It’s been a little while since the days of landlords burning down their building in New York for fun and insurance money. After all, it’s much more fun and profitable to just jack up the rent, regardless of whether it’s legal or not. So we’ve gotta hand it to the building owner in Bed-Stuy who allegedly decided that he wanted to burn down a building he owns that’s being squatted in and then sell the land for profit, rather than the old timey reason of collecting insurance money. That kind of vintage move, but with a modern twist, is exactly the kind of thing that fits into modern day New York City. Also it fits because it’s people acting like goddamn monsters over real estate.
According to the Daily News, building Lalbahadour Byjoo and a partner, Jean St. Fleur, told an undercover cop they wanted a building on property Byjoo owns burnt to the ground. As for the fact that the building was being squatted in? Byjoo allegedly told the undercover cop he didn’t care and that he “liked his steak well-done.” Which beyond proving that humanity is barely worth it, also proves that people writing hard-boiled detective fiction aren’t really stretching it too much in their dialogue for bad guys.
Fortunately, the building wasn’t burned down and no one died, and no doubt Brooklyn’s more unscrupulous land owners learned a thing or two about having scruples and playing fair.