Was Mayor Eric Adams taking police matters into his own hands when he knocked repeatedly on the door of an arson and homicide suspect in Brooklyn?
Ring cam video obtained by the I-Team shows the New York City mayor was accompanied by a member of his police detail and some tenants in the Ebbets Field Apartments on Monday afternoon when he visited apartment 11F. That's the home of Steven Attanasso, 67, who is the target of active criminal investigations by the NYPD and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office.
"How long has he been here?" Adams asked a neighbor, as he stood outside Attanasso's door.
At one point, the member of the mayor's NYPD detail peered into Attanasso's peephole and called out "Hello?"
Police say they suspect Attanasso set a fatal fire in the 11th floor hallway in April using his own foam mattress. The death of 66-year-old veteran Roderick Coley was caused by the fire, according to the medical examiner who deemed his death to be a homicide.
Just days before the fire, Attanasso was on tape talking about burning his Black neighbors. But an I-Team investigation in June showed the arson investigation had stalled, and Attanasso remained in the building, leaving neighbors terrified of what might happen next. Neighbors say they have been subjected to Attanasso screaming, writing the N-word on his door, racist rants, pulling out knives, spitting and hitting their doors with hammers.
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The I-Team asked City Hall what Adams hoped to achieve with this visit and what he would have said had Attanasso opened the door.
The mayor's spokesman, Fabien Levy, responded in an email: "The mayor knocked on the doors of a number of residents yesterday to hear directly from them about what they have been experiencing. He didn’t know whose door was whose..."
In the Ring video, Adams appeared aware that he was knocking on Attanasso's door, turning to ask the neighbors additional questions about whether he had always been a problem neighbor, as they waited. Nobody answered. The video shows Attanasso left the apartment a few minutes before Adams came calling, and returned shortly after the mayor left.
Terrence Monahan, an NBC contributor and the former NYPD chief of department, said Mayor Adams was trying to send a message to the NYPD that he wants the issue resolved.
"It's a tactic I know I used at times, where I'd go out there to take care of things and make sure it's handled. And if everyone sees you doing it, they better get out and do it themselves," Monahan said.
Some current and former law enforcement sources who declined to speak on the record because they did not want to anger Adams, say it is inappropriate for a mayor to attempt contact with a suspect, even if he's an ex-cop. They cite that it violates the chain of command and puts an investigation at risk.
"Does the mayor want the investigation to appear political, or to be required to take the witness stand?" one source asked.
Requests for comment about the mayor's visit were not answered by the NYPD or the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office.
Attanasso has not been charged in the alleged arson and his Legal Aid attorney has repeatedly declined to comment.
In recent weeks, tenants have been expressing frustration that a year of 9-1-1 calls about Attanasso produced no law enforcement nor mental health relief.
A few weapons arrests and trips to the psychiatric ER were not enough to achieve their goal, which they say is for him to be either in jail or in a mental health facility where he can get help and they can feel safe. After the fatal fire, that frustration intensified. Residents asked why no hate crimes charges were pursued; why there had not been more effective coordination between police and the city's mental health system.
"Mayor Adams, when do we get justice?" Raquel Harris asked during an interview in June.
Adams traveled to the Crown Heights complex Monday afternoon, just a few hours after we told him during a Q&A session that residents wanted to hear from him directly.
The mayor is familiar with the buildings; Adams used to live in the Ebbets Field Apartments, his staff confirmed, and he talks about how he used to keep an office there. He also represented the community in the State Senate and as Brooklyn Borough president before becoming mayor.
But Adams also insisted the problems were out of his control, because he does not supervise the courts nor the psychiatric hospitals' decisions to release people.
After meeting Adams Monday afternoon, Harris said she appreciated the mayor's visit, adding that he gave her his phone number.
"It's a first step," she said. "I'm quite sure the mayor would not want to live like this. I respect the fact that he did come out and he does seem like he's interested but let's see what happens."
Both Harris and Beverly Newsome, president of the Ebbets Field Tenants Association, say Adams has continued to communicate with them via text message since his visit, expressing his desire to find a solution.
"You can't forget he used to be a cop. And knocking on peoples doors is what cops do," said Newsome. "I'd be interested to know what would have happened had Steven answered the door. That would have been the movie to have."
Since the I-Team story aired, the Brooklyn DA's office said it would take a closer look at the case. Crime Stoppers posters were printed and put up in the building advertising a $3,500 reward for information on the fatal arson. And the DA and NYPD started exploring the possibility of elevating Attanasso's alleged offenses to hate crimes, which come with additional penalties and give judges more power to jail a defendant.
