Elton John Sees Red

Elton at the Sydney Opera House

The grand old man of pop music Sir Elton John declared war on those who stigmatised AIDS on Thursday night as he threw a switch to bathe the Sydney Opera House in a brilliant red light to launch World AIDS Day.

"Fascists and idiots" he called them while calling on governments worldwide to increase funds to combat the disease now that there are over 34 million sufferers.

On Friday his husband David Furnish flew out to the USA for medical reasons leaving dad Elton behind with baby Zachary who has 2 full time nannies.

Tonight Elton will be appearing at the Hope Estate in the Hunter Valley.

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 Great Minds Think Alike # 1
 Further to our story below about the opening of the new Louis Vuitton boutique in George Street, Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery gives his own version of the event here.

Brush With Fame

Anyone who is a regular at press conferences or celebrity soirees in Sydney is used to the sight of Richard Simpkin.

He and an odd collection of fans of fame gather at entrances to parties to get autographs or photos. The assembled paparazzi usually swear to murder them when they momentarily stop the progress of the star du jour for a signature.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the concept of autograph hunting. These fans like everyone and no-one.
Sometimes catching snippets of their conversation can be illuminating. They never discuss what Cate Blanchett or Lady Ga Ga was wearing or their work - just how easy or difficult it was to get their signature. The Shuttle has questioned some of them at times and often they don't even know what the star's latest offering is. They heard they will be in town or at some event and they religiously turn up.


At the Australian premiere of Puss In Boots on Sunday with Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek there was the lady who always gets a sleb to sign her Teddy Bear for 'charity'. She never seems to be able to tell us what charity but she almost busts a piston with excitement when she scores.

Another stopped appearing about 4 years ago when his supply of Polaroid film dried up. Sadly his collection of celebrity autographed snaps of stars done on his Polaroid camera over 30 years has begun to fade just as he was getting into his stride.

And missing on Sunday was Richard Simpkin and it took a perusal of the UK Guardian newspaper to remember what he told us as we went into a party a few months ago-a gallery was having an exhibition of his photographs of he and various celebrities. In Liverpool in the UK of all places.

Simpkin published  a book of these photos Richard & Famous about 5 years ago and it's difficult to contemplate who would actually want a book of a stranger with a variety of famous people (most champing at the bit to flee from him). He admitted there were still boxes of them under his bed. He's bound to have carted a few to the UK.

Is it art, an obsession, an illness, creepy, weird ?. Who knows? The comments section following the newspaper's article says all these things.
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Now the Guardian is getting in on the act and is requesting their readers to send in their own 'brush with fame' snaps (they'll be sorry !) with a prize of-wait for it- a ticket to the 'VIP' opening night of Richard's Liverpool exhibition in January (bus fare included).

All photographs by Richard Simpkin (and assorted passersby)

Elton John Goes Potty

The Hope Estate in the beautiful Hunter Valley produces not only excellent wines but has become the venue of choice for visiting performers including Neil Diamond, The Who, Whitney Huston, James Taylor and Carole King. Last week Dolly Parton sang there and this weekend Elton John gives two concerts.

Any excuse to visit the Hunter should be grabbed and vintner Michael Hope by combining with promoters like Michael Chugg has won big time with this concept and is cleaning up. Over the past year he has built a brand new amphitheatre and early next year has George Michael and Rod Stewart in his line-up of star acts.

Hope Estate

Now the local Cessnock Council wants in on the action. Visitors to the Hunter always marvel at the glorious landscape but the roads are a real shocker and full of potholes. Over the past month the council has taken heed of local’s complaints and has been discussing a $50,000 levy to be charged to the concert promoters which would add an extra $3 to ticket prices.

The powerful Tourism Transport Forum says it’s an “absolutely appalling” idea : “you have a council that’s reaped a benefit from having a vineyard on its doorstep for decades and now it wants to tax people for having fun”, seemingly ignoring the notion that Hope has now over taken the Sydney Entertainment Centre for staging large concerts.

Small local business owners are backing the council and one who wished to remain anonymous and who says he represents 30 others told the Shuttle today:

“We have no problem with the Hope Estate concerts but they bring an extra 35,000 people to the Hunter on concert days and few other businesses see a benefit from that. The visitors spend all day at the Hope Estate which controls all their spending. Food and drinks must be purchased at Hope. Hampers cost about $100 and some tickets cost up to $699. The thousands of extra buses and cars are causing havoc on the already creaking roads and we are expected to subsidize the roads for Hope”

Looks like this one may be destined for the courts.

Shock & Awe At The Black & White

We always knew local party girl Sharon Sargeant would make a memorable entrance to the ritzy Black & White Charity Committee Ball last Friday evening at the Sydney Town Hall.

The first indication was when her limo pulled up at the entrance in the 'buses only' lane, sending an exasperated bus driver into a frenzy of horn blaring. That suddenly ceased  as she clambered out of the vehicle and smiled sweetly at the bus driver.
 All became clear as she alighted the Town hall steps and a major wardrobe malfunction was revealed (we've had to censor it for our more sensitive readers). There was spontaneous applause from the assembled onlookers and one Scot's bagpiper momentarily faltered and hit some very odd notes.

When Sharon and her escort, the famous private eye Frank Monte took to the dance floor all eyes at the front row tables were transfixed.

Today we spoke to a member of the charity committee to get their comments on the spectacle.

Her reply :
 "We just loved having Sharon attend the ball. She really livened up the evening. And Frank is always more than welcome considering he drops a bundle on raffle tickets" 

"Mind you one distinguished gentleman was very put out and couldn't stop talking about her and her fairly exposed assets. In fact he was so shocked he walked the length of the hall past her table at least seven times to check on the outrage until his wife put a stop to it."

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Australia's Got Talent winner, 14 year old Jack Vidgen takes to the stage tonight for his first appearance at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas-possibly the youngest ever performer to appear there.

Jack has been telling his friends he was bowled over when walking down a street in Vegas to suddenly see his face flashed  on a giant TV screen announcing his appearance.

Following the stage show at Caesar's Palace where various Talent winners will appear, some British singer called Elton John has to win over the audience.

 Not only has Vidgen's premier CD now been released in the USA, he has become a major star in Brazil with Sony rushing to get copies of his album to his fans there.

Love Is Dead With Accused Back Behind Bars

Despaillieres with Elton John & Peter Ikin

A report in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald confirms that Alexandre Despallieres, suspected of being involved in the sudden death of popular Australian Warner Music executive Peter Ikin has been re-arrested and is back behind bars.

As the Shuttle exclusively reported Despallieres was released on bail in March this year after spending ten months in jail while Ikin's death is being investigated. Ikin, a friend of Rod Stewart and Elton John died in a Paris hotel in 2008 not long after marrying Despallieres in a civil ceremony.

The 42 year old Frenchman had Ikin's body cremated and obtained probate on Ikin's estate in a London court and set out on a spending spree purchasing  luxury sports cars for he and his co-accused Jeremy Billen.

A relative of Ikin's  challenged the validity of that will and a settlement was reached out of court with Despallieres relinquishing his claim on Ikin's $20M estate.

Enter Elton John's ex-manager John Reid a long time friend of Ikin's who commissioned an investigation in France which resulted in the arrest of Despallieres and Billen.

According the SMH article Despallieres who once had a hit record L'amour a Mort (Love Is Dead) in France had failed to meet the strict conditions of his bail and temporarily went missing, finally being arrested by French police who traced him via his mobile phone.
During his 6 months release he had launched himself into Paris nightlife and has been posting videos onto his YouTube account . He also has a photographic website that has snaps of him in happier days with Ikin, John Reid, Elton John and others.

For now, Despallieres is back again in Fresnes Prison, a gloomy establishment outside Paris ( once run by the Gestapo) while a magistrate considers the evidence against him.

Only The Best

It's one of the world's finest champagnes so when Laurent Perrier announced they were launching two new versions the Shuttle felt that it would be only good manners to help them out.

Sepia is a relatively new bar and restaurant in downtown Sussex Street not far from Chinatown and it's quickly developed a  reputation for it's atmosphere and fine food presided over  by Martin Benn whose credentials are impeccable. Recently from the Boathouse, Glebe's top eatery but formerly Benn was head chef at Tetsuyas.

nice-Natarsha Belling at Laurent Perrier

And Tetsuyas -as anyone worth his salt knows, has received more world awards than one can poke a fork at including being voted amongst the fifty best restaurants in the world for 8 years.  Owner and chef Tetsuya Wakuda has now reached God-like status in his birth country Japan where he commands audiences in the thousands when he makes an appearance there. One of his regular customers David Bowie makes side trips to Sydney just to eat at Tetsuyas.

Georgia Stenmark & Gretel Packer at Sepia

So Marin Benn has been part of that magic and has now brought it to his own establishment, aided by partner Vicki Wild in a New York  type brasserie with Japanese and French influenced food that is quite simply, sensational.

But more on that champagne: Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut and Brut Millesime 2002 which are really quite superb and were served in copious amounts at the tasting.

Taste is far too personal to describe the exquisiteness of these two bubblys. Just go and grab a bottle now as they are on sale at $140 and $120 respectively. You will definitely not be disappointed.
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We've just scored a pair of tickets for Elton John's show at the Hope Estate at Polkolbin in the Hunter Valley in December.

This is how spectaculars always should have been-at one of the world's finest vineyards. Hope have really hit the jackpot with this brilliant concept by joining with promoter Michael Chugg , so much so they have now built their own 19000 seat amphitheatre. Recent shows have included The Who and Neil Diamond.

Pepper's Convent

It makes for one of the most pleasant weekends- a two hour drive to the glorious Hunter (especially in December), stay at one of the cheery hotels and guest houses (we always stay at Peppers, either the guesthouse or the Convent) and dinner at one of dozens of fantastic restaurants in the area and then on to the concert.

But you have to book now!. It will be sold out by September. Book here 
 ## And we will have 2 tickets to be given as prizes for Elton's just announced concert at Star City-there will only be 2000 seats !. More later.

Peter Ikin Accused Gets Bail

ALEXANDRE DESPALLIERES the French husband of the late Australian music identity Peter Ikin has been granted bail in a French court.
As we reported recently a bail application in February was refused but now Despallieres has walked free from Fresnes prison but must report to police each day.

John Reid,Alexandre Despallieres & Peter Ikin

Ikin was the former head of Warner's Music Australia and had re-ignited an affair with Despallieres with the pair marrying in a civil ceremony. Shortly after, Ikin fell to his death down a flight of stairs. Despallieres gained probate on Ikin's $20M estate in a London court and moved into his Chelsea home but that will was successfully overturned by Ikin's family.

 Elton John's former manager, John Reid an old friend of Ikin's hired detectives to investigate the manner of his friend's death and not long after Despallieres's was charged by French police.

 As our picture shows, in former days Reid and Despallieres appeared to be good friends.

Prince Alfred

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# A telephone call reputedly from the new premier Barry O'Farrell's office informs us that Henry James O'Farrell who attempted to assassinate Prince Alfred in 1868 was "not a relation of the premier although Mr O'Farrell remains fiercely proud of his Irish roots".

Asked to comment on Prince Andrew's "appointment" as NSW Governor (our invention) he responded : "I have nothing to say about that ". Strange.

Aussie Bitch Fest Shocks Brits!

Viewers of Britain's Dancing On Ice 2011 are up in arms over Australian choreographer Jason Gardiner's remarks to contestants. Jason is a judge on the show.They reckon he's far too bitchy and mean. Some have even started face book pages to get Gardiner sacked although few people have joined.

While Jason makes panelists like X Factor's Simon Cowell  look tame, he's standard fare for Australian TV where he honed his art.

Visitors from the UK and USA are often shocked at the sheer bitchiness that passes for normal discourse between colonials.

Where this was inherited from we aren't too sure.  It's been speculated that  it developed in the first hundred years as working class Irish, East End and other British convicts developed a sort of secret language to speak derogatorily about their British jailers without them understanding.

Gardiner trained at the Australian Ballet School and New York's Steps academy and the Actor's Centre in London. He's choreographed West End shows and worked  with Kylie Minogue, Elton John and Shirley Bassey as well as appearing on dozens of English TV shows.

He's actually a nice chap off stage without a hint of the bitch about him and his act is pretty deliberate.
Producers must absolutely love him for the ratings.

Jason follows in the footsteps of local performers like the late Bernard King-one of the nicest and kindest people to meet in person but wow-could he dish it out when on the judging panel of a talent quest. Beneath Dame Edna's mega star exterior runs one of the most vicious and bitchy dialogues ever uttered by man.

Below are 3 videos- one is Jason Gardiner ticking of competitors. It's pretty tame stuff compared to local shows.

The following is the wonderful Bernard King who could talk through mud and have an audience collapsing in tears of laughter. He demolishes a hapless contestant on the 80's Pot Luck (fast forward is recommended)

The third is really how the contestants should settle matters - take a leaf out of broadcaster Ron 'Won'Casey page when he got stuck into former pop star Normie Rowe on the Midday Show.
(note the wonderful and very British Diana 'Bubbles' Fisher wife of Sir Humphrey Fisher-in the background saying "no no no!")

Dancing On Ice 2011 Jason Gardiner offensive comments to Karen Barber

Versace Mafia Murder Claim Heats Up

News comes that there may be some startling revelations about the mighty Versace fashion empire soon.

Earlier we reported on the new book "Metastasi" by respected Italian investigative reporter Gianluigi Nuzzi in which he said that the feared and  notorious Italian Calabrian mafia N'Drangheta had murdered the fashion house creator and designer Gianni Versace. The book has become a huge best-seller in Europe and the Anti-Mafia office in Rome immediately announced an investigation. Nuzzi's source was a good one- a former mafia godfather turned whistle-blower who a Rome mafia investigator said had always provided true and solid evidence which had helped convict dozens of mafia criminals.

Nuzzi's claims were similar to those made many years before by the Australian private eye Frank Monte who worked for Gianni in New York investigating employees who Versace thought was on the fiddle. Monte published an auto-biography The Spying Game which included the mafia murder tale and all hell broke loose.

He soon found himself in the Australian Federal Court being sued by Santo and Donatella Versace in a bizarre case where they spent millions of dollars to have Monte's book pulped. Ironically when Monte re-published his book without the mafia murder claims the publicity from the trial helped it become a best seller in Europe.

As we exclusively reported- Donatella while replying under oath via satelite and surrounded by lawyers- to questions from Monte's barrister Clive Evatt QC said she had "never used drugs" yet just a few years later she said in an interview in Italian Vogue which was reprinted throughout the world that she had been addicted to illicit drugs long before and after her brother's murder and that friends like Sir Elton John had helped her go to a clinic to recover.

At home Monte had been pilloried by the local media who hung off every word from the two Versaces seemingly bedazzled by their celebrity status.

 Not one of those who then wrote so forcefully of how Monte had allegedly defamed the good Versace name bothered to follow up on how Donatella appears to have thumbed her nose at Australia's highest court. Either she lied in court or she lied to Vogue. Santo Versace said he would sue anyone who repeated Gianluigi Nuzzi's claims. A spokesperson for Nuzzi's office says no lawsuit has been forthcoming.

The Shuttle can now exclusively report that an associate of the Versace company has been arrested in Italy and another high profile one is under investigation.

To be continued....

The Vanity Fair Academy Award's Party



Selena Gomez & Justin Beiber



It's the most sought after invite at the Academy Awards ceremony. The Vanity Fair Oscar's party hosted by editor Graydon Carter.

Most of those attending the awards either rush off first to the Governor's Ball and then, if invited to the Vanity Fair bash or Elton John's Aid's benefit. The big plus at the Vanity Fair do is that they invite all the older Hollywood legends so it becomes a mix of ageing and newer starlets, sporting stars, new and old music identities and the real Hollywood power brokers like Summer Redstone  and director Oliver Stone.



Joan Collins in that dress that sent her to hospital





Sandra Bullock



Rupert & Wendi Murdoch

Tom Ford



Chris Hemsworth




New York's top society snapper (and the most famous in the USA) Patrick McMullan as an associate editor at Vanity Fair has exclusive access to the party.

 Here are some of his snaps. There is much more at David Patrick Columbia's New York Social Diary

all photographs copyright : Patrick McMullan Inc.


Serena Williams



Mick Jagger







Murder Suspect Remains In Jail



Alexander Despallières

 The French husband of the late Australian Peter Ikin, Alexander Despallières remains in a cell  in the gloomy Fresnes jail after an application for bail in the Paris Court of Appeal  on the 18th January was rejected.

Ikin was a much loved music industry figure who was pals with a host of big names like Elton John and Rod Stewart. He died after a suspected heart attack and a fall down a flight of stairs.

However suspicions were raised especially after Ikin's body was cremated without family permission and Despallières managed to gain probate on a will he presented to a London court naming him as the sole beneficiary to Ikin's estate.

Enter John Reid, fiery Scot's show business entrepreneur and friend of Ikins who hired investigators to look into the matter. An examination of Ikin's stored blood showed alarming amounts of paracetamol that could have been fatal. Despallières was charged with Ikin's murder and with forging his will.

An alleged accomplice Jeremy Billien was charged with uttering forged documents in respect of the will that Despallières had used to gain Ikin's reputed $20 Million fortune. Billien and another were named as witnesses to the purported will. Billien remains on bail.

Adding a sinister note to the case was a letter from a relative to the French prosecutor alleging that 5 people including his parents and grandparents had all died in Despallièrs' sole presence. The case is expected to be back in court at the beginning of April when Despallières will have the noted French lawyer Olivier Metzner defending him.

Despallières enjoyed brief fame as a pop star in France and had ambitions to develop a TV series. Here is a video we have uncovered of an audition where he appears.

Did Donatella Versace Tell Fibs in a Sydney Court ?

The Social Shuttle attended an end of year get-together of city lawyers on Friday afternoon and talk  about the Versace / Mafia claims arose.

 

Respected Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi has just published a book Metastasi about a notorious branch of the Calabrian Mafia called the  Ndrangheta. 

Nuzzi says the annual turnover of the Ndrangheta is around €44Billion ( $A59B) and can "influence free trade between countries". 

Nuzzi  says he called his book Metastasi ( 'growing cancer') after the wife of his main informant died of cancer.  Much of Nuzzi's information comes from Giuseppi de Bela a former Ndrangheta godfather and supergrass who turned on the Mafia after the death of his wife and the realization that Ndrangheta was a growing cancer on Italian life. 

The journalist and his co-author Claudio Antonelli believe the Calabrian Mafia can only be defeated with the same forces used to defeat the terrorism of Al Quaeda.

The 2 writers submitted their manuscript to Italy's Anti-Mafia office in Rome. They've opened an investigation into the book's claims as they say di Bella has never been wrong with his information in the past and he has been instrumental in helping jail hundreds of mafia members.

Nuzzi & di Bela say that the fashion designer Gianni Versace, gunned down in front of his Miami house in 1998 was killed by a Mafia hit man and not the serial killer Andrew Cunanan.  di Bella says Versace was murdered because  he owed the Ndrangheta millions of dollars and the mob were laundering up to $200M a year via the Versace fashion empire.

Which brings us back to Friday drinks. One of the  lawyers worked on a legal matter nine years ago in the Federal Court when Gianni's siblings Donatella and Santo Versace  hauled the international private eye Frank Monte into court over a book  The Spying Game in which the PI basically made the same claims as di Bela.

Clive Evatt QC

Monte had worked for Gianni investigating thefts the designer thought where happening inside his empire.

The Versaces spent $4.3M pursuing Monte and won their case. 25000 copies of Monte's book were pulped.

Donatella Versace gave evidence via a video link from Italy, surrounded by lawyers. Under questioning from Clive Evatt QC, defending Monte, the subject of drugs surfaced. Evatt asked Donatella if she had ever taken illicit drugs. 

She emphatically denied that she had ever touched an illicit drug in her life.

Fast forward to 2005 and the May edition of US Vogue. Donatella is being interviewed. and reveals that she has been "addicted to drugs for 18 years"

She said "cocaine used to be a lot of fun . . . I had the best time of my life . You just feel more awake, more aware. Unfortunately, it doesn't continue like that. So I just kept doing it, every time I was in New York, in Los Angeles, mostly at parties," the then 50-year-old designer revealed. 

Donatella said she only refused drugs when Gianni was murdered in 1997  but the break didn't last long.

"Gianni wasn't there. I had to organize my company, my family. My whole life changed completely. I didn't even think about doing it. But it wasn't as though I was going to stop my behavior forever. I wish I had."   

Then she tried a new trick: she began mixing cocaine with Valium and Rohypnol. 

  

Says Donatella ".. if I wouldn't use the cocaine to have the fake happiness, I wouldn't be able to go to those people, because I'm so unhappy, so lonely, because I hate myself."  Friends including Sir Elton John persuaded her to enter rehab.

"And what does this mean" we asked our legal friend. 

"The word perjury springs to mind" was the reply."She was using drugs for years before and after her brother was murdered yet it appears she lied under oath".

Could Donatella end up back in a Sydney court to explain her denial ten years ago to Evatt QC that she "had never  ever used drugs" ?.

"Watch this space" said our legal eagle, "there is much more happening than that " was his enigmatic reply.

Santo Versace has emphatically denied the claims about Gianni's murder and that the Versace label was used to launder Mafia money. Gianluigi Nuzzi says he would have no problem defending his book and the claims in court.

 Will Frank Monte return to the Federal Court to have the orders lifted that banned him from discussing the Versace revelations that are now in the public domain ?. Last night he hadn't returned our calls.


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Harpo Coughs Up :

the Shuttle has heard that the security guards laid off during the Big O tour of Australia will be paid for the days they worked after all.
 

The minders were relieved of their duties when one entered Oprah Winfrey's Sydney hotel room to check for intruders. It seems they had signed strict confidentiality clauses when hired to look after her which forbade them either engaging Oprah in conversation or entering her hotel suite.

So that's a Merry Christmas to the 12 from the great woman who took Oz by storm.

The Versace Mafia Claims & The Australian Link

The story is so hot in Italy that the media there has gone into meltdown. On December 2nd  respected investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published his new book Metastis; A Chronicle of 'Blood & Money".

Gianluigi Nuzzi

In Metastis Mafia godfather Giuseppe di Bella, now a police supergrass says that fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered by the notorious Calabrian Mafia  N’drangheta, a little known but feared group with close ties to South American drug lords.
di Bella says that he and his fellow mobsters laundered billions of dollars for the South Americans by filtering it through legitimate businesses and one of them was the Versace fashion empire to the tune of $200M a year. 

He claims that Gianni Versace was taking so much money out of his fashion business and taking so much cocaine he was beginning to believe the money belonged to him. di Bella says a hit was ordered on Versace to teach others a lesson.

And he says the reported killer of Versace, Andrew Cunanan was a patsy and was himself murdered by the Mafia.

Giancarlo Capaldo, of the Rome based anti Mafia department, said: 'We have opened a file into what Di Bella says - he is an informer and his information in the past has always proved correct.'

In a statement the Versace family said: 'The declarations from the informer are false and shameful.

Gianni Versace, whose celebrity friends included Diana, Princess of Wales, Elton John,  Madonna and Naomi Campbell was shot at close range in the back of the head on the steps of his Miami mansion on July 15, 1997 in what detectives at the time speculated had the hallmarks of a mob hit.

Cunanan was found dead  several days later on a Miami houseboat. It was claimed to be a suicide.

Donatella

But the Versace Mafia claims are not new.
                                                                               
Ten years ago Santo and Donatello Versace took Australian private eye Frank Monte to court in Sydney after he published a book, The Spying Game in which he detailed the very same claims. The Versaces won their case and the book was pulped.

Frank Monte

While few questions were asked at the time about why the Versaces  bothered coming all the way to the Sydney Supreme Court to take on Monte something quite different was happening in Italy.

Numerous Italian publications said that  it was common knowledge that Gianni Versace and the Mafia were ln bed together.

While Monte was on the receiving end of criticism in the Australian media, the opposite was happening in Italy. He was being hailed as a hero for exposing the Versace empire as a fashion fairy tale just too good to be true. They treated him as the underdog in the Sydney trial. Meanwhile Italian newspapers published photographs of Gianni leaving by boat from his lavish villa on Lake Como accompanied by known Mafia members. 

The local Australian media has all but ignored the di Bello story but in Italy, the UK and the USA the story is gaining traction. At least 2 major British newspapers are to shortly publish new details about the Versace empire and both have contacted Monte.

Now the Shuttle has seen a copy of a manuscript written not long after the Versace shooting-The Miami Jigsaw. The author received several credible death threats at the time and decided not to publish. The manuscript contains  never before published details of the Versace and Cunanan deaths in Miami, much of it sourced from detectives who worked on the case.

There are details that possibly didn't seem that important at the time but with  the Gianluigi Nuzzi book now become very pertinent.

Such as the fact that ownership of the houseboat on which Andrew Cunanan's body was found , linked back to a known Mafia member and was a base for mob members. Despite the well publicised details of Cunanan's trip across the USA from California to Miami on a serial murder spree, no publication at the time mentioned  his stay in Las Vegas before the trip began.

In FBI records there are details of Cunanan receiving large sums of money  in Vegas despite having no job or income with photos of him meeting with mob members. In police reports the pathologist who examined Cunanan's body said that the claim that he had died 8 days after Versace was dubious and that he may have in fact, died before Versace.

Witnesses say the man who shot Versace yelled a known Mafia curse in Italian. Cunanan did not speak the language. Nor did any of those witnesses identify Cunanan as the shooter. Beside Gianni's bod lay a dead pigeon, a known Mafia symbol.

In The Miami Jigsaw it's clear that Miami police held little faith in the Cunanan murder theory, particularly as Versace had been killed in a classic Mafia style hit in broad daylight.   Added to this was the manner in which Cunanan had killed all his other victims-shooting them front on while facing them or torturing them first.

The book has  FBI records to show the federal agency thought similarly.

Last night Santo Versace confronted  Giuseppe di Bella on Italian television and poured scorn on di Bella's claims. But when di Bella said that he had met Santo on a number of occasions which Santo denied, he revealed intimate details of Santo's home. Today talk back radio in Rome was running hot with callers on the side of Giuseppe di Bella.

Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi talks on Italian TV about the N’drangheta and the Versace murder.

Tracey Emin's Dud Dinner Party

It was billed as the dinner party of the social season for art connoisseurs. A chance to meet and sup with the

enfant terrible and leading light of the YBAs ( Young British Artists) Tracey Emin at just $750 a snip.

Sadly it wasn't to be. There were 5 takers in all. The dinner was cancelled due to 'lack of interest'.

Art consultant Amanda Love was to host the bash at her Woollahra home where she is also showing Emin's latest works. The art show, along with the cancelled dinner is to raise money to benefit the collection of contemporary Australian art at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Emin has been in town for a fortnight now and her art is for sale but you have to go through Ms Love to purchase a work. Or know the right people who know Ms Love and wangle and invitation and you will be granted the rare privilege of being able to purchase a Emin art piece.

 Tracey Emin swept to prominence in 1999 when she was nominated for Turner Prize after exhibiting My Bed which was apparently her own unmade bed surrounded by condoms and blood stained underwear.

My Bed

Her wikipedia entry says she was "raped at the  age of 13 . In a "loosely autobiographical" film to be made of this event she only asked, in true documentary fashion, that "The extras will all come from Margate and I'll hire a church hall there to hold auditions. I'll ask each of the girls: 'What is it you really hate about your mum?'."

It's no surprise that Elton John and George Michael are collectors of her work.
Tracey, who returns to the UK early next week has given 2 talks-at the NSW Art Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Others who may wish to view her works will have to track down Mizz Love's house and press their noses up against her living room window.,

French Accused Murderer at the Playboy Mansion



Peter Ikin

A video has surfaced of accused murderer Alexandre Despallieres partying at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles with his co-accused Jeremy Bilien.

A French magistrate is currently investigating the death of much loved, former Sydney based Warner's Music boss Peter Ikin who died in 2008 after falling down a flight of stairs in a Paris hotel.

A good friend of Ikin's and the former manager of Elton John and dancer Michael Flatley, John Reid  hired a French lawyer to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding Ikin's accident.

In July Despallieres and his former French-American wife Laetitia Nail, Bilien and an associate Vincent Bray , were arrested by French police on suspicion of murdering Ikin to claim his fortune. Bray has been released whilst the others languish in Paris's Fresne Prison.

For his defense Despallieres has high flying French lawyer Olivier Metzner on his side.

Bigger Than Elton John's Christies Sale

After finally departing the Byron Bay mansion, Cedar Springs (left) in Possum Creek, built by actor Paul Hogan, British born banker Duncan Mount (right) and his horse mad wife Sally are auctioning off their fabulous collection of antiques at Shapiro's Auction gallery in Queen Street Woollahra on October 26th.

Hogan built the house for his 1990 wedding to actress and Crocodile Dundee co-star Linda Kozlowski, However he rarely visited the property and it was on the market for 10 years before the Mounts moved into the 25 room palace.

The Mounts have taken up temporary residence in a $3.5M penthouse in Bellevue Hill, built by would be property developer Gary Baker who has fallen on hard-times with the collapse of his property empire. Baker and his wife Karin Upton Baker, boss of Hermes were neighbours of the Mounts in Sydney.

Last year the Mounts began to sub-divide Possum Creek with it's hundreds of rolling acres of prime land and forests that back onto the uber resort of Byron. Each of the plots sold for $2M as the couple prepared to enter the Sydney social scene again.

The furniture collection was housed in Byron Bay and the couple's equestrian centre on the northern beaches at Ingleside which they sold for $7.3M earlier this year. The remainder of the Possum Creek property with Cedar Springs is priced at $7.9M.

Emigrating from Hong Kong in 1996, Duncan and Sally paid $15M for the Spanish style mansion Boomerang in Elizabeth Bay, selling six years later for $20.5M . The glamorous pair were a regular sight around the Eastern Suburbs as they ferried their kids to school in a Bentley Continental convertible.

The Mounts threw some memorable parties at Boomerang including one for Jennifer Lopez.
The house was also featured in the film Mission Impossible 2 and Tom Cruise offered to buy the house from the Mounts as his Sydney base for he and then wife Nicole Kidman.

Duncan mentioned over drinks to the Shuttle one night that he was slightly miffed that Cruise's film crew clambered through Boomerang for 2 weeks and although Tom promised him an invite to the movie's premiere-the invitation never arrived.

Auctioneer Andrew Shapiro says : ''This is the biggest collection that has ever come on the market, and it is all museum-quality,'' ''It's even bigger than the Elton John collection which sold at Christies in 2003.''

Amongst the 250 lots there are designs by modern artists like Andre Dubreuil, Mark Brazier-Jones and Scott Cunningham with works cast in bronze, finished in ornamental glass plus paintings and a range of traditional antiques, mainly French, Italian and English from the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection is estimated to sell for about $500,000.

You can view and drool over the pieces at the Shapiro's on-line catalogue here.

Meanwhile the woes of the Mount's close former neighbours, Gary and Karin Upton Baker continue as around the same time as the Mount Collection sale, their beautiful Elizabeth Bay duplex which is directly opposite Boomerang goes up for auction.

The scene for parties for the likes of Giorgio Armani and
Elle McPherson, the property has a 3 car garage with a turn table-now empty. The Upton Baker's Bentley and Rolls Royce Phantom having been sold to satisfy creditors.


Boomerang which featured in Mission Impossible 2