Leona Helmsley Trial, 1989, Joseph Papin Courtroom Collection, Library of Congress #PR 13 CN 2015.128.1690
The following is from the article, ‘Her Majesty,’ by Michael Schulman (The New Yorker, May 23, 2016):
“Signs have pointed to a comeback for [the story of] another eighties billionaire supervillain: Leona Helmsley. The hotel empress, whose iron-fisted management style earned her the nickname the Queen of Mean, grew up in Brooklyn, the daughter of a hatmaker, and married the real-estate developer Harry B. Helmsley in 1972. In ad campaigns, she cast herself as the nitpicking monarch of the Helmsley Palace Hotel (‘It’s the only Palace in the world where the Queen stands guard’), while the tabloids fed on tales of her berating and firing employees for minor infractions. In 1988, after using company funds to renovate their Connecticut mansion, she and Harry were charged with income-tax evasion, and she served eighteen months in prison. At the trial, a housekeeper claimed to have overheard her saying, ‘We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.’ When she died, in 2007, she left twelve million dollars in a trust for her Maltese, Trouble.”
Cartoon by Joseph Papin, Leona Helmsley Trial, 1989 (original in the Joseph Papin Courtroom Collection, Library of Congress #PR 13 CN 2015.128.3292). Cartoon text:
SOUTHERN DISTRICT THEATRE
“Don’t wrap it, just slip it in an envelope.”
SCANDALS OF ‘89
RINGMASTER LEONA “Our Evita” HELMSLEY
Getting and $pending – Cast of Thousands
Fawning, sniveling, groveling, their way into your hearts.
Hear the Lackey Chorus – See the Flunkey Flounce – The Hireling Hop.
See Wimpy Accountants on Parade – The Fabulous Eunuch Palace Choir
Produced by the United States Government – Directed by Jim DeVita and Staff
FDJ [Federal District Judge] John Walker Presiding
BILLION DOLLAR QUEEN: Singing
‘There’s no business like my business”
“Look for the Silver …. Lining.”
“Love me or leave me”
“All I want is …. All …. Get it up or get out”
“Kiss my …..Foot”
“Mine alone” and other favorites that will grab you.
[To the left:]
Wild about HARRY
Like a father to so many.
Husband to two
Landlord to thousands.
[Left banner:]
It’s ‘give’ to ‘get’ in the clutch, claw and clamp
Saga of Lord Leona; Queens of Things
Stomping and crunching her way up the Golden Calf.
[Right banner:]
Special appearance
The IRS with those Fantastic Ferret .. Fact Finders! In their
‘Rousing Smash, We’ve Got Numbers for You’ – plus ‘Deep Doo Doo & You”
Special Matinee rates for the Little People
“Revenge of the Nerds”
Vassals Voice
The caption reads: “Gerald Feffer makes final defense plea to federal jury hearing tax fraud case against Leona Helmsley.” (Article by Larry Sutton, courtroom drawing by Joseph Papin, Daily News, August 25, 1989). Original drawing in the Joseph Papin Courtroom Collection, Library of Congress #PR 13 CN 2015.128.1985.
The first caption reads: “Ex-Helmsley employee John Struck testifies in Manhattan Federal Court yesterday.” The second caption reads: “Leona Helmsley takes notes at defense table yesterday as Josephine Keenan answers questions about checks approved as Helmsley controller on work done by John Struck.” (Article by Larry Sutton, drawings by Joseph Papin, Daily News, July 18, 1989)
Tag for courtroom art show reads: “Leona Helmsley Trial: Judge John Walker presiding questioned by AUSA James DeVita (as Leona remembers, ruefully), July 24, 1989.” (Original drawing in the Joseph Papin Courtroom Collection, Library of Congress #PR 13 CN 2015.128.1985).
Her obituary in the New York Times, ‘Remembering Leona Helmsley,’ by Sewell Chan (New York Times, August 20, 2007) noted that:
“Mrs. Helmsley devoted much of her recent years to burnishing her tarnished reputation. She contributed $25 million to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, $5 million to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts and $5 million to help the families of firefighters after 9/11, according to Mr. Rubenstein [her longtime publicist]. She also gave money in the late 1990s to help rebuild African-American churches that had been burned down in the South. Buildings at New York University Medical Center and Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut are among those that were renamed to honor the Helmsleys’ generosity.”
Leona Helmsley Trial, 1989. Joseph Papin Courtroom Collection, Library of Congress #PR 13 CN 2015.128.1689.
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