Rat Packer's Ex Lookin' for Cheese
The live-in lover of late Rat Packer Joey Bishop is suing a bunch of people, claiming they screwed her out of assets in Joey's estate.
Nora Garibotti claims Bishop's law firm and his agent, Ed Hookstratten, were responsible for revisions in Bishop's will that aced her out of Bishop's home on tony Lido Island in Newport Beach, along with "books, cash, furniture and other personal property." To make matters worse, Garibotti claims there's a clause that completely disinherits her if she contests the will and it was not Joey's intent to do that.
That's the short of it. It is one of the most frickin' complicated lawsuits we've ever reported on. Bishop changed his will a zillion times.
BTW, Garibotti has an interesting description on her relationship with Joey: "Ms. Garibotti was a close personal friend of Joey Bishop for approximately 24 years prior to his death. For the first 16 years....they golfed almost everyday." Then, in 1999, after Bishop's wife died, she moved in with him.
The suit goes on to say, "In February, 2002, Mr. Bishop asked Ms. Garibotti to marry him, and she declined in order to avoid the publicity that she believed would interrupt their peaceful life together." Not so peaceful after all.
