Joe L. Allbritton, communications giant who led Riggs Bank into disrepute, dies at 87 Joe L. Allbritton, a self-made millionaire who built a Washington communications empire and led the once venerable Riggs National Bank as it became embroiled in a massive money-laundering scheme involving Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, died Dec. 12 at a hospital in Houston. He was 87. He died of heart ailments, said Frederick J. Ryan Jr., president of Allbritton Communications and president and chief executive of Politico. The son of a Houston sandwich-shop owner, the hard-charging Mr. Allbritton dealt in real estate, banks and mortuaries until he was drawn to the District by a new challenge: reviving an ailing afternoon newspaper in the nation's power center. Mr. Allbritton bought the Washington Star in 1974. He won entry into the District's elite political circles not only as a media magnate but also because of friendships with other Texans who had made their fortunes in the capital city, including lobbyist Jack Valenti and Watergate special prosecutor Leon Jaworksi. Federal regulations over media ownership forced him to sell the Star just four years after he bought it. But he retained valuable broadcast properties, including the ABC affiliate that soon took his initials (WJLA, Channel 7), and forged ahead with other enterprises including NewsChannel 8, one of the country's first 24-hour news channels. In recent years, the company Mr. Allbritton started - now run by his son, Robert - has reshaped the city's media landscape with the launch of Politico and the short-lived Internet news venture TBD. The elder Allbritton was perhaps best known for overseeing Riggs National Bank - a Washington institution that marketed itself as "the most important bank in the most important city in the world" - during its scandal-plagued decline. Riggs was Washington's largest independent bank and its most gilded. Since its founding in 1836, the bank had served 21 presidents and their families and had financed the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska. The bank's flagship branch sat directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the Treasury Department, a geographical metaphor for its proximity to power. Mr. Allbritton, too, cultivated connections to influence. He entertained presidents at his home in Northwest Washington and hosted an annual brunch (often featuring Texas chili) for bold-faced names from the intersecting worlds of business, finance and media. He collected impressionist paintings and bought a farm in Fauquier County where he indulged his passion for raising thoroughbreds. His horse Hansel won the Belmont and Preakness stakes in 1991. In 1982, he spent $70 million to acquire a controlling interest in Riggs National Bank. He became chairman and chief executive, and his strategy for the next two decades relied on the bank's air of exclusivity to woo wealthy clients, particularly foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington. He traveled the world in the bank's Gulfstream jet, courting heads of state and wealthy businessmen abroad. He continued to conduct business in lavish style even after shareholders raised questions about the bank's high overhead costs and tried to force Mr. Allbritton to sell the jet.