A Queens landlord wants to leave a longtime tenant and her family in the dark by sealing up nine of their 10 windows and building an apartment tower next door, court papers reveal.
Santino DiFiore got a permit from the city’s Buildings Department to remove the windows from the north side of his four-story building at 20-24 31st St. in Astoria so he could build the six-story DiFiore Tower.
His grand plans, however, have been stalled by a stop-work order issued yesterday after a phone call from The Post.
The work would have left hairdresser JoAnn McGurty Sullivan, 42 — whose parents lived in the rent-controlled, ground-floor, two-bedroom apartment before she was born — with only one window to share with her husband, bus driver Jeremiah Sullivan, and their teen son, Daulton.
The other units on that side of the building are already vacant.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. We’ve always paid our rent,” JoAnn told The Post. “I don’t like to fight. He [DiFiore] took my life, shook it up and threw it on the floor — all for greed.”
The Buildings Department approved the plan to brick in the Sullivans two weeks ago, despite a letter in August from the family’s lawyer, Peter Traub, to the agency alleging the application contains “perjuries.”
The department responded yesterday.
“The project’s architect, Gerard Caliendo, failed to disclose that the building is occupied by rent-regulated units. As a result the DOB is auditing the application, issuing a stop-work order to the project and launching an immediate investigation,” spokesman Tony Sclafani said.
DiFiore said the Sullivans were only trying to squeeze him for money.
“I have a legal permit,” he said. “If there’s a mistake it will be remedied.”
Caliendo did not return a call for comment.