Argentina[edit]Onassis, 1932

Onassis imported tobacco from Turkey with help from his father. The tobacco was softer
than the Cuban variety, and he was sure it would appeal to women more. After the failure of a contract with Juan Gaona,
the director of a major Argentine company, Onassis turned to making his own cigarettes. After some time managing this
business and holding a job with British United River, he made a considerable amount of money. His power and influence
increased rapidly; he frequently attended important social events, and in 1925 he received both Argentine
and Greek citizenship. According to Peter Evans and Christian Cafarakis (a former employee), [7] a considerable part of the
tobacco was smuggled, helping him to rapidly accrue his first million dollars. In 1928, Onassis traded with Greece to the
value of US$2,800,000 just four years after his arrival in Argentina. [citation needed] This was due in part to other illegitimate
activities such as sabotaging his competitors and fraudulently using the name of a famous cigarette company: Bis. This
last enterprise was profitable, but ended when the real Bis company sued him. [8]
The 1000% increase in tax on imported products from countries with no Greek trade agreement, announced in 1929,
threatened Onassis's South American business. Argentina had few commercial relationships with Greece. With the help of
his confidante, Costa Gratsos, Onassis corresponded with the prime minister of Greece Eleftherios Venizelos and met
with foreign minister Andreas Michalakopoulos to discuss the tax position, finally winning support with the help of
extensive bribes.[9] In 1931, again with Michalakopoulos' help, Onassis was granted tax exemptions for his freight ships
and the title of Vice Consul.[9] This position greatly increased the status of Onassis as well as his business. The biographer
Evans states that Onassis exchanged vast sums of Greek currency on the black market, in spite of Gratsos' disapproval. [9]
Onassis founded Olympic Airways (today Olympic Air), the Greek national carrier, in 1957. Onassis made large profits
when the big oil companies like Mobil, Socony, and Texaco signed long-term contracts at fixed prices with him for the use
of his fleet, while having trouble managing their own fleet which operated under US flags and thus at high cost. Onassis's
fleet had Panamanian flags and sailed tax-free while operating at low cost. Because of this, Onassis could turn a profit in
every transaction, even though he charged one of the lowest prices in the merchant navy market. He could recoup the
cost of a tanker with a six-month contract.[citation needed] The rest of the service life of the tanker, usually 20 years, yielded high
profits.[citation needed] Onassis's owned a fleet of freighters and tankers that exceeded seventy vessels. Stocks accounted for
one-third of his capital, held in oil companies in the USA, the Middle East, and Venezuela. He also owned additional
shares that secured his control of ninety-five multinational businesses on five continents. He owned gold processing
plants in Argentina and Uruguay and a large share in an airline in Latin America and $4 million worth of investments in
Brazil. Also, he owned companies like Olympic Maritime and Olympic Tourist; a chemical company in Persia; apartments
in Paris, London, Monte Carlo, Athens, and Acapulco; a castle in South France; the Olympic Tower (a fifty-two-story highrise in Manhattan); another building in Sutton Place; Olympic Airways and Air Navigation; the islands Scorpios and Sparta;
the yacht Christina and, finally, deposit accounts and accounts in treasuries in two hundred and seventeen banks in the
whole world.[10] In 1954, the FBI investigated Onassis for fraud against the U.S. government. He was charged with
violating the citizenship provision of the shipping laws which require that all ships displaying the U.S. flag be owned by
U.S. citizens. Onassis entered a guilty plea and paid $7 million.[citation needed]

Whaling[edit]Between 1950 and 1956, Onassis had success whaling off the Peruvian coast. His first expedition made
a net profit of US$4.5 million. That business ended when the Norwegian Whaling Gazette made accusations based on
sailors' testimonials, such as one given by Bruno Schalaghecke who worked on the factory ship Olympic Challenger:
"Pieces of fresh meat from the 124 whales we killed yesterday still remains on the deck. Among them all, just one could
be considered adult. All animals that pass within the range of the harpoon are killed in cold blood." [9] The venture came to
an end after the business was sold to Kyokuyo Hogei Kaisha Whaling Company, one of the biggest Japanese
whaling companies, for $8.5 million.

The Greek Colonel affair[edit] Onassis, 1970

According to the Evans biography, four days after he

married Jacqueline Kennedy in October 1968, Onassis was in close discussions with Greek Prime Minister Col. George
Papadopoulos, who Evans states was on Onassis's extensive bribery list. [11] Onassis and Papadopoulos were planning
what they referred to as the "greatest business" in Greece. This project involved building an oil refinery, shipyards, power
plants, and several aluminum facilities. The project was officially named the Omega Project. The project was heavily
criticized by people such as Helen Vlachos, a journalist from Athens.[11]

The Omega Project negotiations with the Papadopoulos government ended with Onassis losing part of the project to his
competitorStavros Niarchos.[11] The failure was due partly to opposition from influential people within the military junta,
such as Ioannis-Orlandos Rodinos, Deputy Minister of Economic Co-ordination,[12] who opposed Onassis's offers in
preference to Niarchos.[11]

Relationships and family[edit] Athina Livanos[edit]

Onassis's world-famous yacht Christinatogether with its tender, a classic Hacker-Craft.

Onassis married Athina Livanos, daughter of shipping magnate Stavros G. Livanos and Arietta Zafrikakis, on December
28, 1946. Their son, Alexander (April 30, 1948 23 January 1973), and daughter Christina (December 11, 1950
November 19, 1988) after whom Onassis named his legendary super-yacht, were both born in New York City.
To Onassis his marriage to Athina was more than the fulfillment of his ambitions. He also felt that the marriage dealt a
blow to his father-in-law and the old-money Greek traditionalists who held Onassis in very low esteem. [13] She divorced
him in 1960 after she had discovered her husband having sex in the saloon of her daughter's namesake yacht, the
Christina, with the opera singer Maria Callas.
Onassis financed the construction of theOlympic Tower in New York.

Maria Callas[edit]Despite the fact they were both married, Onassis and opera diva Maria Callas embarked on an
affair. They had met in 1957 during a party in Venice promoted by Elsa Maxwell. After this first encounter, Onassis
commented to Spyros Skouras: "There [was] just a natural curiosity; after all, we were the most famous Greeks alive in
the world."[8]

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy[edit]Onassis ended his relationship with Callas to marry Jacqueline Kennedy,
widow of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, on October 20, 1968. They married on Onassis' privately owned
island, Skorpios.
According to Peter Evans, Onassis offered Mrs. Kennedy US$3 million to replace her Kennedy trust fund, which she
would lose because she was remarrying. After Onassis' death, she would receive a settlement of US$26 million;
US$150,000 each year for the rest of her life. The whole marital contract was discussed with Ted Kennedy and later
reviewed by Andr Meyer, her financial consultant.
Onassis' daughter Christina made clear that she disliked Jacqueline Kennedy, and after Alexander's death, she convinced
Aristotle that Jacqueline had some kind of curse due to John and Robert Kennedy's murders.[14]
During his marriage to Jackie, the couple inhabited five different residences: her 15-room Fifth Ave. apartment in New
York City, her horse farm in New Jersey, his Ave. Foch apartment in Paris, his private island in Greece named Skorpios,
and his 325-ft. luxury yachtThe Christina.[15]

Death and legacy[edit]Onassis died at age 69, on 15 March 1975 at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-surSeine, France, of respiratory failure, a complication of the myasthenia gravis that he had been suffering from during the
last years of his life.[16] According to his will, his daughter Christina was to inherit 55% of the Onassis fortune while the
other 45% was to be used as funds for the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation set up to honor his son Alexander Onassis.
[citation needed]
This 45% was the share his son Alexander would have inherited had he not died in 1973. Jackie Kennedy also
received her share of the estate, settling for a reported $10,000,000 ($26 million according to other sources), which was
negotiated by her brother-in-law Ted Kennedy. (This amount would later grow to several hundred million under the
financial stewardship of her companion Maurice Tempelsman.)[citation needed]Christina's share has since passed to her only
child Athina, making Athina one of the wealthiest women in the world. [citation needed]