Man suspected in fatal fire allegedly threatened NYC neighbors with knife, racial slurs

Black tenants in a Brooklyn apartment complex have complained for the past year that they have been subjected to racist and violent threats — possibly even a deadly fire — from a neighbor who still lives in the building.

Now, after an I-Team report and a year of 911 calls seeking help from their nightmare neighbor inside the Ebbetts Field apartments, law enforcement is finally paying closer attention, as the Brooklyn district attorney’s office has opened a new hate crimes investigation.

Following a year of urging police to step in, the neighbors of Steve Attonasso thought their requests had been addressed at last and the NYPD’s response matched the urgency of the situation. More than a dozen officers responded with riot gear and a mental health worker to arrest Attonasso on a 2-month old warrant, taking him for a psychiatric evaluation.

“You needed all these cops just for me?” Attonasso can be heard asking police on bodycam video. “You've got the whole precinct here.”

As he got on the elevator, Attonasso's Black neighbors thought this might be the end of their nightmare. Since Summer 2021, they have endured racist threats, racial slurs, butcher knives waved at them, slamming with hammers, as well as screaming.

“He’ll scream ‘Ahhh, f--- you n-----s, I’m gonna kill you,’” said a neighbor named Raquel. “I’m sorry, but it's hard. It's nothing easy to live in fear.”

But after an unusually quiet weekend on the 11th floor, on Monday afternoon, in walked Attonasso. He had been released by the hospital and a judge in Brooklyn court, where he faces weapons charges related to knives.

If the charges aren’t enough to put a scare into his neighbors, the NYPD also said that Attonasso is their main suspect in a fatal arson on his floor in April. Investigators said they suspect he set fire to a mattress they believe came from inside his apartment — but they insist that so far, there's not enough evidence to charge him with the arson.

That’s despite video neighbors had turned over from three days before the fire showing a threatening interaction allegedly between Attonasso and neighbors.

“Black people, we're gonna burn you,” Attonasso allegedly said. “You guys are really brown. When we're done with you? You'll be black."

Attonasso did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and the attorney assigned to represent him on the weapons charge has declined to comment. On video provided by neighbors, Attonasso can be heard denying he set the fire.

After the I-Team exposed the situation in the Crown Heights apartment complex, and the city's failure to provide relief, the Eric Adams administration and Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalex said they were taking a closer look at the case.

During a visit from detectives earlier in July, some tenants expressed frustration that it took an investigation from NBC New York to even get their attention. But so far, the added attention has not produced relief.

In order to keep someone for more than 72 hours in a psychiatric hospital, the individual must have a diagnosed mental illness and be considered a risk to themselves or others. It was not clear what the reasoning was behind releasing Attonasso, nor was it clear whether the doctors evaluating him over the weekend were fully aware of the history of his alleged behavior.

Mayor Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul have promised to keep more people in psychiatric hospitals longer, instead of releasing them. But because this wasn't Attonasso's first hospital visit, nor his first arrest, he accurately predicted that he'd quickly be back at home — something his neighbors say he boasts about, which they find infuriating.

"I'll be out in four hours,” Attonasso can be heard saying on video. “I got a desk disappearance ticket. I disappeared.”

Attonasso has failed several times to show up for appearances in criminal court on those weapons charges and in housing court where his landlord is trying to evict him. Transcripts from Monday’s court appearance show the judge in the weapons case did release him but ordered some supervision to ensure that he returns to court. 

And while that new hate crime investigation is moving forward, the arson and homicide investigation appears stalled.

In a statement to NBC New York, a spokesperson for the mayor's office said that "Everyone has the right to feel safe and secure and to be free of harassment, especially in their own homes."

"While we are prohibited from sharing any one individual’s medical history, the Mental Health Law authorizes the removal of someone to a hospital for evaluation if they meet certain criteria," the spokesperson went on to say. "But, as the law states, whether someone is admitted or discharged from a health care facility is assessed by hospital staff and not by the NYPD or by city staff."

The spokesperson said that the matter is still under investigation, and urged anyone with information regarding any incidents to contact authorities as soon as possible.