A mob lawyer’s widow claims her children tricked her into signing away her vacation home by pretending the documents were ‘do not resuscitate’ orders for her dying husband.
Elinor Gravanate, whose late husband Nicholas Gravante Sr. amassed millions during his 50-year career representing the Lucchese and Gambino families, alleges she was conned out of her $1.8million lakefront home in New Fairfield Connecticut.
The 81-year-old’s lawyers filed a lawsuit against her three children in Brooklyn federal court on Friday, the New York Post reports.

Photo: Laura Barisonzi
Nicholas Gravante Jr

A mob lawyer’s widow claims her children (left, her son Nicholas Gravante and right, daughter Christine Castellano) tricked her into signing away her vacation home by pretending the documents were ‘do not resuscitate’ orders for her dying husband

‘She did not understand what she was signing,’ the suit states. ‘She believed she was signing a ‘do not resuscitate’ order.’

Christine Gravante Castellano

It accuses her sons and daughter of making around $600,000 from renting her late father’s properties in Park Slope, Bensonhurst and SoHo after his death last year.
The family feud was sparked after the elderly widow’s eldest son Nicholas Gravante Jr, a lawyer himself and a partner at Boies, Schiller and Flexner, filed a lawsuit against his mother in Florida, where she resides.
His lawsuit asked a judge in Collier County to stop his mother from telling family and friends, as well as the media, that she had been tricked out of the Connecticut vacation home.

Elinor Gravante’s lakefront house (second from left) in New Fairfield, Conn.

Gravante Jr. said what his mother claimed was a fake ‘do not resuscitate’ order was a notorized documented that clearly said ‘Warranty Deed’ at the top.
He said his mother had wanted to pass the house to him, his brother Richard, also a lawyer, based in Brooklyn, and their sister Christine Castellano, as they would inherit it one day anyway.
He says she is claiming she was defrauded after an argument with her daughter, who now lives in the Connecticut house.
The siblings say their mother agreed that the money raised by renting the building could be used to pay for her 11 grandchildren to attend college.
‘It is unfortunate that our mother, who has been dealing with serious health issues, including memory loss, has been advised to take action that delays progress and closure,’ the Gravante siblings said, according to the Post.
‘We love her and will continue to support her financially and emotionally through this painful period.’