RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — When millionaire investment banker Ted Ammon was brutally beaten to death in his beach home in the Hamptons three years ago, police immediately suspected an electrician who had injected himself into the life of the victim's estranged wife and the middle of the couple's bitter divorce battle.

The investigators' belief that Daniel Pelosi was involved in the murder became firmer when detectives learned that Pelosi knew how to disable a secret surveillance system that used nine hidden cameras to record every move Ammon made, including trysts with his lover of several years.

If police still had doubts, they were erased when one witness told them Pelosi had outlined a plan a year before the killing to steal Ted Ammon's millions by going to his house to "bash his brains in" while he slept and then marrying the widow.

They sought an indictment when a former girlfriend came forward to report that Pelosi had told her that Ammon begged for his life and "cried like a bitch."

Story continues

advertisement

Pelosi's 2002 marriage to Generosa Ammon and 2003 divorce are matters of public record, but prosecutors are now trying to prove a circumstantial case that Pelosi, 41, delivered the 30 to 40 blows that fractured Ted Ammon's skull, neck, hands and ribs just three months earlier.

They're attempting to do that with Pelosi's alleged admissions and strong financial motives, but lack eyewitnesses and physical evidence to place him any closer than 38 miles from the crime scene on the night of the killing.

"Money is what he wanted, and money is what he was interested in," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Janet Albertson told jurors during her 75-minute opening statement Wednesday.

"The evidence will show that the one person who entered into Ted Ammon's life the year before the murder, with the express desire to take over his money, marry his wife and, if necessary, bash his brains in while he was sleeping, was that man," Albertson said, turning and pointing to Pelosi as she spoke.

A web of hatred

Defense attorney Gerald Shargel said that every witness who will testify about statements Pelosi allegedly made is motivated by hatred, including a jilted lover and a former boss whose wife had "a relationship" with Pelosi.

The defense will have to discredit the witnesses, but Pelosi's lawyers will rely primarily on phone records and crime scene evidence to raise reasonable doubt in the minds of jurors.

Prosecutor Janet Albertson told jurors the case was all about "more money."

According to Shargel, cellphone records will place Pelosi en route to his sister's home on Long Island at about the time that police Ammon's killer pulled the plug powering the hidden camera system.

"Danny Pelosi could not have committed this murder because by irrefutable, indisputable evidence, he was nowhere near East Hampton, New York," Shargel said.

Focusing on forensic evidence that Albertson did not address, Shargel said blood from an undetermined source was found in the hidden compartment leading to the security system hard drive. He also charged that police photographed and measured a pubic hair found on Ammon's shoulder, a hair that was inexplicably lost without being tested.

The pubic hair and the fact that Ammon's bed coverings and underwear were removed by the killer form the basis for a defense theory that Ammon may have been "conflicted" about his sexuality, as Schargel termed it.

The last person to hear from Ammon, his mistress Lori Finkel, will testify about a voice-mail message she received on Oct. 20, 2001, in which Ammon reported that he thought he was on a "gay beach" and was going home because some of the men made him nervous.

The phone message was left at 9:44 p.m. Neither side mentioned an estimated time of death during the opening statements, but the defense claims that telephone records indicate that the security system was disabled at about 2 a.m. and that Pelosi had yet to arrive at his sister's home in Center Moriches, which is situated 38 miles west of East Hampton.

"There's plenty of circumstantial evidence here, but let me tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it is circumstantial evidence that raises reasonable doubt," Shargel said.

He added later, "The witnesses will say what they will say ... but I go back to irrefutable, indisputable facts."

An international high life

Albertson began her opening statement with a lengthy description of the lavish lifestyle the Ammons lived, including ownership of a mansion in England, two townhouses in Manhattan and the beach house in the Hamptons.

Ted Ammon's net worth was estimated at $80 million when he died, but Generosa Ammon believed he had stashed away $300 million and was hiding it from her during their bitter divorce proceeding, Albertson said.

Gerald Shargel, left, with his co-counsel Paul Bergman, argued that all the state's witnesses have reason to hate Daniel Pelosi.

Although the Ammons had tentatively agreed on a structured settlement that would have paid Generosa Ammon $25 million in installments, she and Pelosi had run up huge bills that required immediate cash. Among the debts were a $300,000 bar bill at a swank New York hotel and a $3 million construction loan for a townhouse renovation that would require an additional $4 million to $6 million to complete, the prosecutor said.

"The case is very simple. It's about more money," Albertson said.

If convicted of the sole charge of second-degree murder, Pelosi faces 25 years to life in prison.

But even if acquitted, Pelosi will not be walking out of the courtroom. Unbeknownst to the jury hearing evidence at his murder trial, Pelosi was indicted this week on 16 new charges stemming from alleged jailhouse threats against Albertson's children and attempts to intimidate witnesses and influence jurors.