The cousin of 1993 abduction victim Harvey “Tuxedo King” Weinstein — who was directly involved in tense, $3 million dollar ransom negotiations — is “shocked and disgusted” the kidnapper’s chief negotiator was granted parole.
“She had knowledge that he had been abducted,” Edward Weinstein, 75, Harvey’s first cousin told the Post. “She knew who the abductors were. At any time she could have gone to the police and identify the captors and he could been rescued earlier.”
Harvey Weinstein was buried for 13 days and chained inside a pit on the side of the Henry Hudson Parkway in 1993 before his dramatic rescue by the NYPD.
Edward Weinstein, who dealt directly with Aurelina Leonor by phone, said that during her trial, “We had to relive the whole thing.
“The DA’s office had to spend a whole lot of money on the prosecution of this thing as a result of her stubbornness and unwillingness to admit her guilt.”
Leonor was convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison but she later appealed her sentence on the grounds her boyfriend Fermin Rodriguez, the mastermind of the plot was granted less time after a guilty plea and the court reduced her sentence to 18 years to life.
After serving the minimum of her sentence, Leonor, 61, was approved for parole on March 12 and is slated to walk out of a Manhattan prison no later than Aug. 12, parole officials said.
“The good news is that my cousin lived for 14 more years and I attribute that to the good work of the NYPD,” said Weinstein.
“Had they not been as caring and concerned and as diligent as they were he would have been nothing but bones in the bottom of that hole.
Harvey Weinstein died in Manhattan in 2007 at the age of 82.
Additional reporting by Ken Moy