Trump’s NYC Tenants Want You to See How He Forced Them to Live in Horrifying Squalor

Leaks, rats, and bitter cold are just some of the issues Donald Trump’s former tenants had with the billionaire real estate mogul.

In the early 1980s, Trump’s plans to tear down a building adjacent to New York’s Central Park and replace it with luxury condominiums were put on hold by rent-controlled tenants who had no plans to move. To get rid of the tenants, Trump went to war using extreme measures that have now been unearthed as part of a groundbreaking CNN Money investigation.

Trump began by firing the building manager at 100 Central Park South and replacing him with Citadel Management. As Trump wrote in his book, The Art of the Deal, he specifically hired a company that “specialized in relocating tenants.” In thousands of court documents, tenants spoke of a battle that dragged on for five years as Trump made their lives a living hell in order to get rid of them.

“Mr. Trump is willing to resort to any device or tactic to drive out the tenants from the building,” Dr. Michael Richman said in a court testimony.

After Trump served the tenants with identical lease violation papers. the tenants retained an attorney who succeeded in temporarily putting the lease violations on hold, and sued Trump for multiple violations. During the winter of 1982, Trump cut off heat and hot water to 100 Central Park South’s tenants and ceased to make any repairs to the building. According to the New York Times, that Winter was particularly long and cold, with a blizzard pounding the city in April. The New York Times described the “punishing” snowstorm as “a foot of snow and record cold yesterday into a metropolitan area long wearied of winter.”

Microfiche record of Trump’s lease violation served to 100 Central Park South’s tenants.

Another tenant alleged that Trump allowed rodents to infest the building, while other tenants claimed he instituted punitive new building rules, like forcing customers of dentists in the building to take the garbage-filled service elevator. Superintendent Anthony Ramirez described Citadel’s instructions to him in court:

“They didn’t want any repairs done. No cleaning. No accepting of packages,” Ramirez said.

The lack of repairs meant some of the tenants had to endure water leaks. In one particular instance, two brothers noticed brown and white mushrooms growing from their bedroom carpet after a 10-month water leak.

“Trump did his best not to repair anything,” one of the brothers told CNN Money.

In another instance, Trump sued tenant Anderson Clipper for not paying rent, despite Clipper having never missed a rent payment. New York City Judge Jay Stuart Dankberg called the lawsuit “spurious and unnecessary,” and forced Trump to refund 5 percent of Clipper’s rent.

“He was insensitive, rude, and just a generally nasty man,” Clipper’s ex-wife Nancy, 72, told CNN Money. “I would never have considered him presidential.”

By 1985, Trump faced legal ramifications for his actions. The state’s Division of Homes and Community Renewal sued Trump for harassing the tenants. The City of New York also joined the lawsuit. Court documents showed that Trump spent $1 million fighting the renters in court, while only spending $160,000 in building repairs over a four-year period.

Even though the tenants offered to buy the building from Trump for $15 million to end the war with Trump, his lawyers turned around and accused the tenants of “waging a ceaseless guerrilla-type war… to coerce a bargain sale of the building.” Trump’s lawyers sued the tenants for $150 million, and the battle continued until Trump agreed to pay the legal fees of the tenants’ lawyers and allow state housing authorities to monitor building repairs for five years.

But perhaps the most shocking part of the CNN Money investigation involves the case of Alvin and Catalina Meyer, the latter of which was dying of lung cancer. Construction workers hired by Trump’s building manager woke up Catalina at 7 AM one morning by drilling holes in the ceiling above her bed, and putting a workstation next to her apartment, which filled the residence with dust.

“I am a very sick woman battling for my life,” Mayer said in court documents. “I have begged for reasonableness. The landlord will not be reasonable.”

Amid the ongoing legal battle, Trump even resorted to intimidation tactics, instructing Ramirez, the building superintendent, to spy on tenants. Ramirez testified in court that building managers instructed him to keep tabs on “the personal habits of the tenants” and to “keep a list on the tenants’ activities.”

When Ramirez fought back against the orders to be intrusive, he told building management, “I don’t need anymore headaches. I’m here to do my job and to do repairs to the building.”

Trump’s building management simply laughed off his concern, saying, “What are you, a born-again Christian?”

In the end, no harassment charges were ever filed against Trump. The billionaire presidential candidate owns eighteen units inside 100 Central Park South, including a flat on the top floor, where his son Eric lives.

CNN Money reached out to the Donald Trump campaign, but neither Trump nor campaign communications director Hope Hicks responded.

Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact Tom via email at [email protected]