The Gatti Family vs Amanda Rodrigues.

Family & friends in heated battle to prove Arturo Gatti did not kill himself MONTREAL — As rumors swirl about his death and the results of a second autopsy remain a secret, the former boxer Arturo Gatti lies in an eight-foot cement crypt in a marble coffin at the Cimetiere de Laval in Southern Quebec. The mausoleum’s marble exterior is adorned with two vases of artificial flowers, a lantern and a small photograph of a smiling Gatti, his hair perfectly coiffed. The scene is tranquil and quiet except for the low hum of a fan suspended from a white ceiling and the light purring of classical music. This is in stark contrast to the violence that took Gatti’s life on July 11 and the sordid details that have emerged in the weeks since. The ultimate indignity for a fighter is to quit in the ring, and Gatti was the quintessential warrior who never, it seemed, took a step backward. Yet, after authorities in Brazil ruled Gatti’s brutal death in a lush seaside resort in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, a suicide, investigators have essentially declared that Gatti quit on life: His supporters, including Fabrizio, his brother; Christian Santos, a close friend; and former manager Pat Lynch refuse to accept that ruling. “I mean, everyone knew about his tremendous legacy and that he never quit in the ring,” says Lynch. “I think it’s very important for his children so when they get older, they know the truth, that their father would never have taken his life.”Lynch along with his brother, attorney John Lynch, and several other close friends and family members, have initiated an investigation into the mysterious circumstances of his death in the hopes of prompting authorities in Brazil to revive their own investigation and reopen the case. They are also taking steps to amend Gatti’s will, which was changed shortly before he was found dead, and to recover Gatti’s 1-year-old son, Arturo Jr., currently staying with Gatti’s wife, Amanda Rodrigues, who discovered the body and was initially a suspect, in Montes Claros in Central Brazil. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” says Santos, who grew up in Northern Montreal, where Arturo was raised, and has remained close to the Gatti family. “We’re not going to rest until we do.” Meanwhile, Rodrigues is intent on keeping her child, enrolling in school and planning a future without a husband that some people believe she murdered. She also plans on performing her own private Mass at a local Catholic church, and she wants to visit his mausoleum at some point. “The mass is about me, the baby and Arturo, no one else,” she told the Daily News. In a rambling 90-minute phone interview with her baby cooing in the background, Rodrigues professed her love for Gatti while denying that someone as young and as small in stature as she could ever manipulate or murder him. She also responded to charges from Gatti’s family that she was the assailant: “They never wanted me to marry him in the first place,” she said in her rapid-fire cadence. “They were afraid he would change, that he would change the will and become a different person. Yes, we fought a lot but we also loved each other.” Gatti, 37, was on his second honeymoon with Rodrigues and their baby when his blood-spattered body was discovered on July 11. Cops initially claimed that Rodrigues, a former stripper, choked the life out of him with her purse strap while he slept after a night of heavy drinking. Investigators saw a bloody strap beside his body. “When I saw Arturo lying on the floor in his underwear at 6 a.m., I was still upset with him from the night before when we had an argument,” she said. “I thought he was drunk. Then, three hours later, I felt him and he was cold. I started screaming and passed out. I was in shock. The worst thing is that I lost Arturo and then to be accused of killing my husband. It was horrible. I mean, how could I have killed him?” Rodrigues also told authorities that a third party was probably responsible for his death. But in her interview with the Daily News, Rodrigues changed her story and said her husband was deeply troubled and likely committed suicide, reflecting what the police eventually concluded. Friends and family were incredulous, saying Gatti was investing in his future at the time of his death. On June 26, Gatti had purchased a new condo near Montreal’s Little Italy and was building a room for his son. He couldn’t have been happier and was enjoying his life in retirement, they said. Why would he kill himself? “People don’t know that Arturo was depressed all the time,” Rodrigues fired back. “His family is saying that Arturo never had a depression problem or a drug problem, but he did. I put him into rehab. He was doing drugs. I think they’re just upset because they didn’t get any money.” Gatti, who retired in 2007, was urged by Rodrigues to change his will in the month before his death and to leave his entire inheritance to her, depriving his mother and daughter, the chief beneficiaries of the original will, of everything. “She’s trying to reverse the whole thing,” Pat Lynch said of Rodrigues. “Arturo never was depressed and he didn’t have a drug problem. Amanda was about the money. That’s all she was about.” Gatti’s inheritance is valued conservatively at $5 million, according to John Lynch, Pat’s brother and an attorney working on the case. Gatti married Rodrigues in Las Vegas on Aug. 26, 2007, and Lynch hastily prepared a prenuptial agreement on the day before the couple wed. “She came into my office in front of my staff and signed it,” Lynch said. “She said, ‘I don’t want anything.’ “On Sunday, the day after the ceremony, Arturo called me and said, ‘Whoever drew this up — she doesn’t even leave the marriage with the shoes she came in on.’” Six months later, Gatti showed up in Lynch’s Union City office with Rodrigues and tore up a copy of the agreement. “Thank God it was just a copy and not the original,” John Lynch said. Earlier this year, after a falling out, the pair initiated divorce proceedings, but a trip to Paris smoothed things over and Gatti gave Rodrigues a new engagement ring. “It was beautiful,” she said. To John Lynch, the events of recent months were all carefully planned. “She’s thinking that there’s no prenupt,” he said. “I fax the prenupt to (Gatti’s) Canadian lawyer on May 7, 2009, and now she knows that the prenupt is still in existence and she has nothing. She then tries to get back together with him.” “People don’t know that Arturo was depressed all the time,” Rodrigues fired back. “His family is saying that Arturo never had a depression problem or a drug problem, but he did. I put him into rehab. He was doing drugs. I think they’re just upset because they didn’t get any money.” Gatti, who retired in 2007, was urged by Rodrigues to change his will in the month before his death and to leave his entire inheritance to her, depriving his mother and daughter, the chief beneficiaries of the original will, of everything. “She’s trying to reverse the whole thing,” Pat Lynch said of Rodrigues. “Arturo never was depressed and he didn’t have a drug problem. Amanda was about the money. That’s all she was about.” There is a return court date on Aug. 20 when the person who is qualified as the representative of the estate may appear. “My position is going to be to urge the court to keep everything frozen until such time the estate battle concludes and we know what this child is entitled to,” Paone said of Sofia. According to Pat Lynch, there are other troubling financial angles Rodrigues has pursued, including the request of a transfer of funds from a stockbroker’s account. A day before Gatti was found dead, Rodrigues allegedly emailed Gatti’s stockbroker in New Jersey, requesting a wire transfer of $450,000 of Gatti’s money, according to John Lynch, who is trying to get the stockbroker to release the email requesting the money. “She requests it on Friday and he’s dead on Saturday,” Lynch said. Rodrigues denied ever sending the email. “I don’t know who’s saying these things but that’s disgusting,” she said. “It was never about the money for me. He was my husband. ” In an effort to clear his name and solve the mystery of his death, Gatti’s family requested a second autopsy in Montreal on Aug. 1. Gatti’s body was exhumed from the crypt and transported in a funeral truck to the Edifice Wilfrid Derome, a building in the leafy residential district of central Montreal. Dr. Michael Baden, an American pathologist who traveled to Montreal at the request of the Gatti family, agreed to speak. Dr. Baden said he was most interested in the number of prominent black and blue marks that were under Gatti’s skin “due to blunt force trauma.” He said a body doesn’t get bruised to that extent in a suicidal hanging. He also noted that the Brazilian coroner did a partial autopsy and failed to dissect the neck organs, which are important in a case involving a hanging. Quebec pathologists are also seeking additional information from Brazil, which includes a toxicology report. The full results of the second autopsy won’t be ready for at least a week, he said. “I think right now until we get more information, the homicide and suicide are both possibilities,” Baden said. Rodrigues says she looks forward to getting the results. “I want them to check his body again,” she said. “They’re going to know the truth. The truth will come out.” http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2009/08/09/2009-08-09_gattis_family_friends_in_a_fight_for_justice.html?page=0 Very interesting. The two sections I've underlined, particularly. Thoughts, rants, opinions?