Landlord of NYC migrant squatter house claims gun-toting drug-dealers scammed him — he now fears for his life
The landlord of a Bronx squatter house where eight gun-toting migrants allegedly peddled drugs said he was afraid for his life after he was scammed by the nightmare tenants.
The property owner told The Post Wednesday he was left helpless to evict the migrant crew because of pro-squatter laws as the bullies refused to pay and brought chaos and noise to the block.
“Our New York law is not favored to safety. Because of squatter rights, one month they live there, you cannot take them out until processing, and the process takes year after year,” said the Bronx landlord, who asked not to be named.
On March 27, the Venezuelan migrants were hauled out of the basement apartment of the ravaged Bronx house, where he said they’d been shacking up without paying rent since about August — and terrorizing both him and the neighborhood.
“I’ve been suffering, I’ve been scared. The neighbors are all scared they tell me. I install cameras they disconnect all the cameras. I finally got them all out and lock the door and they break the window and go back in.”
After calling the cops on the freeloaders, the squatters leered at him while drawing their fingers across their throats right in front of officers — but even then police said they couldn’t do anything, he claimed.
“He say, ‘right now he isn’t doing anything so we can’t do anything. You know, we’ve got to follow the law,'” the landlord said of the reporting officer.
Even after the squatters have been taken away, the landlord still fears they’ll find a way to exact retribution.
“That is why I don’t want to be in the TV. They are still out there,” he said. “It’s very dangerous. I hope nobody has to go through this.”
Two of the suspects were carrying guns at the house when cops responded to a call of a man threating somebody with a weapon on March 27, while a search of the house found at least two more handguns along with a stash of drugs.
Neighbors said the migrants — four of whom ICE confirmed had skipped out on immigration hearings over the last two years — were part of a crew that ran a night-and-day drug and gun delivery operation out of the basement apartment.
“They were delivering ketamine, weed, coke, guns, it was going all day and all night,” said lifelong neighbor John Colby, 67.
“It’s all out in the open, and it’s all non-stop crazy,” he added, explaining the migrants parked their cars and scooters in neighbors’ driveways and became hostile when people asked them to park elsewhere.
“I really feel bad for the landlord. He’s a nice guy and this situation is just insane.”
The landlord thinks a tenant scammed him into allowing squatters to move in after she skipped out on her lease in early August.
“I rented to an Ecuadorian lady, she had a 14-year-old child and a husband. It was a setup. After 3 weeks she called me and say, ‘I’m leaving the apartment and I’m going to leave it to my brother,'” he said.
But when he asked for documents to verify the brother, the woman allegedly stopped responding. When he went to confront the supposed brother, he found the squatters in his basement, he said.
He hasn’t been collecting rent, he said, even as the squatters ran his water bill up by more than a $1,000 per month.
“What are you going to do? As a landlord? Like me, a small landlord, how I keep my house?” he said. “My house anytime can go to the bankruptcy. Because they no paying rent. Also I have to pay the bill. Every day I am getting call from the water department. I am behind bill. All this stuff.
“My regular tenants left. They are scared. Their cars are being destroyed, their properties being destroyed, these people destroyed everything here, they just destroy.”
