By Mark Duell PUBLISHED: 13:58 EST, 10 October 2012 | UPDATED: 14:02 EST, 10 October 2012 A family is fighting a bitter war over the £4million fortune of a ‘selfish’ property and restaurant tycoon who was said to have used prostitutes and once threw a dog off a cliff in front of his weeping relatives Piero Curati, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, died aged 81 in 2007 - a year after his wife Emilia - and his sister Carmen Curati, 90, has been at war with his niece and nephew ever since over the money. He was ‘a selfish, demanding, controlling man, who could explode with demonstrations of extreme cruelty’ as well as a ‘philanderer’ who used prostitutes, his niece Sylvana Perdoni told a court.
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Italian Piero Curati, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, died aged 81 in 2007
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His sister Carmen Curati, 90, has been at war with his niece and nephew
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The duo, Sylvano and Roberto Perdoni, won a High Court battle last year
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Dispute centres over English will he signed in 1980 and Italian will in 1994
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If latter will replaced earlier will, Mrs Curati can inherit all his global assets
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But if 1980 will was valid, Sylvano and Roberto will inherit English wealth
She continued: ‘Despite his deplorable and totally abhorrent behaviour, and his hateful character, @placeholder and Piero loved each other and I believe one could not live without the other.