Surreal Fight over frozen artist's "body" of work
deb...@comcast.net
By LAURA ITALIANO and JAMIE SCHRAM
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NY Post
February 21, 2006 -- A quirky artist who adopted the name of Salvador
Dali - as well as the celebrated painter's surreal outlook - has
been on ice in a Manhattan morgue for three months in a bizarre dispute
over his remains.
Jeffrey Dali, 77, died Dec. 20, leaving neither a will nor money. His
legacy was dozens of remarkable oil paintings - the likes of which he
claimed to have sold to Frank Sinatra, Malcolm Forbes, Prince Rainier
and J. Paul Getty.
The lifelong ladies' man left no spouse, although he acknowledged two
children: 15-year-old Larissa Pisaturo - his only legally
acknowledged offspring - and 24-year-old Christopher Maldonado.
When Larissa's mom, Laura Pisaturo, announced she was going to have her
ex-boyfriend cremated, Maldonado went to court to demand that Dali be
kept in "a cold-storage environment" until a DNA sample could confirm
his paternity.
On Jan. 6, the two sides agreed each would conduct its own DNA test.
Dali would have enjoyed the spectacle.
"He loves it this way - he thrived on constant drama, and very
convoluted sick drama," Laura sighed.
Maldonado, an actor and writer from L.A., agreed. "This could be his
last practical joke," he said.
Dali, born Angelo Jeffrey DeLeonardis, had asked that his ashes be
scattered off Greenpoint, Brooklyn. But he'll remain on ice pending the
test results.