Metro

NYC tenant makes life living hell for neighbors by running naked through hall, bashing walls with hammer: ‘We’re all terrified’

By
Chris Harris and
Lois Weiss
Published July 6, 2024, 7:28 a.m. ET
Astoria apartment building in hellish hold of menacing man
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A Queens man is making life hell for neighbors in his Astoria building, where he runs through the hallway naked, screams out of a megaphone, bashes walls with a hammer — and gives kids nightmares, according to terrified residents and court records.

Alexandre Lais’ unhinged, two-year reign of terror at 23-35 Broadway has led three tenants to break their leases and move, court documents contend.

One chaotic January episode even brought the NYPD’s SWAT team to his door.

Lais seen here in his linked in profile picture wearing a light blue button down shirt and looking directly at the camera is open to work, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Alexandre Lais is open to work, according to his LinkedIn profile. linkedin Alex Lais

“We’re all terrified,” one resident told The Post this week, asking to remain anonymous for fear of what Lais, 48, might do.

“My children, they have nightmares about this guy.”

“They sleep under their beds,” she said while on the verge of tears.

Despite his alleged erratic, lewd, and threatening behavior, police have never arrested Lais, and the building’s owners have been unable to evict him in court.

“He goes around, kicking everyone’s doors, and he throws stuff out his windows onto the street,” another neighbor said.

“He once said he’d burn the whole building down.”

The apartment building at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria.
Lais only leaves his apartment at 23-35 Broadway in Astoria to smoke cigarettes, his neighbors say. J.C. Rice

Building owner Broadway Crescent Realty has been trying to evict Lais since June 2023, when it filed for eviction in Queens Housing Court, claiming he’d breached the terms of his lease.

A judge quickly dismissed the case, but the company moved to revive it in December.

Lais slinks through the building’s halls, often without clothing; masturbates in the building common areas, threatens people with hammers or planks of wood, and uses a megaphone to scream profanities and racist and homophobic slurs, according to court documents.

Tenants say they’ve heard what sounds like a chainsaw emanating from Lais’ top-floor apartment, court records show.

Lais, who has a photo on LinkedIn saying he is “#opentowork,” claims to be a senior software engineer for a Manhattan-based management consulting firm.

Lais wearing black shorts and a white t-shirt and no shoes or socks, caught on surveillance knocking on his own door.
Lais caught on surveillance knocking on his own door. Obtained by The New York Post
Lais walks the halls in his birthday suit, neighbors say. a surveillance image shows him in the hallway outside his door without clothes on
Lais walks the halls in his birthday suit, neighbors say. Obtained by The New York Post

His bizarre antics include “constant noise,” one neighbor said.

“He plays looped recordings of himself talking, or babies crying,” the resident notes.

“The other day, it was porn, real loud.”

Lais’ apartment door is mangled from the inside out, from being pounded by him over innumerable hours with hammers, tenants claimed.

Some residents told The Post they use the six-story building’s stairs, to avoid an encounter with Lais, who they said uses the elevator to leave for cigarette breaks.

Lais has been living in the rent-stabilized building since 2020.

He hasn’t had a lease since late 2021, according to court records.

“We have repeatedly called the police as well and we made every effort possible to remove this tenant,” Broadway Crescent Realty told tenants in a July 1 email, which was shared with The Post.

“We feel terrible about your situation, but you must know that it is a huge burden to us as well.”

The NYPD has responded to the building 281 times in the last two years, including on Jan. 20, when Lais allegedly barricaded himself inside his apartment after tenants called 911.

Lais' door bulges out from being pounded with a hammer.
Lais’ door bulges out from being pounded with a hammer. J.C. Rice
Tenants say Lais uses a hammer to damage his own apartment's door.
Tenants say Lais uses a hammer to damage his own apartment’s door. J.C. Rice

A SWAT team was called in to talk Lais into opening the door, security footage shared with The Post shows.

Within the last two years, approximately 265 noise complaints have been called in to 311 from the building. 

Broadway Crescent Realty, whose lawyer was unavailable for comment, refuses to hire 24-hour security to keep them safe, tenants said, claiming they’re unable to afford the $7,000 to $10,000 weekly bill.

“They’re prioritizing profits while exploiting our goodwill and patience,” one of the tenants said.

The owners denied putting “money over safety,” and claimed to have spent “many months and tens of thousands of dollars” trying to get rid of Lais.

They insisted a judge granted their bid for eviction but put the brakes on it to give him a chance to respond in court.

Lais refused to open his door for a Post reporter and did not return calls.

“It’s been very discouraging,” a tenant said, reflecting on the upcoming court hearing.

“We have to deal with his behavior and the aftermath, which is sad and scary. No one helps us, or at least no one’s willing to help us, and tons of people are in danger.”