A suspected drug dealer took over a Queens apartment after its owner died of a drug overdose, then stayed there for months, trafficking drugs from there, according to neighbors and police.
Joseph Pisano, 53, is accused of breaking into the Jamaica Estates home of Anneliese King, a retired office worker, after the two met at a senior center near King's building, King's neighbors and homeowner told The Washington Post.
King, 64, a neighbor and ex-boyfriend, was a longtime heroin addict who rented Pisano a one-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor of Ava Place and paid $1,451.40 a month, according to Queens Housing Court records and residents. Residents said King, who they believed was a drug dealer, had been seen using a walker to get around the construction site.
“[Pisano] “He took advantage of her,” a 53-year-old neighbor told The Post. “Some people have the ability to see weakness, and he saw that she was weak.”
Neighbors said midnight drug sales have decreased, adding that drug addicts sometimes accidentally ring the bell looking for Pisano at King's apartment in the six-story, 52-unit building.
“The boldness of this man… [his alleged drug dealing] “This kind of visibility puts all of our lives at risk,” an outraged neighbor said.
King was found dead in her apartment on May 20. According to a coroner's report obtained by The Washington Post, she died of an overdose of heroin and fentanyl.
Hours after authorities removed King's body, Pisano returned to the apartment with another woman and continued to live there, according to Queens Housing Court records.
“She passed away, but they continued the business,” said Robert Miller, an attorney for landlord Herb Donner.
Pisano and the woman had been living in King's apartment for more than two months without paying rent, the disgruntled landlord alleged in a housing court lawsuit.
After King's death, this quiet middle-class building became a hotbed of drug use and trafficking, shattering the sense of safety and peace for many residents of this previously upscale neighborhood.
“For the past few weeks, squatters have been moving into the fifth floor of our building (apartment 5B) and are attracting suspected drug users who conduct drug transactions daily on the sidewalk in front of our building,” one outraged neighbor wrote in a June 28 letter to the building's management, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.
“We no longer feel safe in our own homes and are increasingly insecure about our safety and property,” they added.
An NYPD spokesman said there have been no drug-related 911 calls to the building this year.
Despite the passage of a new state law earlier this year aimed at making it easier for police to intervene against squatters, the NYPD was initially “unwilling to do anything,” according to housing court records.
Donner served eviction notices on Pisano and his associates in June and then asked a Queens Housing Court judge to evict the squatters, Housing Court records show.
Pisano was finally arrested during a raid at 6 a.m. on July 31. According to the criminal complaint, officers found a scale covered in cocaine residue on a dining room table, 32 vials of cocaine, 21 glass paper envelopes containing heroin, a ledger with names and cash amounts on it, and other paraphernalia.
A woman, Kelly King, was also arrested and charged with numerous drug offenses, including possession with intent to sell. It is unclear if King, 52, had any connection to the deceased resident.
Surveillance footage obtained by The Washington Post shows Pisano being slowly escorted out the door using a walker, while King is handcuffed and led away.
Pisano pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance on Aug. 20 and was sentenced to nine months in Rikers Island, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz's office.
Authorities said King pleaded guilty to a second-degree crime of using drug paraphernalia and received nine months' probation.
Meanwhile, the apartment remains empty and locked as Donner waits for a housing court judge to issue an eviction warrant so she can legally move in again.
