Bill Way Sr. has sent a letter to the editor of New York magazine for publishing an article which alleges that his late son, Billy Way Jr. had been evicted from his Manhattan apartment.

And he said the article, contained in the July 29 edition of the publication, was filled with "lies and inaccuracies'' when it reports that the dwelling was left in a messy state.

The Royal Gazette was not able to speak to Editor in Chief Kurt Anderson yesterday but a spokesman for the magazine said it stood by its story.

"Yes we do stand by our story,'' the spokesperson said. "It was vetted by our lawyers and we had a source that saw the apartment and they spoke to the owner of the building who said that eviction proceedings had begun.'' In the article, writer M.D. Rips, claims that Way had dated actress Tea Leoni and was from an old Bermuda family.

"Sometime last summer, (Way) stopped paying his rent,'' the article said.

"Months went by and the owner finally began eviction proceedings.

"One week before the eviction was to occur, (Way) disappeared. That evening employees of the restaurant went upstairs to remove several bags of garbage that had been left on the balcony.

"There they discovered the electricity had been shut off for failure to pay the bill.'' Among other details the story claims that there were burnt down candles stuck to the carpet and dirty laundry strewn over the floor along with cut-off drinking straws and roach clips.

However Mr. Way Sr. said the article was "all junk.'' "I have written a letter to the editor of the magazine and so have many others who are Billy's friends.'' Way angry at New York magazine "This story is not accurate at all. He was giving up the apartment -- there is no doubt about that. He had an ongoing dispute with his landlord.

"But the other things are just not true. I was in the apartment myself just after he died. There were a lot of his clothes in the apartment and his work stuff. He was living on 58th street at the time which is somewhere else.'' Other inaccuracies Mr. Way pointed out is the suggestion that the late Mr. Way Jr. came from "an old Bermuda family''.

"I came here in the 1960 and my children were the first generation to be born here -- we are hardly an old Bermuda family and we are certainly not rich.'' But the magazine spokesperson said that the apartment the late Mr. Way allegedly left in an untidy state was a townhouse located on 62nd street which is the beginning of a region of New York known as the Upper East Side.

The Upper East Side is an area that encompasses Park Avenue and Madison Avenue and has some of New York's most expensive properties.

Mr. Way Sr. said that the article, entitled "Death of An Aesthetic,'' reduced his son to a stereotype.

"This is just all garbage that they put in this article...it is just terrible. He was giving up the apartment due to a dispute with his landlord.

"I have received calls and letters from people all over the world who have spent a lot of time with Billy and loved him.

"They were from Australia and England and France and everywhere. It's the inside that made people like him not some apartment he left two months ago that someone else trashed.'' Billy Way Jr., a star tennis player, was killed earlier this month while crossing a busy Manhattan street.