Something about New York's legal system doesn't make sense to Joseph Riccardi, who is jailed because he won't spend $500,000 to meet the demands of his Staten Island condo board.
People who commit serious crimes don't have to post bail and are free. I'm on Rikers. It isn't right.
He worked 35 years in the finance industry. I haven't gotten a parking ticket in two decades. I've never been in a police car.
The foreign currency trader started his most recent Rikers Island stretch in October.
The board of Ocean View Tower, a condo on the far northern end of Hylan Blvd. in Rosebank, has been at odds with him for a long time.
The 14th floor of the building was purchased for nearly $1 million in 2006 by Riccardi.
The building's board says someone added to the size of the penthouse after the building went up. The addition is in violation of the city's building code, according to a lawsuit.
The 1,500- square-foot rooftop addition was completed by a previous owner, though one architect later told him that the space was in fact part of the building.
Howard File, a lawyer for Ocean View, doesn't dispute the claim that he didn't build on the condo's roof. According to Ocean View, Riccardi is responsible for fixing the problem.
The problem came from a previous unit owner. He is responsible for fixing the violation.
Over half a million dollars has been spent on legal fees and penalties and over a hundred thousand dollars in court fines. Ann Marie Porto said they have no money left after removing the extension.
A new job is on hold pending the outcome of his legal battle as he hasn't worked for 18 months.
Porto stated that her husband is a broken man. A broken person.
In 2016 a lawsuit was brought against him by Ocean View Tower, which accused him of building an addition to his property.
The Department of Buildings, acting on a call to 311, inspected the property and issued a violation for the addition, which is described in records as a sports room with skylights and a theater room.
When the conditions weren't corrected, a second violation was issued.
The violations were dismissed by a judge for the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings because the condo was wrongly cited on the violation's paperwork as having made the extension.
The Ocean View lawsuit went to trial and the judge ordered him to pay $126,000 in legal fees and other fees. He was ordered to pay $150 a day for the rest of his life for failing to fix the property.
The judge gave Riccardi the chance to either demolish the extension or modify the apartment so it complies with the building code.
The plans he presented would have met the requirement according to the file.
If the appeal is not decided in his favor, he might file for Chapter 11.
After Marrazzo retired, Judge Lizette Colon took over the case and ordered the removal of the rooftop addition.
In January, he was jailed for 10 days after a number of delays. He was let go due to health issues. After a number of court hearings, Riccardi tried to find a contractor to do the work, but was unsuccessful.
No one wants to do it. People don't want to get involved. The property isn't good.
He was sent back to Rikers after Colon ordered him to remove the illegal addition.
He could be sent back to jail if he doesn't change his behavior by the end of the year.
He said the condo board has a vendetta against him, going back to when it removed him as president of its board.
There were a number of feuds between Riccardi and his neighbors.
The producers of a TV show called "Mob Wives" were accused of taking kickbacks from people doing business with the building, as well as false allegations of installing equipment in the lobby to "spy" on conversations, in a lawsuit filed by the building's owner.
According to the file, he was voted off the board. The lawsuit was discontinued in the year 2021.
The case is unrelated to the attempt by the neighbors to force him to take down the extension.
They would rather see him in jail than remove the structure. This person is not someone who committed an offense or refused to testify.
riccardi is in a debtor's prison.
In a jailhouse phone interview on Friday, he stated that people have a hard time believing his story.
He said that they laughed their ass off. They can't believe it happened.
"They've never seen anything like this before."
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