The Hilton dynasty has given the world a lot of gifts — namely a ubiquitous hotel chain and Paris Hilton. Now, a lesser-known Hilton is ready to make his mark on the world.
Meet Conrad Hilton III, younger brother to Paris and some kind of royalty in his own mind, it appears.
Hilton is accused of causing a ruckus July 31 aboard a more than 10-hour British Airways flight from London to Los Angeles. Flight 269 landed safely in Los Angeles without being diverted, but Hilton is now facing federal charges.
After turning himself in, the 20-year-old, very wealthy man-child appeared in court Tuesday, accused of threatening the flight crew, smoking aboard the plane, making children cry with his profanity-laced tirades and calling everyone who dared be annoyed by his antics “peasants.”
Here is what he told an FBI agent, according to the 17-page complaint against Hilton filed in U.S. District Court on Monday:
He hadn’t been drinking on the flight, although he had taken a sleeping pill, he said in his defense. And, yeah, he had called people “peasants” on the flight.
“I told all of them I could get all of their jobs taken away in less than thirty seconds,” Hilton said, according to the complaint, as he recalled his interactions with flight attendants.
He credited a man at the back of the plane with stopping him from killing a flight attendant. “If that man wasn’t there, that guy [the flight attendant] would have been ____ killed on that flight. A hundred percent I would have killed him,” Hilton said.
For what it’s worth, Hilton’s account of what happened basically matches the recollections of flight attendants and passengers who had to suffer though the 10-hour ordeal.
According to the complaint:
It all started about 30 minutes into the flight when flight attendants were about to start drink service on the upper deck, but they couldn’t because Hilton was standing in the aisle blocking their path.
One flight attendant described Hilton as flying from “one tirade after another” throughout the flight.
He complained that the flight attendants were ignoring him or “taking the peasants’ side.” He whined about being upset because he broke up with his girlfriend, one flight attendant said. He bragged that his daddy would bail him out of this situation as he had in the past. After all, he’s already banned from several other airlines, he told the flight attendants.
“My father will pay this out, he has done it before. Dad paid $300,000 last time,” Hilton allegedly said.
Crew members and passengers were surprised that the flight wasn’t diverted or sent back to London given Hilton’s behavior.
One flight attendant reported to investigators that Hilton at one point swung at him but missed his face by “about ten centimeters.” His fist hit the bulkhead instead.
“If you wanna square up to me bro, then bring it on and I will ____ fight you,” Hilton allegedly told the flight’s co-pilot in another incident.
He complained that a male passenger was giving him the “stink eye,” which meant that he “either wants to fight me or ___ me but I’m not gay.”
At one point, authorities say, Hilton apparently began smoking marijuana in one bathroom, then ran to another bathroom and began smoking a cigarette after apparently stuffing the smoke detector with paper towels.
Hours into the flight from hell, the co-pilot eventually presented Hilton with a “final written warning” document, urging him to behave. Hilton ripped up the document.
Finally, shortly before the flight was scheduled to land, Hilton fell asleep for about an hour. In that time, the flight crew devised a plan to land the plane safely without having to deal with his behavior. With the pilot’s permission, they restrained him while he was sleeping, but he woke up while they were restraining him and was enraged. “I’m am going to ____ kill you,” he screamed.
In his interview with the FBI, the agent read Hilton the part of the law that would apply to this particular case.
The agent read: “An individual on an aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States who by assaulting or intimidating a flight crew member or –” Hilton interrupted him. “I did intimidate. But, through defense. He came up to me with his nose.”
If convicted, Hilton faces up to 20 years in prison. A judge ordered him back to court in March, and he was released on $100,000 bail.
