He buried her in the plot he owns at St. Raymond's Cemetery as her children didn't have money to bury her themselves, the New York Post reported Monday."I put (Maria) there because she was my partner, my wife, my friend, my everything," Ellin was quoted as saying."I didn't want to move her."Maria's death left her five children grief-stricken.
Ellin offered $1,000 for funeral-home service and space in the $4,600 grave. He also let Maria's children know that his first wife of 20 years, Lucy Ellin, was resting there.
"I don't regret it," said Ellin, who met Maria at a Bronx salsa club.
"I did love her very much."Maria's daughter Miranda said she was "emotionally distraught" when she gave the go ahead to have her mother buried there.
The move upset Ellin's children from Lucy who didn't want Maria immortalised on the same gravestone. Santos' wife, Lucy, died, in 1980, when she was 37. She had told him on her deathbed that he should find someone else.
Published 18 October 2010, 08:29 IST