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High-end art dealer robbed at knifepoint

Paul Quatrochi at a party in NYC in 2011PatrickMcMullan.com

A high-end art dealer was robbed at knifepoint in his Upper East Side pad by a handyman who took off with some cash — but left a showroom full of pricey artwork on the walls, officials said.

Paul Quatrochi, whose stable of wealthy collectors includes Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, Baron Heinrich von Thyssen and Austrian Princess Michaela von Hapsburg, said he had a knife pressed against his throat for nearly 30 minutes while his guest rifled through his pockets and stole $300 in cash.

But accused petty thief John Hamarics, 53, had zero interest in the $1 million worth of paintings on the wall from such noted artists as Willem de Kooning, Max Ernst and Jean-Michel Basquiat. “He’s not an art thief,” Quatrochi said. “He’s a just a lowlife. He’s a simple lowlife.”

Quatrochi, 58, said he hired Hamarics to help him with a few things around his apartment. But after lunch Monday and a bottle of white wine, Quatrochi said, Hamarics turned on him.

“He held the knife to my throat for 30 minutes and said, ‘I’m going to decapitate you. I’m going to kill you right now. Give me the money,’” Quatrochi said. “He made me empty out my pockets.”

Quatrochi, who suffers from a spinal ailment, said he met the down-on-his-luck Hamarics in a bar years ago and has hired him off and on to do odd jobs.

After a walk Monday, Quatrochi said, Hamarics had four beers at lunch and then a full bottle of wine back at the apartment before an argument got ugly — then violent.

Quatrochi called the cops after Hamarics ran off, but in an odd twist, the alleged thief returned as the victim was talking with officers.

Hamarics was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, robbery and menacing.