AUNTS FIGHT BACK
Estate-war rap: 9/11 hero’s son ‘greedy’
The son of a firefighter killed on 9/11 gained enough from benefits given to families of Ground Zero heroes and has no right to his grandfather’s estate, his relatives charge.
Christopher Maffeo was just a baby when dad Joseph, a city firefighter, was killed at the Twin Towers.
Christopher and his mom, Linda Maffeo Melloy, accused Joseph’s family in a lawsuit of cheating the teen of a $1.2 million inheritance.
But the relatives countercharge that the 16-year-old and his mom have plenty of their own cash — and were never supposed to benefit from their extended family’s wealth.
Christopher Maffeo and Linda Maffeo Melloy have collected “multimilliondollar payouts” from various victim-compensation funds, along with years of Joseph Maffeo’s full salary. They live the good life in New Jersey with a new family, according to court papers.
Christopher’s grandparents, Louis and Jean Maffeo, amassed their own $6 million estate, but “felt that Christopher’s future was well taken care of due to the significant amount of monies which both he and his mother . . . have received as a direct result of [Joseph] being killed,” according to new court papers.
Louis Maffeo intended to give Christopher an equal share of his estate, along with Louis’ four adult daughters, but failed to complete the paperwork before his April death, the teen had claimed.
Christopher Maffeo and his mom slammed the teen’s aunts as “self-serving” and accused them in a Staten Island Supreme Court lawsuit of ignoring Louis’ wishes.
But the aunts — PS 29 Principal Linda Manfredi, who runs the Joseph Maffeo Foundation; Donna Maffeo; Susan Drury; and Debra Morri — are firing back in legal papers, claiming the kid and his mom are the ones being greedy.
Linda Maffeo Melloy remarried two years after the terror attack and had three sons with Robert Melloy. The family, including Christopher Maffeo, “live an extremely comfortable life . . . in a newly built custom home on the waterfront in Rumson, New Jersey,” according to court papers.
It was “common knowledge” among the Maffeo family that Louis and Jean wanted their assets “to benefit their children only,” claim the aunts, who said the older couple intentionally left out their grandkids and their daughters’ spouses.
Linda Maffeo Melloy claimed her former fatherin-law talked about providing for Christopher, but the aunts denied that, noting Louis Maffeo never changed his stance about who his estate should go to.