Billionaire French Hotelier Shot Dead in Professional Hit
October 28th, 2011Via: Telegraph:
A billionaire French hotelier has been shot dead in a wealthy Paris suburb in what police believe was a professional hit.
The lifeless body of Claude Dray, 76, was found with three bullet holes in the neck in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the Paris suburb where President Nicolas Sarkozy built his career and still owns property.
A butler found Dray’s corpse at 9am on Tuesday following a death that had all the hallmarks of a professional hit.
Dray, one of the most prominent Jews in France, had been the subject of threats in the past. His palatial villa – which was called Madrid – was considered one of the most secure in the French capital.
It was regularly surrounded by police and private security guards, and is equipped with anti-intruder measures including cameras and infra-red alarms.
“Somebody got in and fired three bullets into the victim’s neck,” said one detective at the scene who asked not to be named, adding that a silencer had likely been used as domestic staff heard nothing.
Dray’s wife, Simone, was in the US, where four years ago he bought the famous art deco National Hotel in South Beach, Miami.
Dray also owned the Hotel de Paris in St Tropez, one of the most popular celebrity institutions on the French Riviera.
