Gail Collins Pappalardi
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Gail Collins Pappalardi was the songwriting wife of the late Felix Pappalardi. She contributed lyrics to many Mountain songs and co-wrote Cream's "World of Pain" with Pappalardi and "Strange Brew" with Pappalardi and Eric Clapton.
On April 17, 1983 she used a two-shot .38 Special derringer to shoot Pappalardi once in the neck in their fifth-floor East Side Manhattan apartment. He was pronounced dead at the scene and Gail was charged with second degree murder.
Prosecutors claimed that Felix Pappalardi's 11-month affair with the 27-year-old Valerie Merians was the reason for the murder. At the age of 43, Gail Collins Pappalardi was acquitted of second degree murder and manslaughter, but found guilty of criminally negligent homicide. A judge sentenced her to 16 months to four years in jail, and at the same time criticised the jury for its leniency and Pappalardi's lawyers for their defense of her. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Leff said that Pappalardi's lawyers used "shabby" tactics when they claimed the medical examiner's report was wrong and that investigators had stolen jewellery.
Gail Collins Pappalardi's defense was that the firearm had gone off accidentally while Felix was giving her a bedside gun lesson.
| Cream | |||||
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| Ginger Baker - Jack Bruce - Eric Clapton Pete Brown - Felix Pappalardi - Martin Sharp |
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| Discography | |||||
| Fresh Cream - Disraeli Gears - Wheels of Fire - Goodbye Live Cream - Live Cream Volume II - BBC Sessions - Royal Albert Hall 2005 |
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| Songwriters covered by Cream | |||||
| William Bell - James Bracken - Howlin' Wolf - Tony Colton - Willie Dixon - Skip James Robert Johnson - Booker T. Jones - Blind Joe Reynolds - Ray Smith - T-Bone Walker - Muddy Waters |
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| Related bands | |||||
| The G.B.O. (Baker/Bruce) |
The Bluesbreakers (Bruce/Clapton) |
The Powerhouse (Bruce/Clapton) |
Blind Faith (Baker/Clapton) |
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