Lori Chung
Two Brooklyn landlords are facing charges that they harassed tenants out of their rent-controlled apartments. NY1’s Lori Chung filed the following report.
“He said he wanted to make renovations to the apartment, change the floor tiles, and paint,” said Noelia Calero.
But Calero says her landlord made the home that she’s enjoyed for the past 25 years unlivable.
“In a matter of hours, maybe two hours, he completely destroyed my kitchen and my bathroom,” she said.
It’s one of the four buildings controlled by Joel and Amrom Isreal in Bushwick, Greenpoint and Williamsburg. The brothers are now facing criminal charges, accused of harassing tenants out of their rent-controlled apartments.
“I was put out two weeks before Christmas and I have two kids going through no heat, the no hot water,” said tenant Catalina Hidalgo.
“The goal of this scheme was simple, and that was to convert those rent stabilized apartments into market rate apartments,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.
The Isreal brothers were arrested on charges that include burglary, grand larceny and unlawful eviction. Officials say some tenants were forced to live without facilities, including sinks, stoves showers and even toilets.
“We cannot allow anyone to be forced out of their rent-stabilized apartments and into homeless shelters because a landlord wants to make money off the hot real estate market here in Brooklyn,” said Thompson.
Thompson says the brothers hoped to make as much as four times the amount the affected tenants were paying, which was about $700 a month. But the landlords’ attorney says the brothers didn’t commit a crime.
“This matter has been the subject of a legal dispute for the last four years, a sophisticated legal dispute with lawyers, orders issued by judges, orders issued, by the way without any finding of wrongdoing on the parts of the defendants,” said attorney Kevin Keating.
But now, a criminal case with tenants saying justice is finally being served.
“We all went through a horrible experience and to finally be able to say that he’s getting a taste of his own medicine,” said Hidalgo.
The Isreal brothers pleaded not guilty and face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Source: ny1
