Squadron of Squatters 'Terrorize' NYC Neighborhood After Taking Control of $4M Brownstone

About two dozen scattered squatters terrorized and terrorized residents and businesses surrounding a vacant $4 million Brooklyn brownstone they directed.

Young offenders stole packages from neighbors' porches, threatened passersby, damaged personal property, climbed high and set off fireworks in the early hours of the morning, neighbors told The Post.

60 S. of South Williamsburg. The three-story building on Fourth St. was finally vacated this week, after police forced squatters back onto the sidewalk. They also arrested one of them: Ryan Grewal, 26, who was charged with felony criminal mischief for damaging a motorcycle outside of JANE Motorcycles, an NYPD spokesman said.

Grewal told police he lived at 60 S. Fourth Street.

“They terrorize this whole area,” said PJ Jimenez, the building's new manager.

Jimenez said squatters first occupied the entire second floor after breaking into the brownstone on Sept. 21. They barricaded a door secured with a wooden plank, on which someone had written, “Home is where the blunt is.”

“When I first came here, I got a bunch of needles [heroin] spoon, and two used Narcans,” Jimenez said. “So, I guess two people must have been here.”

The squatters — including one who walked with a cane that Jimenez said others called a “tripod” — also crammed into an adjacent carriage house behind the building. They then used corrugated steel sheets to barricade those doors. Computers stored inside were also stolen, Jimenez said.

Police swarmed the 6,090-square-foot brownstone on Monday, and by Tuesday, owner Stella Tsang — who bought the building with the goal of renovating and modernizing it in 2021 — had security guards on the porch.

The squatters tried to convince the police that they were there legally.

Jimenez, who has lived in the neighborhood for 58 years, said the squatters presented police with a lease they said was signed by the building's previous owner, Francine Rosado. It was dated July 25.

“The problem is, Francine died in 2020,” Jimenez told the Post, showing her mass card. “I guess he rose from the dead to sign that lease.”

Jimenez said everything inside the brownstone was moved to the sidewalk Tuesday, and the squatters later showed up in a van to collect their belongings.

“They're professionals, they planned this,” Jimenez offered. “And I think they took over other places, because when they were getting into that van, one of them said they were going home, and the other one went, 'Which one?'”

This week, on a tour of the 114-year-old brownstone, The Post was shown squatters sleeping on three stained king-size mattresses. Graffiti now marks most of the walls, and since the building has no running water, squatters urinate in mason jars and defecate in buckets, Jimenez said.

“It was disgusting,” he added.

Between September 21 and October 2, the group generated 311 17 complaints

“They took my two packages,” said an angry resident, who did not want to be named. “I gave the footage to the police, so I don't want them to retaliate against my building.”

“These stupid kids were always blocking the sidewalk, and if you told them to step aside, they would get real nasty,” said Cordelia Dalley, another neighbor who lives a few blocks from the brownstone. “They were loud and they smelled and I'm really glad it didn't drag on for months, which is what happens. I hope they don't come back.”

Jimenez said the squatters should be behind bars for breaking in, damaging buildings and stealing marked by fake leases.

“These are bad guys who are doing drugs,” he said. “They're not homeless, they're drug addicts. They are criminals. They are domestic terrorists.”