The late Muammar el-Qaddafi (also known as Muammar Gaddafi in London’s Daily Mail and Moammar Kadafi in the L.A. Times) died of a bullet to the head, according to a heavily illustrated 10.21 Daily Mail story by David Williams.

“Moments after the last grainy video was shot, it is believed Gaddafi was killed,” Williams writes. “Initial reports suggested he had been executed by revolutionary forces in front of a baying mob. But there have been claims by rebels who witnessed the killing that Gaddafi was actually shot by one of his own bodyguards to spare him further humiliation. It has also been suggested he was shot during a fight inside an ambulance conveying him to hospital, or that he was actually caught in crossfire.”

Here’s an account of Qadaffi’s nomadic existence following the fall of Tripoli and particularly his last few days by N.Y. Times reporter Kareem Fahim.

And oh, yeah…he was personally worth over $200 billion dollars, according to a story by the L.A. Times‘ Paul Richter. A Business Insider account by Gus Lubin says this figure made Qadaffi “by far the richest man in the world.”

“Moammar Kadafi secretly salted away more than $200 billion in bank accounts, real estate and corporate investments around the world before he was killed, about $30,000 for every Libyan citizen and double the amount that Western governments previously had suspected, according to senior Libyan officials.

“The new estimates of the deposed dictator’s hidden cash, gold reserves and investments are ‘staggering,’ one person who has studied detailed records of the asset search said Friday. ‘No one truly appreciated the scope of it.’

“If the values prove accurate, Kadafi will go down in history as one of the most rapacious as well as one of the most bizarre world leaders, on a scale with the late Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire or the late Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.”

Rapacious — ra¬∑pa¬∑cious?[ruh-pey-shuhs] 1. Given to seizing for plunder or the satisfaction of greed. 2. Inordinately greedy; predatory; extortionate: a rapacious disposition.

To paraphase Jack Nicholson‘s Charlie Partanna: “If Qadaffi was so fuckin’ rich how come he’s so fuckin’ dead?” Answer: Because he was arrogant, delusional and asinine. The man could have abandoned Libya many weeks ago and fled to some exotic haven and lived like a sultan and slept with virgins every night of the week and twice on Sundays. But no — he had to stay in Libya to the last and cause more death.

If only an intermediary could have arranged for a conversation between Qadaffi and Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil while the dictator was still alive! Tom is looking at a tall monthly nut as he launches his new, aggressively exacting awards-assessment site, and Qadaffi could have polished his rep (well, a little bit) by helping Tom out.