The owner of Long Island’s opulent Oheka Castle declared Tuesday “Thank God I’m alive” after surviving an attempted assassination on Monday.
Business mogul and political power broker Gary Melius is recovering from a head wound after a masked gunman shot him after he entered his Mercedes-Benz in the valet parking area of the Huntington hotel and catering hall Monday afternoon.
“Thank God I’m alive. I have great family and wonderful. friends. I love them all,” Gary Melius, the shooting victim, said in a statement to The Post from his North Shore University hospital bed in Manhassett.
Melius made the comments through his pal, former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, who visited him bedside Tuesday morning.
Gary Melius in front of his Oheka Castle.Photo: Mary Mcloughlin
“Gary is looking good. He’s going to make a speedy recovery. He’s out of the woods,” D’Amato said.
D’Amato said Melius joked that he’s eager to play poker again “so he can get me to pay up.”
D’Amato said Melius– as well as his legion of friends — are still stunned at the bid to kill him.
“All we know is that this was the work of a madman,” D’Amato seethed when asked about the motive.
Melius, 69, has helped bankroll the campaigns of both Republican an and Democratic elected officials on Long Island and is a force in the Independence Party.
Melius has had his share of controversies. He used his influence last year to get the former Nassau County Commissioner Thomas Dale to arrest a campaign worker that Melius accused of perjury during testimony over the collection of voter signatures for a third party candidate he supported, ex-Freeport Mayor Andrew Hardwick.
Dale was subsequently forced out as police chief following an investigation by Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice — but Melius came out unscathed.
One insider who knows Melius claimed the developer is providing authorities leads on political corruption on Long Island.
Meanwhile Melius has struggled to pay the mortgage for the sprawling Oheka estate — the site of filming for Citizen Kane as well as wedding receptions for bold-faced couples — including disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin in 2010. He refinanced the $ 27.9 mortgage after missing a payment in 2012.
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