Did landlord hire biker gang to force out tenants?

A group of East Williamsburg tenants allege that their landlord, Andy Chau, has hired a 45-person biker gang to drive them out of their homes, the New York Post reported. Attorney Thomas Hillgardner, who’s representing several residents of 13 and 15 Thames Street, which are two three-story commercial buildings, said that Chau enlisted the Forbidden Ones Motorcycle Club to “terrorize residents and have them surrender their statutory rights under the loft law.” 

However, Chau, who spoke through his business partner, Richard Guishard, told the Post the tenants’ accusation was false and that Chau wants the bikers to vacate the first floor of 15 Thames, an empty 2,400-square-foot living space that the bikers allegedly use for indoor bike rides and as a rowdy party space. But the bikers said that Chau promised to pay them to keep out residents, who they say Chau vews as squatters.

“We don’t want those people inside the building,” Guishard told the Post, “especially if they are creating these problems.”

Last month, the Post reported, bikers allegedly assaulted a woman filming a cell phone video of one of their parties, then stole her phone. The group denied any violent wrongdoing.

The buildings were once a storage place for coffins, but were most recently the broadcast headquarters for an Occupy Wall Street film group. [Post]