Weinstein is living in hell, lawyer complains
Once the “King of Hollywood,” Harvey Weinstein is now crying the blues behind bars. “We’re all living in the Taj Mahal compared to what he’s going through,” whined his lawyer Arthur Aidala of the Aidala, Bertuna & Kamins firm.
“He’s got three walls, no window. No radio. No TV. He gets to shower three times a week.”
Weinstein isn’t allowed to wear a wristwatch — he has to ask his jailers for the time — and it took weeks to get a pair of eyeglasses so he could read, his lawyer complained.
Convicted in New York two years ago, Weinstein won’t get out until 2039. He’d be 87 years old if he’s still alive.
Weinstein, who was found guilty of raping actress Jessica Mann in a Midtown hotel in March 2013 and sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006, has been serving a 23-year sentence since he was convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act and third-degree rape in February 2020.
California prosecutors have also charged the producer with 11 counts of rape and sexual battery stemming from attacks on five women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. Weinstein was extradited to California in July 2021.
But Aidala is appealing the conviction and said, “There is some hope in the air. The appellate judges really came down on the prosecutor.”
But there is no telling when the court will issue a ruling. It could be months. “Harvey’s holding his breath,” Aidala said.
If the court orders a retrial, Weinstein could be freed on bail.
“I don’t know if he has a home to go home to,” Aidala said. But he’d find something. “Let’s just say, he’s not broke.”
Tunnel, the nightclub near the Hudson River belonging to Canadian club owner and party promoter Peter Gatien in the ’80s and ’90s, is the subject of a four-hour documentary.
“They are calling it a secret documentary, but then why would they interview me?” laughed my talkative source.
Gatien (photo r.), who lost an eye playing hockey and wore a patch, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1999 and was deported from the U.S.
The producers will also try to interview such Tunnel habitues as RuPaul, Junior Vasquez, drag queen Lady Bunny and model Amanda Lepore, plus some rappers who got their start there: Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Nas.
Sadly, several Tunnel regulars are dead, like painter Kenny Scharf, rapper Tupac Shakur and club promoter Michael Alig.
The backers are the new owners of the old Chelsea Terminal Warehouse, which runs between 11th and 12th Aves. on 27th St., originally built with rails so trains could pull in to load and unload.
The landlords plan to reopen the building for commercial use in 2023.
COVID is helping the yacht business. “People who used to go to a hotel or rent a house now are thinking it’s safer to get a yacht,” said Steve Myers of Yatco, the biggest boat broker worldwide.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’ve never seen a market like we’re experiencing now.”
Swedish bombshell Victoria Silvstedt (above) has joined the growing army of celebrities from Kate Moss to William Shatner who are selling NFTs, or Non-Fungible
Tokens.
The blond, who once shared a flat in Paris with former First Lady Melania Trump, has issued a million tokens at $1 each. The most expensive NFT ever sold — by the anonymous artist Pak — went a few weeks ago for $91.8 million.
At the recent Art Bound Miami, hosted by Aura Copeland and Yoeli Goldstein, Victoria said she spent last year in lockdown in Monaco, where she started cooking meals for the homeless in Nice.
This year she has been commuting between Miami and St. Barts shooting various ad campaigns, and working on her tan.
Actress Rolonda Watts (above) is back in New York after 23 years in Los Angeles.
“My heart has always been on the East Coast,” the North Carolinian told me as furniture was moved into her new Manhattan apartment.
Having hosted her talk show “Rolanda” for three years, Watts moved to Los Angeles to act in nearly 20 movies. She was about to hit the road as a standup comic when COVID hit.
Rolonda is in a new sitcom, “Partners In Rhyme,” with MC Lyte, on ALLBLK, the new AMC streaming network. “It is soon to be announced that we got a second season,” Watts told me.
Dermatologist Dr. Marie Hayag, owner of Fifth Avenue Aesthetics, is opening a West Palm Beach office in January. Many of her clients are fleeing New York because of COVID, but don’t want to give up their injectables.
The first preview of “The Music Man” on Broadway went well. “The audience was wild throughout,” said my source. “If this is the end of the world, we’ll go out on a high note.”
Ron Meyer, who ran Universal Studios for 18 years, is full of Christmas spirit — not! The card Meyer (below) sent to professional gambler R.J. Cipriani (aka Robin Hood702) shows a scowling Santa saying, “F--k Xmas!”