Mansion rented out as illegal hotel and concert hall; DOB sees nothing

For some really strange reason, the following landed in my inbox last week:

from: newyork.undiscovered.talent
to: queenscrapper@gmail.com
date: Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 2:48 PM
subject: Attn: New York Musician/Singer perform in New York's biggest mansion!

My company is partnering with a large New York Real-estate developer who owns New York's largest mansion it is a 10 million dollar estate! His vision is to rent out this mansion for music events. Here is a link to the location http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p298342. Our company organizes large scale showcases where local musicians/singers can perform in this mansion. We offer musicians/singers 3 major benefits:

*The opportunity to perform in New York's largest mansion a 10 million dollar estate! The developer we are working with also owns other estates through out New York and nationwide as well. You will have the opportunity to perform at all of these multi million dollar estates. Why is this important? When a music industry executive sees you perform in a crummy bar with few people in the audience they will not take you seriously no matter how talented you are. Music is a business and every time you perform you are advertising your brand. The question is do you want to advertise your brand in a crummy bar with no one there or a 10 million dollar mansion with a sold out crowd? As we grow we are also interested in renting out famous concert halls, broadway theaters etc. in New York and you will also have the chance to perform there as well.

*We will always have a guaranteed large audience because we invite so many people to attend our events such as other local performers, business sponsors, press, music industry executives and other guests. This is an amazing networking opportunity to meet many important people in the music industry and promote your music in a large way! You can even sell your CD's live at the event!

*It is not required but If you have an entrepreneur business mind we also have a way for you to make a large monthly income just to refer other musicians/singers into our network. You do not need to know a lot of musicians/singers we will show you how easy it is to find musicians/singers online. You do not have to sell anyone or even talk to anyone we do all of that for you. You will make money every month just to generate leads for our network, it is that simple. If you see the big picture of our network you will realize there is no other opportunity for local musicians/singers out there like this and our network can grow very big and you can benefit big time!

To join our network there is a small fee of $30 per month but there is no contracts. You can participate for 1 month or every month the choice is yours. I understand many musicians/singers do not want to pay to play but this is a different situation. This is a 10 million dollar mansion we are talking about with a guaranteed packed audience, this is worth a small $30. You will even enjoy wine and chef prepared hors d'oeuvres as well.

No money is due right now if you are interested all you have to do is reply to this email with "Reserve a spot for me". We need your name, cell phone number or home number and your email to reserve a spot. We will email you a link to the location for your review. Once we have all of the acts and sponsors lined up we will meet in Manhattan to answer all of your questions, discuss dates and at that point the $30 will be due. Our goal is to book the mansion for mid November before thanksgiving.

As this sounds like quite a ridiculous scam, I decided it was worth looking into. I tracked down the address of this property - 283 Nugent Street in Staten Island. There have been multiple complaints about this property dating back to 2011.

11/10/2011 ILLEGAL CONVERSION A PRIVATE HOME INTO A HOUSE OF WORSHIP ALL DAY. AS PER CALLER TOO MANY PEOPLE. TOO MANY CARS BLOCK THE STREET.
11/22/2011 NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION. NO EVIDENCE OF HOME BEING USED AS A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. NO VEHICLES ON PREMISES. NO VIO WARRANTED

11/14/2011 CLR STS THE ONE FAMILY PD AT ABOVE ADDRESS IS BEING ADVERTISED AS A VACATION HOME WITH DAILY, AND WEEKLY RATES WITH MAID SERVICE
11/22/2011 NO VIOLATION WARRANTED FOR COMPLAINT AT TIME OF INSPECTION. NO EVIDENCE OF SIGNS OF HOME BEING ADVERTISED FOR BUSINESS NO VIO WARRANTED

05/10/2012 THEY ARE RENTING OUT THE SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE AS IF THIS IS A HOTEL
05/14/2012 COMPLAINT UNSUBSTANTIATED BASED ON DEPARTMENT RECORDS. DUPLICATE COMPLAINT#5097732 FILED

05/10/2012 THE HOME IS BEING RENTED OUT ON A SHORT TERM BASIS, EVERY WEEKEND AND A WEEK AT A TIME. IT IS ADVERTSED ONLINE HOTPADS.COM/VACATION-RENTALS/283-NUGENT-STREET-STATEN-ISLAND-NY-10306
05/14/2012 COMPLAINT UNSUBSTANTIATED BASED ON DEPARTMENT RECORDS. DUPLICATE COMPLAINT#5097732 FILED

05/11/2012 ILLEGAL CONVERSION OF ONE FAMILY DWELLING BEING RENTED AS HOTEL LESS THAN 3 STORIES
06/25/2012 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. NO ACCESS. LS-4 POSTED

12/21/2012 1 FAM HOUSE IS BEING RENTED OUT FOR PARTIES FOR A FEW DAYS AT A TIME FROM $7,500. THEY HAVE DAILY & WEEKLY RATES. THEY ADVERTISE ON LINE AS WELL. PLS INVESTIGATE
04/23/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. RANG BELL NO ONE HOME NO ACCESS LS4 POSTED

03/22/2013 ILLEGAL CONVERSION
05/30/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. COULD NOT GAIN ACCESS INTO BUILDING LS4 POSTED

04/10/2013 SINGLE FAMILY HOME BEING RENTED OUT AS A HOTEL ON RANDOM WEEKENDS,THEY ALSO RENT THE PROPERTY OUT FOR EVENTS LIKE PARTIES,BABYSHOWERS ETC... AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH,THEY ARE GETTING READY FOR AN EVENT.
04/10/2013 ADMINISTRATIVE CLOSURE. PENDING DUPLICATE COMPLAINTS REFER TO #S 5101659/5103104

05/07/2013 ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL/MANUFACTURING USE IN RESIDENTIAL ZONE
07/30/2013 INSPECTOR UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS - 2ND ATTEMPT. NO ACCESS LS4 POSTED

10/19/2013 ILLEGAL RECORDING & VIDEO BUSN VIOLATING ZONING LAWS; COMMERCIAL TRUCKS PARKED IN FRONT
(Still open.)

I forwarded the information over to my "anonymous Staten Island crapcatcher", as said individual prefers to be called. Here's what was uncovered thus far:

"I see a 2 million adjustable rate mortgage in 2007, with another 400,000 at the same time at 13 1/2% with Lopa as the borrower and obligated to occupy the property as primary residence... His mommy co-signed. OOOH- trained by NYS SBDC; he and his brother wanted to become real estate operators, and were taught how to locate funding...classic crap. Brother, btw, operates a "contracting" business, in that he pushes his "designs" but is not licensed to design structures - i.e. neither an architect nor an engineer. He uses the "Dora the Explorer" CAD program... I'm sure there's more: dig deep enough, he's related to Vallone, I'll betcha."

- Your anonymous Staten Island crap-catcher

(Note how individual's father worked for the city...)

This house is currently in Council Member and Borough President-elect James Oddo's district. I'm sure he'll be on this like white on rice.