So these haredi landlords may have lured the cats into a sack, tied it shut, and left them to die in the hopes…
…the smell would force renters to move.
The NY Daily News reports:
Brooklyn landlord's dead cats out of bag, stench lead the way
BY ERIN EINHORN
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
It wasn't until the city came to investigate the unbearable stench that the tenants at 64 Troutman St. in Brooklyn learned they were living with a bag of dead cats.
"It was so bad, we thought it was a dead body," said Daisy Terry, who says her landlord left the rotting carcasses in the Bushwick building for two months to pressure longtime tenants to leave their rent-stabilized apartments. "I had to hold my nose when I came down the stairs," she said.
Terry is one of a group of tenants suing their landlord under a new law that lets tenants take legal action for a pattern of harassment - as opposed to individual acts as required by prior laws.
Sunday, she and a neighbor stood with four City Council members, including Speaker Christine Quinn, to spread the word about the law and slam the landlords group trying to overturn it.
"This case is not the only case of tenant harassment, but if it was the only case, it would be reason enough to have this law on the books," Quinn said.
The tenants say that after a company called Heskel 1 bought 64 Troutman St. last year, workers removed the stairs leading to the basement and vacant units were filled with trash, including the bag of dead cats.
The Daily News was unable to reach the owners, listed in court papers as Joseph Glauber, Simcha Deuch and Wolfe Landau. A lawyer representing Heskel 1 did not return calls Sunday.
Mitchell Posilkin of the Rent Stabilization Association landlords group said it condemns any form of harassment, but the group says the legislation is vague and poorly drafted and will not be upheld by the courts.
The landlords appear to be Satmar hasidim.
[Hat Tip: Formerly Frum.]