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Threatening Torture to Get Out of Rent Backfires for Three Men
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 26, 2010
Modified Feb 26, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 26, 2010
Modified Feb 26, 2010
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A 71 year-old man and his 36 year-old roommate are going to prison for hiring a 6-foot-5 inch, 350 lbs thug to strong-arm their building manager. You may recall that last year police arrested elderly architect Ekkehart Schwarz and his roommate Vassileios Giamagas, after they threatened "death and torture," against the manager when he tried to collect $265,000 in back rent on their unfinished restaurant on West Third Street. They forced him at gunpoint to sign a waiver excusing them from the rent; later, they kidnapped him and threatened him with fake guns, pliers, a screwdriver, and forced sodomy from "a giant guy with an Eastern European accent."
They also forced him to sign blank checks for them, one of which they cashed for $25,000! Giamagas, who bragged about being a fratricidal child-slaughtering Chechen mercenary with mob ties, faces 11-15 years in prison. Schwarz faces 8-15, and all three men could be deported.
Tagged
landlord
rent
threat
torture
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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