Paco Stanley

Francisco "Paco" Jorge Stanley Albaitero (July 3, 1942 – June 7, 1999) was a Mexican television entertainer who worked for Televisa and TV Azteca.

Career

In 1966, he was funded by his first father in law to take radio and locution classes. In 1969 he started in radio, but it was until 1974 that he participated in several programs, like XEW News. For this network he hosted the show "Smiles and Surprises", between 1988 and 1991, he worked in "Estrellas W".

After years of being a sidekick to comedians such as Madaleno, in 1995 he was offered his own show in Televisa, ¡Ándale!, with Arlette Garibay and Benito Castro. Later shows were Llévatelo and Pácatelas with Mario Bezárez.

In 1998 he hosted the show "Un poco de Paco en radio" in its comic version.

After he left Televisa, in 1998 he signed a contract with rival network TV Azteca and on December 15, he started his show called Una tras otra co-starring with Jorge Gil and Mario Bezares. In 1999 he launched a nighttime show titled "Si hay, y bien!".

Theatre was another passion for Paco and in 15 years he starred in the play "Don Juan Tenorio", in its comic version. He toured all over Mexico with this show.

Paco Stanley also liked poetry and he recorded 3 albums with his poems.

Personal life

Paco's first marriage was with Maria Solis, with whom he had only one son, Francisco. After several years, he married Patricia Pedroza, with whom he had two children, Leslie and Francisco Stanley Pedroza. However, in an extramarital relationship Paco had a third son, Paul Stanley (Now host of matutine program HOY but later moved to the USA and currently hosts matutine program Despierta America).

Death

On June 7, 1999,^[1] Paco Stanley, Mario Bezares and Jorge Gil left the TV Azteca studios after their morning show "Una Tras Otra" to eat in a famous Mexican restaurant "El Charco de las Ranas" located in Periferico, Mexico City's busy beltway. When they all finished, Paco and Mario went to the restroom at the same time, while Jorge was waiting for them. Paco finished first and he told Mario that he was going to wait for him outside (in his car). While Paco, Jorge and his driver were waiting inside his black Lincoln Navigator, three subjects walked towards the car and started shooting. The assailants unloaded a high caliber firearm at his parked car, firing more than 20 rounds, killing him with 4 shots, 3 of them hitting him in the head, and wounding Jorge Gil and other bystanders.

Mario Bezares left the restroom as he heard the gunfire. The waiters from the restaurant would not let him leave, thinking that the assailants were after him as well.

Mexico was shocked with the news of Paco Stanley's death. Mexican TV networks, Televisa and TV Azteca interrupted their programming to give out the news. In that day while the news was given out, two news anchors from TV Azteca and the president of TV Azteca Ricardo Salinas Pliego started blaming Mexico City's mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of not knowing how to govern, due to the high crime rate in the city.^[2]

On the autopsy, the General Attorney of Mexico City, Samuel del Villar briefly informed that in the corpse, there was found a legal ID of Stanley corresponding to a branch of the National Security Ministry allowing him to carry firearms. Also, a bag containing 0.02 g of cocaine was found in his shirt, according to the City attorney, on a national TV broadcast press conference.

Mario Bezares and another of Stanley's colleagues, Paola Durante, were arrested in connection with the murder and jailed for over a year before being released.^[3] On April 5, 2011, Luis Alberto Salazar Vega was arrested and charged with Stanley's murder,^[4] based on the testimony of a former cellmate.^[5]

Legacy

One of the sketches from Andale!, La Güereja y El Papiringo, with Maria Elena Saldaña as the little girl, became a television series of its own as La Güereja y Algo Mas and La Güereja de mi Vida.

References