Newport’s Most Infamous Crimes — Mob Murders to Ice Cream Schemes

The Tobacco Heiress' Unfortunate Accident 

In 1966, tobacco heiress Doris Duke was behind the wheel of a car when it lurched forward and crushed interior designer Eduardo Tirella as he was opening the gates of the mansion they were restoring in Newport, Rhode Island.

He was crushed against the gates and died instantly.

Newport Police ruled it an accident and "a $75,000 payment kept Tirella’s family from filing a wrongful death suit, [and] the media called Barbara (Hutton, the Woolworth Heiress and Duke rival) for a quote. 'Perhaps Doris didn’t like his taste,' she deadpanned. 'She certainly didn’t care for mine,'" reported Town and Country.

Newport Creamery "Corporate Raider"

Newport Creamery -- the beloved Rhode Island chain of ice cream shops -- was sold by the Rector family in 1999 to Robert Swain, a Clearwater, Florida businessman.

Swain said he was going to grow Newport Creamery to 100 locations over five years.

The Rector family had started a milk business in Newport in 1928. The original Newport Creamery restaurant, which sold only ice cream, was opened in 1940. Sandwiches and food were added in 1953, according to the company's history.

Within two years the company was forced into bankruptcy. The receiver asserted that Swain and his wife, Linda had raided the company.

Fox News reported:

"Andrew Richardson was appointed to be an independent trustee in the case.

Richardson sued Linda Swain, alleging she took $900,000 from the Creamery for personal use with no intention of paying it back.

Richardson also asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur Votolato to issue a preliminary injunction against Linda Swain. A hearing on that request continued last week.

When the Swains bought the ice cream chain in 1999, Newport Creamery's financial records show a $290,000 loan was made to Kapok Development Corp., a Florida land-development company controlled by Robert Swain, according to Alden Harrington, the lawyer representing Richardson.

That $290,000 was then loaned from Kapok Development to Tarpon Highlands Development Corp., another Florida business controlled by Swain.

"Kapok's borrowings were specifically targeted to pay for another development project," Swain said during testimony.

Although Linda Swain has not appeared in court for the hearings, Robert Swain was on the stand on Tuesday and Friday, The Journal reported.

The Creamery was eventually given partial ownership of Tarpon Highlands in return for the loans. But the restaurant chain has yet to see a return on that investment.

Tarpon Highlands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1999.

In addition, $50,000 advanced to Robert Swain from the Creamery last May was used to pay off two of Swain's business colleagues in another Florida development project — Rutland Estates.

Swain testified that he put $50,000 back into the Creamery in June to help pay for the Creamery's health care benefits plan, which was in jeopardy when the company went bankrupt."

Maid Robs Oil Heiress of More Than $2.2M in Gold and Jewelry

One of the most infamous thefts tied to Newport's super-rich was the theft by a maid of oil heiress Carolyn Skelly -- $2.2 million in gold, diamonds and other valuables from an unlocked bedroom bureau in the mansion.

The robbery took place in 1984 at "Bois Dore," her 36-room French chateau.

Skelly was daughter of the late William Skelly, a millionaire business associate of the late J. Paul Getty -- was dining with her secretary when Skelly's maid Barbara Polk and another young woman, Mary Coite kicked in the back door and fled with the jewelry in a pillowcase.

"Theft by maids is almost unheard of in Newport's sedate mansion district, police say, but the jewelry theft was symptomatic of the slow death of the traditionally loyal 'Upstairs-Downstairs' class of domestic servants," reported UPI.

"Police said they learned of the theft early Thursday morning when Mrs. Polk's husband, William, telephoned them to say that his wife had a bag of jewelry. Polk told police his wife threatened him with a knife and ordered him from the house when he questioned her about it," according to UPI.

Adam Emery - Did He Jump to His Death?

In 1993, Adam Emery and his wife, Elena, disappeared after he was convicted of the second-degree murder of Jason Bass.

In 2017, the FBI Tweeted that they continue to search for Adam.

The Emerys' car was found on the Newport Bridge. Everything looked as if the couple had jumped to their joint suicide.

According to Police, receipts were discovered in the car that showed the couple bought hamburgers at a local drive-thru and diving weights from a sporting goods store shortly after they vanished.

“I just have a hunch I feel in my gut,” said Bass. “They had someone waiting for them on the other side of the bridge. They left it there to make it look like they jumped. To make it look like suicide.”

A fisherman eventually caught Elena's skull in a net. Adam's body was never recovered.

Sunny and Claus Von Bülow

The case trials of Claus Von Bulow had it all.

It had wealth, socialites, Newport mansions and high profile lawyers.

It was one of the first cases covered by CNN — then called Cable News Network. The news organization broadcasted over 70 hours.

It also had charges of legal cronyism in Rhode Island.

Alan M. Dershowitz, who in defended Claus Von Bulow in his second trial claimed RI courts were corrupt.

Dershowitz had asserted that anyone who sought justice in Rhode Island needed ''an intellectual out-of-state lawyer'' to argue his case while some ''local yokel'' bargained with judges behind the scenes.

Former U.S. District Judge Ronald R. Lagueux, then a Superior Court judge, was so offended he barred Dershowitz from his court -- a statement for which Lagueux was later censured by a regional Judicial Council.

Mobster Burned to Death at Beavertail on Eve of Mother's Day

In 1994, Barry Kourmpates, a young mobster tied to a series of robberies with the Golden Nugget crew -- was found dead at Beavertail in Jamestown.

"Kourmpates disappeared the night of May 7, 1994. His badly-burned body was found in ocean-side Beavertail Park, located right outside Providence, late the next afternoon, Mother’s Day, after he didn’t show up at Mother’s Day brunch with his family and was reported missing by his mom. He had been shot in the back of the head and his corpse set ablaze. He was paroled from a year-long prison stint for breaking-and-entering two months prior," reports the Gangster Report.

"According to Rhode Island State Police records, Kourmpates and his two partners in a burglary ring clearing in the high six figures pulling safe-cracking jobs, Mike Raposa and Ray Luca, were summoned to a meeting at the Golden Nugget Pawn Shop in the Olneyville section of Providence in the summer of 1992 and encountered St. Laurent and fellow knuckle-dragging New England mobster Vito (The Ox) DeLuca – no relation to Bobby the Cigar – who proceeded to read the too-gutsy trio of unconnected twentysomething thugs the riot act about robbing connected businesses and neglecting to pay any street tax on their scores. Then-underboss Luigi (Baby Shacks) Manocchio is alleged to have dispatched St. Laurent and DeLuca to handle the issue, per RISP records, after receiving complaints from some of his business associates hit by the robbery spree."