Product Description

Some 30 years after the death of world-famous shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, the truth he never wanted divulged about his only son’s death is finally coming out. In his new book "The Deadly Sins of Aristotle Onassis", internationally renowned aviation attorney Stuart Speiser reveals documents Ari ordered hidden from public view showing he played a crucial role in the 1973 plane crash that killed his 24-year-old son Alexander.

At the time of Alex’s death, Ari was ruthless in publicly blaming both the CIA and Donald McCusker, a former NASA test pilot who was flying Ari’s private plane with Alex when it went down. McCusker, who survived, was at the controls auditioning for a job as Ari’s personal pilot. Speiser, who represented McCusker in the ensuing lawsuit against Ari, delves into previously suppressed areas of Aristotle Onassis’s personal and business life unearthing intriguing new details. This is the first book to show that once Ari found out he helped cause his beloved son’s death he lost the desire to live and willed himself to die--it was guilt, not grief, that killed him!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #138877 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 397 pages

Review
". . . Onassis’s "deadly sins" played a role in his son's death. . . and, [Speiser] produces a buried report backing his story." -- Kathimerini English Edition/International Herald Tribune

"As the former physician to Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, I enjoyed reading the details of their lifelong ‘one upmanship’." -- Dr. Isadore Rosenfeld, Medical Consultant, FOX News

"Bravo! Speiser found a way to breathe life into Onassis . . . so that we, the audience, know him through his journey." -- John P. Connell, Former Director, Screen Actors Guild

"Speiser's tale. . . sets the record straight on the mogul who ‘invented’ the Jet Set. This is a fascinating book. . ." -- John Austin, Hollywood Inside Syndicate

"The author has done a 5 star literary job. . . What a read!" -- Velma Daniels, Bookworm Review Syndicate

"The author paints a picture of the dwarfish megalomaniac who wooed Jackie Kennedy and destroyed his children with single-minded fury." -- Walter J. Boyne, Former Director, National Air & Space Museum

From the Publisher
In this definitive biography, Speiser also reveals how the rich, powerful and cunning Ari tried to cheat his famous wife Jackie Kennedy Onassis out of her legal portion of his estate; his torrid affair with opera diva Maria Callas in front of Jackie; how Ari devised numerous frauds to cheat the U.S. government out of millions in taxes; Ari's purchase of Monte Carlo and creating the "jet set"; and finally how Ari's all-consuming greed and quest for power ruined the lives of his children and ultimately destroyed him. In addition, this is the first book to analyze and challenge Peter Evans' claim in "Nemesis" that Onassis paid for the murder of Bobby Kennedy. "The Deadly Sins of Aristotle Onassis" is a fascinating celebrity morality tale and legal thriller.

About the Author
Attorney Stuart M. Speiser is internationally recognized as a pioneer in U.S. aviation law, having made numerous appearances on radio and tv, including NBC's Today show and the BBC. He has authored 53 books on law and business, many of which have been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and are used in law schools throughout the country. His trade books include Lawsuit, which was favorably reviewed by The New York Times, New York Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and Chicago Tribune.

A World War II bomber pilot and later a commercial pilot, Speiser successfully represented victims of most of the major air disasters of the 20th century, such as the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing. He also represented plaintiffs in many other famous cases, including Ralph Nader's suit against General Motors, the war of the Guccis, the Entebbe hijacking, the death of Roberto Clemente, and the suit against the estate of Aristotle Onassis which is described in this book.

Customer Reviews

THE DEADLY SINS OF Aristotle Onassis
I enjoyed the book because It contained several pages about two of my cousins, and because it is very interesting to get more of an inside account as to the lives of Aristotle Onassis (whom I've never cared for, and this made me feel even more dislike for the man) and Jackie Kennedy Onassis,( giving me a different perspective of her as well ,it made me feel that she was overly interested in money.)

It took me awhile to get thru the first few chapters as there was a great deal of technical information. Good information, but a little deep for someone not entirely interesting about planes and boats at that level. Again, further into the book there was lots of technical stuff that slowed me down.

If you have an interest in Aristotle Onassis and family and Jackie Kennedy Onassis this would be an interesting book and if you wanted to know the depth cause and result of his son dying in a crash, THIS is the book to read.

A tragic true story of wicked deeds reaping grim rewards
The Deadly Sins Of Aristotle Onassis is the true-life story of the famous Greek shipping tycoon who married Jackie Kennedy. He was the penultimate 20th century con man, able to charm the press even as he spun ever more elaborate frauds, from the illegal acquisition of war-surplus ships by falsifying ownership records to bribing Saudi Arabian officials for oil concessions to slaughtering whales in violation of international agreements to hiring Howard Hughes' hatchet man for wiretapping and intimidation, tax evasion, and more. Yet his life of deceit and control caught up with him, robbed his children of their happiness. The Deadly Sins Of Aristotle Onassis reveals how his boastful behavior and charade of invincibility ultimately trapped his son Alexander aboard his fatally defective personal airplane; how the guilt from his son's death caused him to end his own life prematurely; and how his legacy of criminal behavior lived on in his daughter, who tried to cheat Jackie Kennedy out of her rightful widow's share of his estate. A tragic true story of wicked deeds reaping grim rewards.