A Staten Island plumber who won a $136 million Powerball jackpot says he wants to keep working -- but also plans to "relax a little more."
Anthony Perosi, 56, left his ticket pinned to the wall behind a basement pipe for six weeks. He said he heard that someone had bought a jackpot ticket from the 7-Eleven in Richmond Valley where he purchased his, but didn't check it because a friend said he didn't win.
"So my friend Sandy said, 'Ah forget about it, you didn't win nothing,' so I didn't check my tickets," he said.
He didn't look at the ticket until his pickup truck broke down a few weeks later. He said he thought he was having a heart attack when the numbers on his ticket matched the ones from the March 14 drawing.
"I tried to breathe in and nothing was going in, so I figured I was having a heart attack or my heart stopped," he said. "So I really grabbed that ticket, figuring they'd find it in my hand. Then I finally let air out."
The New York Lottery said Thursday that Perosi is sharing his winnings with his 27-year-old son, Anthony III.
The cash value of the ticket came to $88.5 million.
The father gets a net lump sum of $38.6 million after required witholdings. The son pockets $16.5 million.
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The younger Perosi says he'll pay some bills, take a vacation and then think about his future.
He adds, "I don't have words for it."
