Landlord uses ‘beware’ sign to warn alleged drug-dealing tenants

reasons to evict tenants illegal drug useA fed up Staten Island landlord put the writing on the wall for a pair of tenants accused of peddling drugs from her home.

“Enough was enough,” said building owner Donna, who decided last week to take a DIY approach to dealing with the situation.

“Beware! Drug Dealers Downstairs!” warned a handmade sign, written in red ink, and taped outside of her New Dorp building.

“I knew it was going on and they kept lying to my face. This has been going on for two years and they wouldn’t stop,” said Donna, who asked to be identified by her first name only.

On Thursday, just days after Donna put up the sign, narcotics officers swooped in and busted the tenants, sisters Linda and Christine Genise, on drug charges, officials said.

“When the police came, I thought it was someone coming to collect on someone they screwed over. When I saw it was the police I was so relieved,” Donna said.

Cops said they found heroin and Oxycodone in the Genises’ apartment. The sisters, both 52, were being held at Rikers Island Saturday in lieu of $2,500 bail each.

Donna, whose sign was first reported by the Staten Island Advance, said the Genises were annoyed, but undeterred.

“Oh, they were pissed,” she told The Post Saturday. “The sign was up, but they still dealt [drugs]. Nothing was stopping them.”

The sisters have rented the downstairs apartment from Donna for four years.Drug overdoses killed nearly 800 people last year

“Believe it or not, the first two years, they were amazing tenants. Always paid their rent,” she said.

But now, the apartment is trashed, with broken outlets, burn marks on the vanity, holes in the walls, Donna said.

The landlord said she suspects they have been dealing drugs for about two years. She has been trying to evict them since January.

“I didn’t want any of this to happen,” Donna said, but she had no choice, because the alleged activities puts her family at risk.

“ I have a 2-year-old kid with Down Syndrome; I had no choice but to take legal action,” she said.

There were 1,075 opioid-related overdose deaths in the city last year, up from 753 such deaths in 2015. Staten Island has been especially hard hit by the crisis, with more than 100 overdose deaths last year, up from 69 in 2015, the Advance reported.

Source: nypost.com