Richard Basciano, New York’s former prince of porn who made a mint peddling smut in the old Times Square, has died. He was 92.
The death on Monday was unexpected despite his failing health, said family attorney, John Ehrhart.
Basciano owned several neglected, but highly valuable, buildings between 42nd and 43rd Sts. along Eighth Ave.
The former porn purveyor had gotten many offers from major developers for his infamous Show World building at 42nd St. and Eighth Ave.
Basciano lived above the “sex emporium” in Midtown and also spent time in Philadelphia to keep an eye on his growing real estate portfolio.
But it was difficult for him to sell the famous building due in part to an acrimonious split with his business partner, comedy club impresario Jamie Masada.
“Show World is going to close,” Basciano told Crain’s last year. “This real estate is very valuable.”
That never happened.
“I don’t think he wanted to close Show World out of loyalty to the longtime employees who worked there,” Erica Dubno, a lawyer who defended porn businesses in the area, told Crain’s.
In the late ’90s, Basciano made about $14 million — “less than market value” — from the state condemnation of his buildings, he told the Daily News in 2008.
He never forgave smut-busting former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now an adviser to President Trump.
“I am his nemesis,” Basciano said.
The savvy Basciano ducked the city’s strict anti-porn law and kept open Show World by cutting its sex stock by 60%.
The Baltimore native started selling dirty magazines and buying properties in New York in the early 1960s.
The savvy Basciano ducked the city's strict anti-porn law and saved Show World by cutting its sex stock by 60%.
By the mid-’80s, his empire was worth a reported $10 million a year.
In 1981, his partners Theodore Rothstein and Robert DiBernardo were hit federal obscenity charges.
Five years later, DiBernardo was killed, purportedly on orders of mob boss John Gotti.
Basciano told the News he was “surprised” to discover they had connections to the mob.More recently, Basciano and the Salvation Army were found liable for monetary damages to victims in a 2013 building collapse that killed six people in Philadelphia.
During demolition, Basciano’s building collapsed onto a Salvation Army thrift store filled with shoppers, injuring 13 people in addition to those killed.
The victims negotiated a $227 million settlement on Feb. 8.
“He truly did have a very big heart, said his lawyer, Thomas Sprague. “And his concern about the accident, and the people killed and seriously injured weighed upon him very much, and no doubt took a toll on his own health.”
Basciano was at the location when the wall crashed down.
At the civil trial, he testified that he was haunted by the tragedy.
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“I’m going through hell,” he said through tears. “With the poor people who died — I’m brokenhearted about it.”
He is survived by his second wife, Lois, and three daughters by his deceased first wife.
The funeral service will be on Saturday at the Singleton Funeral & Cremation Services in Glen Burnie, Md., at 3 p.m.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manh...ticle-1.3134639
