Crime & Safety
NYPD Releases Video Of Vandals Tagging Prominent Lawyer’s Home
Randy Mastro, the lawyer representing some Upper West Side residents, had his UES home vandalized with red paint on Oct. 21, police said.
UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The New York Police Department has released surveillance video of the vandals who spray-painted the home of a prominent lawyer who's representing Upper West Side residents pushing to get people in homeless shelters out of hotels in the neighborhood.
According to police, on Oct. 21 around 1 a.m., several vandals were captured on camera dismounting from bicycles at the Upper East Side home of Randy Mastro, the attorney who was hired by the recently-formed nonprofit West Side Community Organization.
Police said the vandals then spray-painted derogatory messages on the sidewalk and façade of 21 East 83rd St.
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"F*** you Randy," and "Shame" were spray-painted multiple times in front of Mastro's building.
"Randy Mastro you can't displace us," was one of the messages splashed across the entrance to his building read, according to the NY Post.
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NYPD: Video of the incident
Officers said the vandals also threw red paint and eggs on the front door and exterior of the residence and damaged the front door locks with glue, in turn, making them inoperable.
Mastro has been a prominent voice in the effort by some members of the Upper West Side to get homeless men staying at The Lucerne hotel on West 79th Street out of the neighborhood.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would move the homeless residents out of The Lucerne in September, a few days after Mastro threatened to sue the city. However, the residents are still at the Upper West Side hotel after a judge put a temporary block on their move to a Financial District shelter.
As of Tuesday morning, the vandals still remain at large.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
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