Trouble, the canine companion of embattled hotel magnate Leona Helmsley, has died at age 12. Trouble inherited $2 million (a judged decreased the award from the $12 million stipulated in Helmsley's will) when the infamous tax evader died in 2007. Trouble's remaining fortune will be diverted to the The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, and not to Helmsley's two grandchildren who she cut out of her will. His name wasn't Trouble for nothing!

• Andrei Vavilov has officially exited the Plaza. The Russian financier, who sued the Plaza last year to get out of buying a $53.5 million penthouse spread—and ended up paying $11 million for a smaller apartment as part of a legal settlement—has taken a loss on the sale. Vavilov sold the apartment to an heir to the Goya Foods fortune for $8.4 million. [NYO]
• Investor Paul Cejas has dropped the price of his apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue, five months after he listed it for $18.5 million. The fifth-floor co-op is now on the market for $16.5 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Leona Helmsley's former Greenwich mansion has gotten another price chop. The 40-acre estate known as Dunnellen Hall is now $60 million, which is a whole lot less than its original listing price of $125 million. [Luxist, DO&A]
• Brandon Fradd, founder of the hedge fund Apollo Medical Partners, has sold his apartment at 68 Jane Street. The three-bedroom that Fradd listed for $4.45 million back in February sold for $3.7 million. [Cityfile]

Whether this is a draw or a drawback is up to you, but guests who book the 46th-floor penthouse suite at the Helmsley Park Lane gain access to many of Leona Helmsley's old "personal belongings," including her "king-size bed with satin covers," "lacquered dining room table and crystal chandeliers," and the salon chair that Frédéric Fekkai once used to style "her trademark short brown hair." Access to her private swimming pool isn't part of the package, alas, although hotel employees do say they've "spruced" up the place, which is nice to hear since they also point out she went through about five packs of cigarettes a day when she lived there. [NYDN]

• Leona Helmsley's former estate in Greenwich is now available at a discount. Priced at $125 million when it first went on the market last year, the 40-acre manor-style property known as Dunnellen Hall is now just $75 million. [GT, DO&A]
• Investor Paul Cejas has put his two-bedroom, fifth-floor apartment at 834 Fifth—the building that's home to Rupert Murdoch, Woody Johnson, and socialite Carroll Petrie—on the market for $18.5 million. [NYO, BHS]
• John Legend has cut the price of his apartment at 72 East 3rd Street, which he purchased in 2005 and originally listed for $1.245 million last December. The two-bedroom condo is now priced at $1.195 million. [NYM, PDE]

Every hotel has a gimmick these days, but the one the Helmsley Hotel is offering up may be the most morbid. In honor of tax season—and the late Leona Helmsley's famous aversion to paying them—the hotel is offering "tax-free" rooms, a promotion that shaves roughly $50 off the $250 room rate. No word on whether the hotel has other Leona-inspired specials in the works, although given all the trouble that Trouble caused, a doggie-friendly deal seems like a natural follow-up. [HotelChatter]

Unfortunate news for the dogs hoping to take a bite out of the $5 billion to $8 billion fortune real estate queen Leona Helmsley left behind when she passed away in 2007: A Manhattan judge ruled today that the trustees managing Helmsley's estate will get to decide how the funds are distributed, even though she left instructions that her money go to care for dogs. No word on how Trouble, Helmsley's beloved pooch, reacted to the news, but if someone files another mauling lawsuit, you'll know the news didn't go down well. [NYP]

♦ Natalie Portman has landed a buyer for the three-bedroom apartment at 165 Charles Street that she listed at $6.55 million this summer. [NYP]
♦ The situation at the Plaza is getting worse: Esprit exec Jurgen Friedrich has pulled his fifth-floor spread off the market just a day after listing it for $55 million, which means at least six units at the Plaza have now been taken off the market without a buyer in the past two months. [NYP]
♦ Alson Capital analyst Greg Lyss and his wife Jennifer paid $4.63 million for two fifth-floor units at 190 Riverside Drive. [Cityfile]
♦ Financier Martin Zweig has taken his penthouse at the Pierre off the market, nearly four years after first listing it for $70 million. [NYP]
♦ The price of Leona Helmsley's massive, 40-acre Dunnellen Hall estate in Greenwich has been slashed from from $125 million to (just!) $95 million. [NYP, Christie's]

Leona Helmsley gave it all to the dogs—or between $5 to $8 billion of it anyway. According to the Times today, the Queen of Mean specified that nearly her entire fortune should go toward the care and welfare of dogs. (You'll also recall that she left $12 million to her dog, Trouble; a judge later reduced it to $2 million.) Helmsley's family has been consumed with selling off her real estate holdings and has yet to speak out about the mammoth gift; they only just recently hired a philanthropic advisory service to help them decide how to allocate the dough. But according to the Times, even if Leona's trust is only valued at $5 billion (and it's expected to substantially higher), that is still "10 times the combined assets of all 7,381 animal-related nonprofit groups" who reported to the IRS in 2005. Leona's will didn't specify which specific dog-related causes the money should go to, which means her family may use the money to finance veterinary schools animal shelters. But we've got some better ideas!

Leona Helmsley's dog, who was willed $12 million when the wicked hotelier passed away last summer, will now only receive $2 million. Helmsley's disinherited grandchildren will get $6 million of the remaining sum. When reached for comment, the dog sniffed the reporter's hand and made a cute little snuffly sound.

Remember Trouble, Leona Helmsley's ill-tempered Maltese who collected a $12 million inheritance when the Queen of Mean passed away in 2007? Poor Trouble is $10 million poorer today: A judge reduced the canine's trust fund to $2 million and ruled the remainder go to charity. [NYP]

Former Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley cut her two grandchildren out of her will, but left "probably" hundreds of millions of dollars to charity. Also! $12 million for her dog! On the the "Today Show," the gang puts it in context: "That's a lot of Kibbles 'n' Bits." Right. Actually, it's 9.6 million pounds of Kibbles 'N' Bits. Also, it's unendingly stupid.

"Entertainment Tonight" ran some terrific footage of the late Leona Helmsley last night. It comes from a pre-incarceration era interview Helmsley did with "60 Minutes" living vampire Mike Wallace. You really get the sense of why Post scold Andrea Peyser was such a big fan of Leona's.

As the recollections of late hotelier Leona Helmsley start pouring in, the New York Post does its best to illustrate the impenetrable nature of her character in the form of an unintentional point-counterpoint between columnists Andrea Peyser and Cindy Adams. The issue in question? How Leona felt about the gays.

Leona Helmsley was more than just a former secretary who helped her third husband create a massive real estate empire while becoming a recognizable face to New Yorkers through a series of commercials in which she starred. She was a pioneer whose conviction on tax fraud (Rudy Giuliani was her prosecutor!) established that if a female executive is as abrasive, rude towards the help, and generally corrupt as her male counterparts, she deserves to be treated easily twice as harshly as a man would. Because, you know, that's not what we expect from ladies. In many ways, we can view the late Mrs. Helmsley as a precursor to fellow orange-jumpsuit wearer Martha Stewart. Thank you for blazing that trail, Leona! In memoriam, here's a clip of actress Suzanne Pleshette portraying the hotelier in the 1990 television movie "Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean."

Hotelier and ex-con Leona Helmsley—whose famous remark that "Only the little people pay taxes" will be her lasting legacy—has died at the age of 88. [1010Wins]

We've long wondered about some of the special services that some of the city's best hotels might provide "off the menu," if you catch our drift, wink wink nudge nudge. We'd always assumed that the menu consisted of happy endings and the like, but at Leona Helmsley's Park Lane Hotel—where rooms cost up to $480 per night—the options got much more creative. The night manager and another staffer were allegedly supplying special guests (and undercover cops) with guns and cocaine:

· Creepy: Billy Joel's new girlfriend bears a strong resemblance to his daughter. [Page Six]
· Leona Helmsley's grandson, who she reportedly ostracized for marrying someone who wasn't Jewish, is back in her good graces. [Page Six]
· First Niece, Lauren Bush, is being grounded in New York due to "security concerns." She's not allowed to study abroad in London or do European fashion shows. [Page Six]
· A portent of things to come: Teddy Roosevelt's pit bull Pete tore off the French ambassador's pants during a White House reception. [Cindy Adams]
· Robin Williams on what to do with Saddam: "Let [him] run a movie studio. He can make bombs there." Joe Millionaire got booed at the Knicks-Warriors game when he appeared on the GardenVision big screen. Ex-City Councilman Andrew Eristoff is selling memorabilia from his political life on eBay. [NY Daily News]

· Gabriel Aiello, the owner of Gabriel, says the photo that ran with this NYT story, taken at 3:30 PM, was misleading and made it look like the restaurant was going out of business. Page Six notes that the NYT prohibits the use of staged photos. [Page Six]
· Leona Helmsley re-hires PR guru Howard Rubenstein after firing him five days ago. [Page Six]
· Us Daily did a full-page guide on "How to Dress Like Anna Wintour," and Editor Bonnie Fuller was seen putting on the exact shearling coat Wintour wore in the photo. Says one staffer, "She's totally obsessed with Anna...It's sick." [Page Six]
· PJ Clarke's reopens on February 20th at a big bash hosted by Esquire. [Liz Smith]
· Lauren Bush was caught flirting with "Joe Millionaire," Evan Marriott, at 7th on Sixth. He asked for her phone number. "Actor" Steven Seagal says he always carries a gun in New York. [NY Daily News]

· Sotheby's execs complain that CEO William Ruprecht is raking in millions while the company's stock sinks and employees are being laid off. [Page Six]
· Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery unveils a 3 1/2-foot tombstone for Bill "the Butcher" Poole (played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York) that says, "Goodbye, boys, I die a true American." [Page Six]
· PETA's obsession with celebrities has resulted in a "worst-dressed list" and a fashion show of their own. [Page Six]
· Hoteliers Jeff Klein and Leona Helmsley are planning to stage a parade "to raise money for the war against drugs." [Page Six]
· Hadassah Lieberman says she'll keep the White House Glatt kosher if her husband is elected. [Cindy Adams]
· Joe DiMaggio blames the Kennedys for the death of Marilyn Monroe; Alan Hevesi complains that Virginia Fields is taking credit for his work; Temptation Island 3 is casting; and "superagent" Andrew Wylie is shopping Madonna's children's book. [NY Daily News]

· "Full-Frontal Fashion" host Robert Verdi is throwing a brunch party at Bobby Flay's house this afternoon for "fashion heavy-hitters" Alex Wek, Iman and Fern Mallis. Barbecued celery sticks, valium, and martinis, anyone? [Page Six]
· The tempest in the Limoges teapot subsides: Vanity Fair issues an apology for Dame Edna's remarks about learning Spanish. [Page Six]
· Leona Helmsley waxes philosophical on "bows": "Yes, I think they're pretty. Very feminine. I like being feminine. You get away with murder." [Page Six]
· The Word reports that Annie Leibovitz is being sued by bond trader Robert Snider, who alleges she's been waging a terror campaign of unnecessary household repairs that inevitably result in collapsing walls, bursting water pipes, and the cutting of phone cords to run his family out of a building she wants to sell. In other news, Harper's Bazaar Editor Glenda Bailey is refusing to be photographed with ex-Editor, Kate Betts. Alsosomething something fashion week something bony carcasses something website something something. [The Word]
· An assistant in Daniel Libeskind's Berlin office started a letter writing campaign against NYT architecture critic Herbert Muschamp; Lauren Bush is doing her part to improve international relations by dating Palestinian-American Tammer Qaddumi; and Lizzie Grubman's getting reality TV show offers. [NY Daily News]