month after three episodes when one contestant, Ryan Jenkins, became a suspect in the murder of his wife, model Jasmine Fiore.  Jenkins off-ed himself during the manhunt.

“I’m trying to focus on more positive stuff,” Hauserman tells me.

She said she agreed to host Friday’s party because she constantly heard of Rachel’s as a teen in Boca.

“All the boys at school would talk about it,” she said.

To the disappointment of many, Hauserman didn’t strip. She just strutted around in a skimpy cocktail waitress’ outfit.

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