A woman who was searching for information about her long-lost dad has discovered his secret life as a New York City mafia informant.
Paula Colville, 60, was raised by her mom Elizabeth, who became pregnant while working in New York City as an au pair in the 1960s.
After returning to Scotland, Elizabeth refused to speak to Paula about her past – with Paula only discovering her own father’s name aged 15, after a conversation with her grandmother.
Once Elizabeth passed away, Paula, from Lochgelly in Fife, decided to try “one last time” to find out more about her family, and took a DNA test in the hopes of being matched with any living relatives.
Shockingly, she was put in contact with half-sisters and half-nieces from California and New York – and together, they discovered that Billy Elson Lawson had lived in New York City, acting as an undercover mafia informant, before fleeing the state after an attempt on his life.
“My mum was never forthcoming with any information about my father,” said Paula.
“My mother made it very clear that I was a bitter reminder of the man that she’d loved and lost.
“As a 15-year-old, I was given a small amount of information by my gran – she told me his name, and said that my father was 20 years older than my mum, and was the owner of the George Washington hotel in Lexington Avenue.
“That wasn’t true, but she did tell me his name was Billy Lawson.
“So, when my mum was at work, I went through the entire White Pages – which is the New York phonebook – to try and find him.
“Of course, I didn’t find him because his name had already changed at that point, but I wasn’t aware of that.
“I tried again throughout the years – I even went to the Salvation Army, because they help to find missing people. I hoped that they might be able to help, but they couldn’t find anything.
“I gave up for a while after that.
“But then my best friend passed away in January 2022, and he’d said to me that I should really give it one last go to see if I could find out anything.”
Paula even hired a private investigator based in New York to try and track down information about Billy – but he came up empty handed.
But after finding half-sisters Cherie, 51, and Lisa, 49, through MyHeritage and Ancestry DNA tests, the siblings were able to compare the information they had about their father.
Paula discovered that Billy had been placed under witness protection after an attempted assassination blew up his apartment, leading him to flee the city.
“He’d been living in an apartment, and people had tried to have him killed – the apartment blew up, but he wasn’t in there at the time,” she said.
“It was linked to the mafia stuff, which is really surreal.
“You don’t expect something like that to be part of your life – it’s like something from the movies.”
He took on the name Why Wakeen, and moved to Texas and New Jersey, where he was twice married and divorced, before settling down in Arkansas.
Neither of his wives knew anything about his time in the mob, attempted murder, or his birth name.
Billy passed away in Arkansas in 2009 after a battle with pneumonia and pancreatic cancer, with his death registered under his alias.
“I found two women who turned out to be my half-nieces,” said Paula.
“They had a similar story about their granddad – but his name was slightly different, so I wasn’t sure.
“We conversed quite a lot – shared what information we could with each other.
“Dad was sporadic, in and out of their mum’s life, and it was mostly phone calls she had with him. Her mum did have some contact with him – although not a lot.
“I had also commissioned a private investigator who lived in New York, to try and find more about him, but he couldn’t come up with anything – again, because of the name.
“It was like he had vanished off the face of the earth.
“Through matches on Ancestry, I managed to locate cousins of his.
“They were completely unaware that Billy had even been married, never mind had biological children. They knew nothing.
“They said that he just vanished after he joined the American Air Force in 1960.
“I finally managed to find other relatives who put me in the right direction – and they helped me get in contact with my sisters, Cherie and Lisa.
“They didn’t know he had changed his name – they were shocked.”
Paula, who lived her whole life believing she was an only child, was shocked to discover she had sisters – and thrilled to get the chance to learn more about them.
The three women bonded immediately – and in February, Paula and her husband flew to New York to meet them for the first time, and celebrate her 60th birthday amongst family.
“I sent them letters at first, and they received them on the exact same day,” Paula said.
“We had our first video call the next day – this was in June 2023 – and our relationship has just built from there.
“Finally, my husband and I went to New York in February. It was my 60th birthday, and I thought it would be really nice to spend it with my sisters.
“It was everything I hoped for and more – it was like all my birthdays and Christmases came at once.
“The girls and I are so alike – how we think, we have the same likes and dislikes.
“Considering we grew up with different mothers and on different sides of the planet, it’s strange that we think the same way.
“You’d think that there would be awkward silences once we met, but we were talking non-stop. It was really lovely.”
Paula and her sisters took a trip around New York City – investigating her father’s old haunts, including a visit to a hotel where he had briefly worked as a bellboy in the 1960s.
Now, with her family’s greatest mystery solved, Paula hopes to continue keeping a close relationship with her sisters – and says the discoveries she has made have been “surreal.”
“The girls and I have already agreed that we’ll do our utmost best to see each other at least once a year,” she said.
“My husband and I are already planning our next trip to New York.
“The girls do want to come to Scotland – but I’m quite happy going back there!
“It was Dad’s territory, and I just want to go to the places where he was. I still want to learn more about him – but that will come as time goes on.
“I feel very blessed. I’m very lucky that the girls have welcomed me with open arms.
“We’re in a very good place and we’re close – which is strange to say, because I was brought up as an only child.
“It’s been surreal – it’s like finding the missing pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.”
