EXCLUSIVE: Thanos Papalexis guilty of murder!
Tags: bambi, bill clinton, Charalambos Christodoulides, Old Bailey, Palm Beach, Rebecca DeFalco, Thanos Papalexis
| Friday 4 September 2009 11:15 am
Papalexis in his Palm Beach office last year
Update: Papalexis’ two Albanian henchmen, accused to have helped with the murder, will have to go through a re-trial. Also, the British press now reports that Papalexis’ sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 30. Check out this story in London’s Telegraph.
Palm Beach bizman Thanos Papalexis was found guilty of the 2000 murder of a man who delayed his efforts to sell a warehouse in London.
Papalexis’ face turned ashen and the ever-present smirk on his face disappeared when a jury of 11 Londoners rendered their unanimous guilty verdict about 10:45 a.m. (3:45 p.m. London time) at Old Bailey. They deliberated for four days at the end of a three-month trial.
The sentence is expected next week. But, said London attorney Cemil Gersel, Papalexis may be in his 60s by the time he is sprung from prison — if he’s lucky.
“He is eligible for a mandatory sentence of life in prison,” Gersel said. He represents two Papalexis henchmen in the same murder. Their verdict is not known yet.
“On the low end, it could be between 20 and 25 years.”
Papalexis, 37, is known here as the slick-tongued son of a Greek shipping tycoon who tried to start three fractional ownership clubs in Miami and Palm Beach. His promise was that would-be members who paid a $200,000 initiation fee would have access to a fleet of Rolls-Royces, a mansion in Palm Beach, a private island in the Bahamas and private jets.
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In the end, Papalexis failed miserably, with none of the clubs opening. A dozen people in this area are suing him for breach of contract. But he managed to ingraciate himself with the locals, even hosting former Prez Bill Clinton last year for a fund-raiser for then presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.
Papalexis was arrested by U.S. Marshals in November as he ate pizza with a mistress at Fire Rock Pizza downtown West Palm. He was extradited a month later to stand trial for the particularly violent beating and strangling death of 55-year-old fellow Greek Charalambos Christodoulides.
Papalexis testified he had no reason to kill Christodoulides. But the Crown’s prosecutors pointed out that Christodoulides – who was nicknamed Bambi – wouldn’t leave his modest room in a near-abandoned warehouse that Papalexis wanted to sell for redevelopment.
The victim was tortured and strangled before his body was stuffed in a auto mechanic’s pit.
A star witness at the trial included a South Florida porn actress, Rebecca DeFalco. In her profanity-laced testimony, she claimed Papalexis told her during pillow-talk at the Four Seasons Palm Beach that he killed a man. Papalexis said in court that he was just showing off.
“The jury must have been swayed by all his lies on the stand,” Gersel said. Another court observer told me Papalexis’ arrogance on the witness stand didn’t impress the jury much.
Another witness, Marie-Helene Jarry, was found dead in her Riviera Beach apartment before she flew to London to testify. Jarry was the married Papalexis’ long-time paramour, and she died during a vodka binge.
(Full disclosure: I was a witness in this trial and testified via closed-circuit television that Papalexis threatened to harm me and my family after I wrote this March 2007 story about his financial history.)
Unbelievable story - I remember when it was unfolding, I’m glad they got him. The question of how so many people were fooled by him still remains.
aGuyonClematis (aka: the serial commenter)
[...] http://www.page2live.com/2009/09/04/exclusive-papalexis-found-guilty-of-murder/Papalexis, 37, is known in the area for being the slick-tongued son of a Greek shipping tycoon who tried to start three fractional ownership clubs in Miami and Palm Beach. His promise was that would-be members who paid a $200000 … [...]
Met him a few times… seemed uber sleazy! Never seemed like a murderer… guess ya never know.
[...] http://www.page2live.com/2009/09/04/exclusive-papalexis-found-guilty-of-murder/Papalexis, 37, is known in the area for being the slick-tongued son of a Greek shipping tycoon who tried to start three fractional ownership clubs in Miami and Palm Beach. His promise was that would-be members who paid a $200000 … [...]
To bad they don’t put Gus Renney’s puck ass in jail with him, I guess your not allowed to have your girl friend in the prison cell with you. Gus Renny Sucks Moose Balls!!
When his sentencing hearing comes around, he better get the justice he deserves, if not, the U.K.’s justice system needs a major overhaul. If he gets a slap on the wrist that would be the tip of the iceberg over there, with them botching the whole Lockerbie bomber release. Although we all know he was exchanged in a business deal. Pathetic.
I met him once or twice. If he did this, did he think he would never get caught? From what I remembered, he walked around with a sense of entitlement. That’s very unfortunate because his actions are obviously catching up with him. Many have been directly or indirectly affected by his scams and wrongdoings. None of us are exempt of paying consequences.
mike P :
you dont know shit, uzz a nobody
“The victim was tortured and strangled before his body was stuffed in a auto mechanic’s pit.”
Um, I think you mean stuffed “INTO”. His body was not filled with stuffing, was it? So it was not “stuffed in a auto mechanic’s pit.” That would mean that in the pit, his body was stuffed.
And it’s “AN auto mechanic’s pit.”
Does no one proofread or copy edit The Post’s articles anymore? Lately it seems pretty clear that they do not.
Uh Oh; cancel all those plans for bullshit he was selling.
@ Pjay:
Perhaps you haven’t heard that newspapers are laying off people left and right just to keep the lights on? Or closing altogether? I’m sure there’s not many proofreaders or copy editors left at any paper in this country. The remaining ones surely don’t proof the online stuff. People don’t want to pay to get the news, and they don’t want to pay for advertising (craigslist) so this is what you and I get.
A wise man I know once said this regarding the law of karma: “You can do whatever you want, but eventually, you gonna pay”. Even the rich can’t get away with everything. You can only cheat the dealer so many times. Look at what happened to OJ.
A wise man once said about karma “You can do whatever you want, but you gonna pay”. You can only cheat the dealer so many times. Look at what happened to OJ.
To Pie (w)hole
Hey Gus: Payback’s a bitch ain’t it? And it would be pie Hole dumbass and you might want to shut yours.
YOU PPL ARE FOOLS. I WAS IN JAIL WITH THIS MAN.
THIS MAN HAS A HEART OF GOLD. MY PRAYERS ARE WITH HIM.
HE IS NOT GUILTY. FUCK THE JUSTICE SYSTEM WRONGFULLY JUDGING GODS PEOPLE. YOU WILL ALL SUFFER WHEN ITS TIME.
YOU SHALL SEE
realguy
You sound like you were his cell girl friend. Where you in jail for being stupid because you obviously didnt know him well. Taking it in the corn hole in prison for a week doesnt mean you knew this sleez ball. This made my Labor Day weekend.Thanks Thanos
yea. thank the internet that makes you so tuff to run your mouth like that with no consequence .
this man is innocent . fuck the justice system.
Oh welll shit happens… But least hell be out when hes 64.. Could be like Hugh Heffner after that
No. 6 “Z” - relating this to Lockerbie is imbecilic in the extreme. He’s been convicted and will face a life in jail, which makes you look a complete idiot.
Justice - what a great response to Realguy.
I listened to part of this trial via the Public Gallery in the “Old Bailey” and Papalexis was so arrogant throughout.
As Andy Freeze has pointed out already, the Lockerbie issue is a very rare occurence, and I’m confident that Papalexis will get a sentence that more than satisfies most of our hopes……
[...] the reporter (Palm Beach Post's Jose … http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/ Palm Beach & South Florida gossip & celebrity news | Jose … Sep 4, 2009 A star witness at the trial included a South Florida porn actress, Rebecca DeFalco. [...]
[...] Palm Beach & South Florida gossip & celebrity news | Jose …A star witness at the trial included a South Florida porn actress, Rebecca DeFalco. In her profanity-laced testimony, she claimed Papalexis told her during pillow-talk at the Four Seasons Palm Beach that he killed a man. … Read more [...]
[...] star he screwed (Rebecca DeFalco) and the reporter (Palm Beach Post’s Jose Lambiet) whom Papalexis threatened. Another witness never had the chance to testify — a mistress from Riviera Beach who — [...]
[...] A jury found Papalexis guilty Sept. 4, after a three-month trial that included a Palm Beach porn star as star witness and the alcohol poisoning death of another witness, Papalexis mistress Marie-Helene Jarry. [...]