Suspect in deadly NYC fire still living in building, accused of racially harassing Black neighbors

Black residents in the Ebbets Field Apartments in Crown Heights say they're being terrorized by racist threats from an unstable neighbor who they say also pulls knives on people, bangs their doors with hammers and scrawls the N-word on his apartment door.  

An I-Team investigation found their calls placed to 911 over the course of a year for help have delivered no relief from the City's law enforcement or mental health systems.

Even though the NYPD confirms to the I-Team that Steven Attonasso, 68, became their only suspect in an April 6 arson that killed another man on his floor, he has not been charged.

Residents asked the I-Team for help, saying the investigation of the fire is stalled and they feel like sitting ducks as Attonasso walks around the building, threatening them still.

"He'll scream 'I'm gonna burn you N-words!'" says Raquel Harris who lives on the 11th floor with Attonasso. "He'll scream 'Aaaahhhh! F--- you N----s!  I'm gonna kill you!'

It's hard. It's nothing easy to live in fear."

Residents on Attonasso's floor say the racist rants, threats and screams became so hideous last summer, they installed RingCams on their doors and made efforts to catch him on tape.

In one of the videos, recorded three days before the fire and given to detectives immediately, Attonasso can be heard saying "Black people, we're gonna burn you. You guys are really brown. When we're done with you, you'll be black."

"Oh my goodness, it was horrifying," Raquel says of the moment she heard the beeping of the fire alarms and saw the thick black smoke quickly filling up the hall.

Responders say during the firefighting operation, Roderick Coley, the 66-year-old veteran in apartment 11-E found himself struggling to breathe and died soon after.

On June 28, the I-Team learned the NYC Medical Examiner determined Mr. Coley's death was a homicide because "the intentionally set building fire" caused him to go into cardiac arrest.

"And from this day, it still hurts," Darryl Dinkins told the I-Team, choking back tears. "It hurts from the heart, because of Jackie Robinson's soil. And I feel for my people."

Dinkins notes the painful irony that his Ebbets Field home, on the spot where baseball's Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, feels more symbolic of a broken system.

When police went to question Attonasso the day of the fire, they allege he was carrying a dagger. They arrested him on a misdemeanor weapons charge, not on any arson allegations.

Attonasso was back home the next day, to the dismay of his neighbors.

Attonasso's court appointed lawyer in the dagger case, David Gary Seman of the Legal Aid Society, did not respond to the I-Team's calls or the questions we sent by email.

A Legal Aid spokesman, Redmond Haskins, said there would be no comment. 

The I-Team also tried unsuccessfully to reach Attanasso by phone and voice messages left for him were not returned.

The FDNY says somebody intentionally set a foam mattress on fire in the 11th floor hallway. Police sources say they have reason to suspect the mattress came from inside Attonasso's apartment. But there are no known eye witnesses. 

Earlier in the investigation, NYPD sources said they wondered whether the fire could have been set by someone else, upset with Attonasso and his rants. This week, an NYPD spokesman confirms Attonasso is a suspect and that there are no other suspects.

Three law enforcement agencies tell the I-Team that Attonasso's threats - though upsetting - do not prove he set the fire.

"Get him out of here. He needs to go for help, if not jail," said Harris.

But Attonasso is not currently facing any charges that would keep him in jail. And a year of 911 calls produced no solution for his neighbors.

These are just a few examples of calls police records show were made In the year leading up to the April 2023 fire police responded several times to calls from Attonasso's neighbors alleging he was:

• June 27, 2022 - "emotionally disturbed and walking around the streets with a knife"
• July 5, 2022 - "waving a knife at a building manager who was afraid for his life"
• August 23, 2022 - “Acting erratically”
• March 23, 2022 - "making threats to kill everyone" and "screaming he knows how to make a bomb." The call  was marked as disorderly conduct.
• March 24, 2022 - "irate and violent"

At least once, officers arrested him, and at least twice, they took him to the Kings County Hospital ER.  But the Adams Administration would not say whether any further steps were taken to address Attonasso's needs and his neighbors' pain, nor clarify whether any opportunities were missed to coordinate. The I-Team turned to some former city officials for context but they requested anonymity to speak freely.

One former NYPD official familiar with how the system works said, “With this many calls, it begs the question where was the coordinated City response? Certainly the local precinct should have been aware of the problem."

A second former City official with expertise in this area raised several questions: "has everything been done to advance the criminal investigation over the last several weeks since the fire?

When the man was taken to the hospital for evaluation, did police provide relevant history and context for the hospital to consider? Is he a candidate for one of the many kinds of mental health teams the city has?"

Mayor Adams has proposed controversial policies designed to result in more involuntary psychiatric hospitalizations. State Law requires medical professionals to determine a person is a risk of harm to oneself or others, to be committed. Adams has said he has delivered better coordination between police and social workers, with the goal of helping the mentally ill, even if that means involuntarily hospitalizing people who are not presenting an imminent risk.  

But Cynthia and Troy Stephens, who live in Ebbets Apartments, are demanding to know why the Mayor's plan is there for the homeless, but not for their home.

"These people are just trying to come home and take care of their families. You need to show up and deal with this situation because enough is enough," said Cynthia, who called 911 on June 14, after Attanasso allegedly threatened to kill her and reached into his waistband as if to retrieve a weapon in the lobby that day.

"He called me the B-word, and then the C-word, and then he called me the N-word, and then he said he was gonna kill me."

A video recording from that day also shows Attanasso upstairs, threatening a different tenant, saying "I'm a Vietnam Veteran. I've killed men before. I'll kill you."

"No one seems to see this as an emergency. I see on the news every day hate crimes against Asians, hate crimes against the Jewish Community," says Beverly Newsome who has been president of the Ebbets Field tenants association for a decade. Newsome and other tenants are asking why the police have not pursued any of Attanasso's actions as hate crimes (which are crimes motivated by bias.) 

Investigators declined to comment except to say that scrawling hate speech on one's own door, which Attonasso was accused by his neighbors of doing, would not amount to a hate crime.

Mayor Adams' spokesman Fabien Levy said "Everyone has the right to feel safe and secure and to be free of harassment, especially in their own homes. The NYPD is still investigating this incident and has a suspect in mind. While we continue to work with the Brooklyn DA to ensure a successful prosecution and determine whether an arrest warrant can be issued, we encourage anyone who has information about this arson and homicide to submit it to authorities as quickly as possible.”

Tenants also showed the I-Team call logs demonstrating their unsuccessful efforts to get relief from 311, their local councilmember, state lawmakers, and the City Human Rights Commission.

Ringcam video shows this month, as police continue to come and go from the 11th floor, responding to continuing complaints about Attonasso, one officer expresses surprise that Attonasso was "not evicted" after the fire.

Tenants also complained repeatedly to building management, Fieldbridge Associates, which has been trying unsuccessfully to evict Attonasso since 2021 in the backlogged Housing Court, where records suggest he has never once shown up for a hearing. The landlord is currently pursuing a claim for $8,200 in unpaid rent, with no mention of his behavior or the suspected arson in the papers.  Experts say nonpayment of rent is likely a faster, cheaper route to eviction than a nuisance claim.

"Those cases drag out for years whereas really, the focus should be you connect them with the mental health resources they need," said Olga Someras, General Counsel of the Rent Stabilization Association representing landlords (but not involved in this case.)

A Fieldbridge spokesman said they are cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation but declined to answer any specific questions about their handling of Attonasso.

In a statement, the spokesman said, "The safety of our tenants is a primary concern which is why we hav ea 24-7 security team on the premises and over 100 security cameras."

But it was a tenant's camera that showed Attonasso recently taking down a sign asking any witnesses in the Arson to call the 71st Precinct.

Tenant Leader Beverly Newsome says she is weighing legal options, and listening to the tenants, which is what she said she tried to do the first time Steven Attonasso called her in her capacity as Ebbets Field Tenants Association president about one year ago.  

He had a suggestion, she said, "He wanted to get rid of the Black people. I don't think he knew he was speaking to a Black person."