source: Daily News
Brooklyn landlords bribed city housing inspectors to scare tenants into moving out: prosecutors
Two Bushwick landlords allegedly paid off Housing Prevention and Development Department inspectors, who then pretended to issue ‘vacate’ orders to take away homes from lower paying tenants. Then the landlords would rent the homes to more upscale tenants, prosecutors said.
Leslie Rahaman, a single mother of three, said an inspector banged on her door and threatened to bring the cops if she didn't move out. But she wasn't fooled by the scheme.
Nicolas Rivera, 62, also wasn't fooled when he was ordered to vacate his Brooklyn home.
On New York’s gentrification battleground, there’s a new weapon for landlords hoping to make a quick buck while the market is hot — the corrupt city inspector.
In perhaps the most disturbing scheme in this week's bribery takedown, prosecutors say two Bushwick landlords paid off Housing Preservation and Development Department inspectors to essentially terrify tenants into fleeing.
They alleged the tainted inspectors pretended to issue “vacate” orders to empty out buildings that could then be rented to more upscale tenants — quickly, before the market cools off.
Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters said probers found inspectors and building owners conspiring “to flip apartments to higher paying tenants and take away homes from lower paying tenants.”
In October, landlord Frank Campasano was allegedly caught on tape fuming to HPD inspector Luis Soto about evicting a tenant in his Suydam St. building.
"I want to get the f---ing guy out, Luis," he said.
The four-story tenement sits in the heart of gentrification country, where younger tenants with big wallets drive rents out of sight.
Prosecutors say Soto and another HPD inspector, Barry Rice, hit on the perfect plan: smack the building with a fake vacate order due to accumulated code problems such as rodents, lead paint and faulty hot water.
<figure class="a-image v">
Luis Soto, an inspector accused of taking bribes, is seen here at his arraignment Tuesday. </figure>
Rice, caught on tape, promised to yell at landlord Campasano about the violations "to make it look good." He then reported back to Soto about his campaign of terror, court documents state.
"Every apartment I screamed on the motherf---ers, 'You gotta be out in 72 hours! You not out, the marshal is coming, he's coming with NYPD, your furniture will be outside and you will be handcuffed and escorted off the premises.’”
Tenant Leslie Rahaman, 34, a single mother with three children living in the building since 2012, remembers this feel-good interlude vividly.
“That same guy banged on everybody's door and said, ‘Everybody's got to go. If you don't go the cops are going to be here’," she said, noting that several of the tenants are elderly.
“They were scared,” she said. “I was like, ‘This guy is phoney baloney. They can't do that.’"
Tenant Nicholas Rivera, 62, recalled, “I opened the door and he says, ‘You live here?’ I say yes. He says `Everybody here in the whole building they have to leave in 72 hours.’ I look at him. I don't see no ID. I say go to hell and close the door."
There was no actual vacate order, and DOI — listening in on the HPD crew — intervened to ensure no one was evicted.
<figure class="a-image h">
This building at 159 Suydam St. is one of two Bushwick sites where landlords allegedly bribed city inspectors to harass tenants. </figure>
There was no actual vacate order, and DOI — listening in on the HPD crew — intervened to ensure no one was evicted.
The corrupt duo wasn’t always on top of its game, prosecutors say. Last summer Rice went to the wrong address after landlord Abraham Mertz mentioned a tenant he wanted “out” of a Jefferson Ave. tenement.
“I talked to the wrong f---ing people then,” Rice said, saying he had “go back.” When he arrived at the correct address, a DOI surveillance team was watching.
In some cases, owners needed violations cleared so they could sell the building. The corrupt inspectors would claim the violations were remedied when they were not, which left dangerous conditions in place, such as chipped lead paint or no hot water.
Prosecutors say Soto — working with a supervisor, Oliver Ortiz dismissed 778 housing code violations from 24 properties in Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg and Bushwick in just three months last year.
In return, Soto received $41,500 in bribes from nine different property owners, doling out a percentage to his boss, Ortiz.
In August, HPD suspended Soto and Ortiz and restored many of the violations they’d cleared. Soto realized he was under scrutiny and was soon caught on tape threatening to expose property owners he said still owed him $30,000 in bribes.
“I’ll start putting names on the list of the people that bribed me,” he said.
Brooklyn landlords bribed city housing inspectors to scare tenants into moving out: prosecutors
Two Bushwick landlords allegedly paid off Housing Prevention and Development Department inspectors, who then pretended to issue ‘vacate’ orders to take away homes from lower paying tenants. Then the landlords would rent the homes to more upscale tenants, prosecutors said.
Leslie Rahaman, a single mother of three, said an inspector banged on her door and threatened to bring the cops if she didn't move out. But she wasn't fooled by the scheme.
Nicolas Rivera, 62, also wasn't fooled when he was ordered to vacate his Brooklyn home.
On New York’s gentrification battleground, there’s a new weapon for landlords hoping to make a quick buck while the market is hot — the corrupt city inspector.
In perhaps the most disturbing scheme in this week's bribery takedown, prosecutors say two Bushwick landlords paid off Housing Preservation and Development Department inspectors to essentially terrify tenants into fleeing.
They alleged the tainted inspectors pretended to issue “vacate” orders to empty out buildings that could then be rented to more upscale tenants — quickly, before the market cools off.
Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark Peters said probers found inspectors and building owners conspiring “to flip apartments to higher paying tenants and take away homes from lower paying tenants.”
In October, landlord Frank Campasano was allegedly caught on tape fuming to HPD inspector Luis Soto about evicting a tenant in his Suydam St. building.
"I want to get the f---ing guy out, Luis," he said.
The four-story tenement sits in the heart of gentrification country, where younger tenants with big wallets drive rents out of sight.
Prosecutors say Soto and another HPD inspector, Barry Rice, hit on the perfect plan: smack the building with a fake vacate order due to accumulated code problems such as rodents, lead paint and faulty hot water.
<figure class="a-image v">
Luis Soto, an inspector accused of taking bribes, is seen here at his arraignment Tuesday. </figure>
Rice, caught on tape, promised to yell at landlord Campasano about the violations "to make it look good." He then reported back to Soto about his campaign of terror, court documents state.
"Every apartment I screamed on the motherf---ers, 'You gotta be out in 72 hours! You not out, the marshal is coming, he's coming with NYPD, your furniture will be outside and you will be handcuffed and escorted off the premises.’”
Tenant Leslie Rahaman, 34, a single mother with three children living in the building since 2012, remembers this feel-good interlude vividly.
“That same guy banged on everybody's door and said, ‘Everybody's got to go. If you don't go the cops are going to be here’," she said, noting that several of the tenants are elderly.
“They were scared,” she said. “I was like, ‘This guy is phoney baloney. They can't do that.’"
Tenant Nicholas Rivera, 62, recalled, “I opened the door and he says, ‘You live here?’ I say yes. He says `Everybody here in the whole building they have to leave in 72 hours.’ I look at him. I don't see no ID. I say go to hell and close the door."
There was no actual vacate order, and DOI — listening in on the HPD crew — intervened to ensure no one was evicted.
<figure class="a-image h">
There was no actual vacate order, and DOI — listening in on the HPD crew — intervened to ensure no one was evicted.
The corrupt duo wasn’t always on top of its game, prosecutors say. Last summer Rice went to the wrong address after landlord Abraham Mertz mentioned a tenant he wanted “out” of a Jefferson Ave. tenement.
“I talked to the wrong f---ing people then,” Rice said, saying he had “go back.” When he arrived at the correct address, a DOI surveillance team was watching.
In some cases, owners needed violations cleared so they could sell the building. The corrupt inspectors would claim the violations were remedied when they were not, which left dangerous conditions in place, such as chipped lead paint or no hot water.
Prosecutors say Soto — working with a supervisor, Oliver Ortiz dismissed 778 housing code violations from 24 properties in Bed-Stuy, Williamsburg and Bushwick in just three months last year.
In return, Soto received $41,500 in bribes from nine different property owners, doling out a percentage to his boss, Ortiz.
In August, HPD suspended Soto and Ortiz and restored many of the violations they’d cleared. Soto realized he was under scrutiny and was soon caught on tape threatening to expose property owners he said still owed him $30,000 in bribes.
“I’ll start putting names on the list of the people that bribed me,” he said.
