LITMIR.BIZ

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note in her pocket described the depression that had caused the young mother to take her own life, leaving five children behind.

      Gossip suggested that John Sr. was terribly abusive to Julia and that he contributed to her mental problems. In any event, their mother’s suicide shattered the family so severely that some family members still don’t speak. John, more than his brothers and sisters, was particularly depressed and subject to explosive mood swings. At times he blamed himself. Could he have said something during those last few moments when he had spoken with her? Could he have been more sympathetic? Could he have changed her mind? To relieve his nagging guilt, he threw himself into his studies and graduated from high school in just three years.

      A year later, John’s father remarried. His new wife, a woman named Kathy, was a statuesque blonde. She brought an additional son into the family, whom John Sr. immediately adopted.

      In a family of six children supported by a sole breadwinner, no one expected to be sent to an exclusive Ivy League school or given money for an expensive dorm or apartment. So, while still living with his family in Dumont, John Jr. began attending one of the four extensions of Fairleigh Dickinson University, a large private New Jersey university. His first major was pre-med, but after plodding through his courses for a year, he realized that math was his forte, and switched to accounting.

      With all the volatile family arguments, living at home had its disadvantages. As the oldest, John received his father’s harshest discipline, causing his brother Marc to call him an “emotional cripple.”

      At another time, during an explosive rage, John pulled a pistol on Marc.

      In 1976, although John Jr. was busy in college studying accounting, his friends found it easy to talk him into leaving school for a year to travel with the rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He took off like he had been handed a ticket to freedom and excitement. He enjoyed the band’s fireworks and loud rock music, and relished being the group’s business manager as they toured the country.

      In 1977, he completed his year’s tour with the band, but he still wasn’t ready to head back to college. Although his college major had been accounting, he frequently toyed with the idea of becoming an artist.

      The decadence of the seventies, coupled with the rock scene’s mentality, had made it easy for him to hurl himself into drugs. He found that cocaine stabilized his mood swings, and he began selling the drug to finance his habit. Inevitably, he got caught. He was arrested, charged with delivery of a controlled substance, and given a suspended sentence.

      To escape his problems, Battaglia joined the U.S. Marine Corps and worked in logistics, mirroring what his father had done in the army. After eleven weeks of basic training in San Diego, he began a four-year tour of duty that took him all over the country and also to Hong Kong.

      Standing six feet tall and weighing two hundred pounds, he looked proud and handsome in his dark wool dress uniform. It was cinched at the waist with a white belt and topped off with a matching white hat.

      Born under the zodiac sign of Leo, the demanding, aggressive lion, Battaglia found that the most rugged branch of the military suited him. Proud of his sign, he had a large head of a lion tattooed on his upper left arm.

      By the end of his hitch in 1982, he had risen to the rank of sergeant. He decided it was time to go back to school and get on with the business of becoming a CPA. He took his honorable discharge and left his military career behind.

      At the time, his father was working in Dallas, managing emergency physician services at the Baylor University Medical Center. John had always wanted a closer association with his father. Having spent a lifetime trying to win his father’s approval, he moved to Dallas, where he found a job as an accountant.

      At first, John lived with his father and stepmother. Kathy worked in the office of the Kim Dawson Agency, the premier Dallas modeling agency. She knew her handsome, dark-haired stepson could be a sought-after model, and she encouraged him to have portfolio photos taken.

      He followed her suggestion and was soon hired for photographic shoots, mainly advertising upscale clothing. The camera captured his sad green eyes and wistful gaze.

      Now he was juggling modeling along with his accounting position, in addition to taking night classes to reach that long-postponed CPA goal.

      It was a frenetic but happy time for John Jr. For the first time in his life, he had formed a positive alliance with his father, and was on a solid career path.

      THREE

      In 1971, Michelle Ward graduated eighth of 400 in her Baton Rouge, Louisiana high school class. In the summer just prior to entering Louisiana State University, she began dating Dale LaBorde, and they fell in love. Her academics slipped slightly during her freshman year when she eloped with Dale.

      Still, Michelle Ward LaBorde graduated with honors from college with a B.A. in Education, and began teaching fifth grade. Five years into her marriage, she gave birth to a son, Billy, on November 4, 1977. After the baby arrived, the young couple found that school, work, and parenthood took their toll. Dale wanted to continue partying with friends, while Michelle taught school during the day and stayed home with the baby at night. With such diverse interests, the marriage disintegrated and they divorced in 1980.

      Afterward, Michelle took custody of her three-year-old son, and applied to Louisiana State University Law Center. She was immediately accepted. In law school, she rose to the top 1 percent of her class, automatically qualifying her for the honorary Law Review. In May 1983, she graduated first in a class of 184, and began working for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld in Dallas. The highly respected law firm had more than one hundred lawyers. It also had offices in New York and Washington, D.C. The “Strauss” in the firm’s name was Robert Strauss, a one-time chairman of the Democratic National Committee who would later become the ambassador to the Soviet Union.

      By mid-1984, John Battaglia Jr. needed a few more classes before he could take the CPA tests. The attractive man was the antithesis of an introverted, bespectacled accountant. Instead, he was gregarious around people and could be very charming.

      One of his best friends—and roommate—Mark Weisbart, was a bankruptcy attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld. Weisbart was sure that the pretty blond bankruptcy and estate lawyer with whom he worked, Michelle LaBorde, would enjoy meeting John. She was tall, poised, and possessed a model’s good posture that exuded self-confidence.

      Michelle LaBorde was two years older than thirty-year-old John Battaglia, but anyone would have guessed she was much younger, due to her unlined face and pretty brown eyes. Michelle wasn’t just smart; she was brilliant, and it would take someone with a fine intellect to interest her.

      Mark Weisbart suggested that Michelle and her fellow lawyer, Kitty O’Connell, join him and John Battaglia for a drink at a local restaurant. Michelle and John were instantly drawn to each other. As soon as she began talking with him, she appreciated his intelligence. He knew a great deal about art, music, and the theater. In fact, she found that he could talk extensively and with authority about many subjects.

      They immediately began dating, but before their first date, Michelle wanted to clear the air and let him know that she had a seven-year-old son.

      John Battaglia’s face brightened when he heard about Billy. He told her that he loved children. During his four years in the Marines, he had volunteered to help with Special Olympics because he wanted to work with children. He couldn’t wait to meet her son.

      Michelle soon realized that of all the things she liked about John Battaglia, she was most impressed with his interest in Billy. When Battaglia brought toy soldiers to Michelle’s two-bedroom, one-bath rental house, Billy was delighted to see him walk through the front door. As John and Billy made the soldiers march up and down the furniture, he told the young boy about his experiences in the Marines. Soon, Michelle began to wonder if Battaglia was more interested in Billy than in her. Michelle had a rule that she wouldn’t leave the house until after 8:00 P.M., when Billy was put to bed. So Battaglia came early before their dates to play with him, and at other times

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