Transcripts for KUAR 89.1 FM [FM 89] KUAR 89.1 FM [FM 89] 20

KUAR 89.1 FM [FM 89] KUAR 89.1 FM [FM 89] December 17, 2019 020000

I tell these guys you got to keep it short and sweet and good morning good evening how about the next. Happy holidays. Is kind of new we want to say Happy Hanukkah to a few people who said no no no no no no no no merry Christmas no happy Hanukkah as happy holidays. You know you're going to miss you're going to mess with Tony you're going to miss. It she couldn't throw in the wrong way it's going to come back. It's delicate dealing with the tenants surprisingly delicate. People in the building gossip about him and then he goes on secret thoughts about them to. Have been happy but today on our program we have stories of the super disease everybody come and go he knows way more about the tennis and they know about him here is a security camera for gods they don't call 24 hours a day but a figure of authority kind of an in-house servant. Be easy Chicago is This American Life. Our show today in 3 Acts 3 to very dramatic acts actually starting let's just get right to it starting with this one jacket because that is like a an epic novel with pot twists and unforeseen danger and bizarre coincidences and unlikely heroes and even more unlikely bad guys here's Jack. During New York City's great crime wave of the 1980 s. Getting an apartment was simple all you had to do was commit a crime we had heard from a friend of a friend that if we went down and gave key money and that is to say $1.00 month's rent sic going feet to this superintendent that is to say Bob that we would be able to get an apartment this is my friend cabin he and I got our apartments in the same building on 99th Street and their early eighty's by bribing the same superintendent a guy named Bob These were old beat up flats with screaming radiators and floors and exposed pipes a city engineer once inspected the building and declared that it was 6 stories of dust held up by a 100 years of paint. These were our 1st New York apartments we were there to start our lives the York was all romance and everything was outsized in our ages the buildings in the town our invasion the night life and as we quickly discovered our Super Bob all sorts of things about him were truly spectacular by for example the way he repaired our apartment Here's Chris another tenant in the building after we got burglarized. Bob put in. Safety gates for the fire escape. Which he welded so that nobody could get in but you couldn't get out in a fiery that there was no way to them if. He told us that they were in for installing its lighting revolving doors. If it needed it which we had he never explained what those were but I do remember a life like thinking to myself How can you say there's lighting revolving doors but he said it was such a totally straight face Bob the work habits were a thing of wonder. I remember one time Bob showed up with his assistant and generally talented guy named Smitty my sink was backed up and Bob started pouring this heavy black liquid from a gallon jug into the standing water Smitty started backing up and with experience as my guide I started backing up to one cup somebody yelled just one cup shot up Bob explained and he emptied the entire jug into the water there were nasty rumblings hot chemical reactions were happening somewhere in the walls I was very scared and suddenly the doors below the sink work at my cleaning stuff that blew open with an explosion and this unspeakable oily sludge poured out across the kitchen floor. Bob was so much more than just a bad handyman very early on I began to perceive Bob's talents as a fabulist you know and you know it's really painful to go down and pay the rent every month you had to give it to him which meant you had to stand there and listen to you know 101520 minutes of completely insane stories. Big running theme was important in the world in general and particularly in Brazil I definitely remember his cattle ranch stories this is a man another tenant during those early days and now married to Chris he had 7 cattle ranges for cattle ranchers he only Brazil and the 7 vineyards he had in Italy or it might have been 7 cattle ranches in Brazil and 4 vineyards in Italy if if you actually took him if after he left the room and you thought about what he said you think his he living here because he was like you know like basically a king. Of the village people would just welcome him he claimed that there was a cause in the constitution of Brazil that gave him immunity from any any prosecution whatsoever. And then fact he could he could as he put it go and kill the president of the Brazilian stage and he would still be immune from prosecution . Of course Bob. Had an explanation for how he went from being a South American cattle baron to a New York City super and had 2 heart attacks and his doctor had had had this isn't actually an actual story this doctor had prescribed that he gained a lot of weight and and moved to America so probably the 1st time in medical history that that enormous weight gain was prescribed for a heart condition. In his own way Bob united the building all of us the elderly black businessman the Puerto Rican grandmother the handsome Bombay immigrant me the Southerner negs we all had our favorite Bob stories we all did our own impersonates ins of Bob it was impossible not to try to out Bob whoever it was talking with an even more outlandish Bob story of your own we collected and traded Bob stories comparing versions analyzing his technique he was remarkably unfazed by any show of skepticism. He stopped right there was the story of power how he had once hung a bag of acid from the roof of the building to chase away the various homeless men who were in the streets often come and congregate by the by the edge of the corner of this building. Hung a bag of acid from the top that would drip down settling on him and I have no idea how you hang a bag of ass now you get the acid in the bag and put that up there that's a no no small feat in itself but of course the best part is Bob was telling us the story at the very same time that you could lean out of the office where he's talking and see the 3 or 4 homeless guys. Sitting on the corner right there apparently completely unscored or bothered by dripping acid. The other story that I've always really captured just sort of like all of Bob's essence for me was when. Every kid in this building has these funny circular fluorescent bulbs very specialized you know light bulbs they're also in the hallways out in the on the 1st floor and mine after 10 years of noble service from the burnt out and I looked at it and I. Where do you buy one of those so I trotted on down to Bob's office one morning and I said Bob You know the light bulb in my kitchen is burned out and I'm just wondering Do do I buy that and replace it if so where do you buy them or do you all just replace that for me and of course he went into the total Bob chair he's like yes that's right you let me take something Mr Don't try to steal one of the late bulbs in the hallway I know what you're thinking but I've tried them and if you climb up there and you try to take the light bulb it will blow up and shoot the glass in your eyes and you will be blind for all time. That everything so I take that to mean that I have to buy the boat myself. The very opposite of Bob was Alan the landlord. Was larger than life smack in the middle of the average percentile had a family he lived in White Plains and met his wife. Doing business with Alan was a completely routine experience if it was a toilet to be fixed he'd make sure the crew got there on time and got it done even in our biggest blowout he was always reasonable or civil even though one time things got a little testy when Alan started neglecting the old Puerto Rican folks in the building. I become friendly with one grandmother who showed me her tub full of green stagnant bathwater Alan and I had some tense words and I and some others even held meetings to start a rant strike but in the end Allen gracefully withdrew and we all went back to normal business back to Bob the inscrutable endless mystery that was Bob. Fast forward in 1909 I'd been in my apartment 8 years I had a steady job and I was walking to work one morning somewhere along the way I saw the Daily News blaring the latest tabloid crime story headline Terror landlord. I looked closer and realized it was Allen My Allen the landlord but I Sky his kids I knew the story was incredible he'd been arrested for murder for hiring hitman to kill his brother in law Arthur Katz in 1980 and as story got out it quickly became clear that Bob was the one who would rather than going out. Allen was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison where he remains today. More time passed I got a new apartment in the West Village then I got married had children and later moved to another state where Alan and Bob became memories proof that I lived in New York back when crack was king and the murder rate stopped 2000 a year. In the late nineties almost a decade after I'd last seen Bob or Alan I was working on an investigative piece about money laundering and a source at the Treasure Department that suggested I call this really smart prosecutor in New York named John Moscow so I rang him up and started just reacting the way you do I asked him if he'd handled financial crime a lot and he was quick to say that he had worked homicide in New York back in the eighty's during the crime wave when crack was king and the murder rate stopped 2000 a year yeah I said I live there too I told him I was actually involved in one of those tabloid stories mine involving a landlord hired contract killers to murder brother in law and then gets ratted out by the super There was a peculiar pause on the phone then Moscow said Alan Stern West 99th Street I'm the guy who put him behind bars. Right away of course we started talking about Bob I told him the light bulb story Moscow had a good laugh and then I went on in the way residents of 99th Street can do finally get to the want to but Bob claiming that he had a special exemption from the Brazilian Constitution and could murder anyone in Brazil. Again there was that odd Moscow pause and then he said here the thing is that was kind of true I asked him. When you were in the military what were you where you assigned as the military police here's John Moscow describing Bob's testimony on the witness stand and what was your job my job was to locate interrogating execute politically unreliable persons get out of fear. Death Squad in Brazil and. He was asked. Do you kill any people a death squad but he had been a key figure in the murder of Alan's brother in law. Was crucial in securing the talents of the 2 hit men named Sammy feet and Crazy Joe. And according to the court documents Bob was in the boiler room with some of his crew when news of the hit came down they celebrated. With Martini and Rossi and things really got going when a portable radio just happened to belt out that Queen song you know the 1. 01. 01 that. The hit was just one of numerous crimes brilliant crimes really that Bob and Allen pulled off from that little office it turns out that when it comes to crime Bob was incredibly competent he and Allen set up dummy construction companies they defrauded the state with counterfeit charges to force out one tenant they rewired the electrical outlets to high voltage lines to fry all the apartment appliances My favorite was their natural gas again they put the fake cones out on the street and actually jack hammered through the asphalt to a working gas line they bypassed the meters and in time eliminated more than $800000.00 of Alan's gas bills. On top of all this help the prosecution scenario and Bob tapped Alan's phones Bob wore a wire and in court transcripts Alan calmly weighs the relative merits of buying off some people versus having them killed and this is what really comes across when you talk to Moscow just how wrong all of this war at sizing up Bob Allen when we had 2200 homicides in New York as opposed to fewer than 500 which is what we're on for this year. You had a lot of people talking about killing people. There was a certain. Rationality and cold bloodedness about this murder that was just plain different. And I just testified under oath at trial. I watched him when he was being cross-examined. And. Ever forget. Defense counsel asked him to do torture men or women. And he said My specialty was man. And the way he said it. My blood felt bad 10 degrees colder there was just absolute. The court room. Everyone was persuaded that He meant. So headed by former Brazilian death squad officer rat out Allen. I think called tips to report the murder. Right I mean like the 1800 number where the local crime reporting that 7 tips are everywhere so he calls that and then he goes and may makes an appointment to meet with the major case squad what drove him to turn Allen in Allen and his family had discussed selling the building moving to Florida. And in the course of that. Had discussed having the president and the vice president of the tenants of station murdered. And. Figured that Allen was going to have these 2 guys were Act and blamed pup but what year was this this was 1988 I only only bring that up because. There was a there was a one point there was a strike that was going to be put together in my building and I was the tenant leader of that I mean was that the rent problem that Alan was upset about who has another in straight. So so Alan might have actually tried to get me one act. Ultimately Bob went into the police station and admitted his own role in a murder. And thought he was going to prison because his perception at the time was that Alan would cause these murders to take place. And so he protected himself by ratting out at 1st. So Bob turning state's evidence basically saved my life or the life of the tenant organizers that was Bob's story. I found. I recently on the phone and we had a nice chat he remembers me as the tall blond guy on the 1st floor he wanted to talk to me for the story but his lawyer told him not today or ever and then Bob suggested that I not bother to call back I wanted to ask him about the cattle ranches and being written into the Constitution and give those stories a fresh listen knowing what I know now and of course I wanted to know whether I was the one who was going to get whacked I wasn't the only Tenet organizer in the building at the time but I'll never get that answer now all I have is another Bob story full of details I can't confirm. But so delicious that I can't wait to go back to my old pals and tell it to them. So this is one of the lawyers talking to Bob during the trial when you began your testimony under arrest yesterday you told us about your military experience in Brazil I would like to christen and live in Queens now that I read to them the court transcripts that John Moscow told me about more than one was more than 10 more than 10 correct it's gone did you torture both men and women my specialty was men. Paul. I think a little further though why this is the testimony that you know this is an I mean it's under oath. Yet now you've taken it to a whole new level of. War . Maybe you know what it does make you go sort of go back and rethink like the whole. The pattern of exchanges you had with him. I never come in like I never said to myself There's some reality to who this guy says he is. I mean I used to get furious with him. But like to think oh I was talking to like the murdering torturer was definitely toying with us yeah now it's a different level of toys. Instead of just being some ass it's like he's a professional and. I feel like I'm sitting here Mays now that we work with sports or not we're always like a logically tortured but I mean we could have been a very horrible story you know what our current the super is looking much better but. It doesn't surprise me in a way again there's Kevin you know I mean it's a you know talking about the banality of evil you know he strikes me as one of these you know one of these I can take characters who would in certain contexts. Do completely. Awful disgusting things and then for move from them in some more peaceful pain also rounding would settle back and just be a windy and windy superintendent of of a building here and. It was kind of interesting that like after this was all over after he had testified and Alan was put away of course Alan daughters I believe then on the buildings so of course Bob lost his his free apartment and his his Super his position and it was almost like he kind of deflated. Like you know nobody had to talk to him any more so he would walk around it was almost pathetic he'd walk up you know or down the block and say hi and people would you know just kind of go by you know nod to him and go by and and then after a short time after this he just wasn't around anymore he was done. And I've no idea where he went to. Where is he anyway you find and he's an elevator inspector in New York City. Hall in trouble and. Found Allen also at his website Alan Stern dot net he's been appealing his conviction for over 15 years he makes the case that he's innocent his argument is that the entire story of Sammy phaeton Crazy Joe and the explanation of the brother in law's murder and all the rest of it is hearsay or grandiose fiction in other words Alan is saying he can top us all that he's the victim of the most outlandish story ever told. Jack he now lives in New Haven in a house where he has his own super He's also the co-host of the Peabody award winning podcast uncivil if you haven't heard it seriously give it a try He's currently developing a new podcast it's been many years since we 1st reported this story 2014 Alan Stern was released from prison as far as we can tell is no longer an elevator inspector for the city of New York John Moscow is now practicing criminal law in Manhattan. Coming up super gets. That's in a minute from Chicago Public Radio when our program continues support comes from the Vincent Heart Institute with more than 30 cardiology and cardiovascular surgery clinics throughout the state and more than 50 specialists to diagnose and treat heart disease Vincit Heart Institute celebrates heart month with its new heart health profiler users can learn their heart age risk for cardiovascular disease and receive a report to share with their doctor learn more about the St Vincent Heart Institute at ca. Vincit dot com slash more heart. This is Jonathan Luna with the loonies wine and liquor sponsor of k u a r block here Berman and Burgundy is just around the corner preserve your tickets at events. This year one of bourbon tasting courtesy of the loonies features each from the pantry and music from the right to block collective. Radio lovers at Block pier Berman and burgundy on Saturday January 11th Get your tickets today at the Vince. Program which is the theme bring you a variety of different kinds of stories on that theme today show the super We arrived at Act 2 of our show back to Super Duper we now move from a story about an East Coast super to a story about a West Coast super. Burka. Josh lives in a Spanish court your building in Los Angeles a city which even apartment buildings act like they're on t.v. Is a little bit like no rows place a lot of kind of communal activity and sort of presiding above it is the super is not really a super like you would have in maybe a larger building or a large or city it's he's alleges that it is a way. I guess I like a dense urban city is what I'm going to say. But he doesn't have like a tool belt and show up and fix things but Hill sort of call the guy who does that and he takes the rent and. He is kind of a solitary guy or for the most part he sees sort of place to spend a lot of time reading and stuff so he just hangs out of there in the building Josh and the rest of the tenants in the building like their super who work all day have hung o

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