Celia Cruz left everything to her husband; one of her executors sued the other for draining his money while he had dementia

Celia Cruz died of a brain tumor at 77. Her will named her husband of 41 years, trumpeter Pedro Knight, as sole beneficiary. It named two co-executors: her manager, Omer Pardillo, and Luis Falcón, a young man close to the couple. Knight moved to California with Falcón. In 2005 Cruz's sister, Gladys Becquer, sued Knight, Pardillo and Falcón in New York, seeking a $415,000 life insurance policy she said Cruz had left her. In January 2007 Pardillo sued Falcón in Superior Court in Hackensack. He alleged Falcón drained accounts meant for Knight, then 85 with dementia, made "extravagant expenditures" and could not account for more than $1 million. Judge Peter E. Doyne set a hearing for 9 February 2007 on removing Falcón. Knight died on 3 February, six days before it. A New Jersey court later named Pardillo sole executor and found Falcón had defrauded Becquer and Knight's daughter, Ernestina, ordering $2.5 million in damages^†. Pardillo estimated the fortune at $3 million to $4 million and said in 2013 that "the money never appeared." Cruz and Knight lie together in Woodlawn Cemetery. In 2026 Pardillo runs the Celia Cruz estate and its brand^†.