A property manager has been arrested in an ongoing investigation after authorities learned his Sunnyside condo building displayed Confederate flags and Nazi symbols in the lobby.
Neal Milano, 70, was nabbed on Sunday over a complaint that he stalked and harassed a former tenant at 47-55 39th Place. According to police, Milano had been following the 43-year-old woman for nearly a year from September 2016 to July 2017. Milano had left the country, only returning Sunday afternoon when he was placed under arrest in the airport.
The complaint was filed roughly two months ago, NY1 reported, and it appears she may not have been Milano’s only victim. Residents claim they have been intimidated by his harassment of minority renters.
“What they can now feel is a little more safety, a little more secure, a little more at peace, knowing that he’s been arrested, knowing that he knows that the NYPD is on top of it and watching,” local Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer said, according to NY1.
Milano has been under fire for his hateful displays of racist imagery that his lawyer argues are a history lesson. While a human rights investigation into his building’s symbols has been announced, Sunday’s arrest was unrelated to the imagery.
