Gays against Dorchester Tower

07/03/2024

On June 11th, 2024, The Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division has ruled in favor, overturning Judge Frac Perry's September 30th, 2022, motions to dismiss plaintiffs, Anthony Dolci and Ming Infante’s, defamation lawsuit against defendants Dorchester Towers, Ogden Cap Property, Vice President John McDermott, and former property manager Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier. The lawsuit will move forward.

According to Index No. 150136-2021, Case No.2023-00491, New York State Supreme Court Judges, Oing, J.P., Friedman, Gesmer, Shulman, Rodriguez, JJ. said "Plaintiffs’ allegations in the AMENDED VERIFIED COMPLAINT met the heightened pleading standard for defamation by pleading with particularity the substance, place, and manner of the alleged defamatory statements made to police or the district attorney’s office. We find that plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded the malice requirement necessary to survive dismissal of the defamation cause of action as to both falsity and malice.”

In April 2021, Anthony Dolci and Ming Infante, along with NY State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, spoke out in support of the gay couple at their Stop False Police Reporting rally at One Police Plaza. In a statement to Gay City News, Hoylman called the allegations of false police reports “troubling” and said he hopes “we can get to the bottom of it.” Senator Brad Hoylman-Segal wrote two letters of support to former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. on November 17, 2020, and April 22, 2021, requesting his office contact Mr. Anthony Dolci directly to follow up on his complaint.

The lawsuit alleges, Anthony Dolci and Ming Infante were systematically discriminated against and made subject of harassment tactics of employees of Dorchester Towers including John McDermott and Kelly Ann Whipple. Defendants abused the use of police reports, made false statements to police and instructed the staff to call the police on the plaintiff after 2 minutes in the common areas of the building. Defendants called the police more than 30 times from Oct 2018 to July 2019 for false and/or frivolous complaints resulting in Dolci being taken in handcuffs against his will to either jail or Bellevue or Mount Sinai Hospital on 10 occasions. All criminal charges against Anthony Dolci were dismissed by the New York City Criminal Court System after Dolci turned down four plea bargains at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office combined with-complainant’s failure to provide supporting evidence, eyewitness testimony, and security footage of the allegations.

Noted anti-wrongful conviction advocate, Jeffrey Deskovic, Esq., of The Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice whose mission is to free the innocent and prevent wrongful convictions through policy changes, said, “It is important that all victims of false accusations as well as discrimination be given the opportunity to seek justice in court and have their claims considered on the merits as opposed to being summarily dismissed. The fact that: Mr. Dolic was placed in handcuffs 10 times while ultimately being found guilty of nothing nor of having any mental health issues requiring hospitalization is strong evidence that he was in fact discriminated against. This is therefore a very important case and decision.”

Anthony Dolci said, " I never threatened to kill anyone, nor did I violate the limited restraining order, or send threatening emails as reported to 911 and the police department by the defendants."

Aside from the defamation lawsuit, Anthony Dolci and husband Ming Infante are requesting the Manhattan District Attorney's Office to investigate the supporting evidence and prosecute those responsible for filing false police reports.

Please tap this link and follow us at G**s against Dorchester Towers: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/caRLu4xTG3cLUi74/?mibextid=WC7FNe

07/03/2024

The West Side Rag is the 4th newspaper to report what happened to us at Dorchester Towers. Ogden Cap Properties will attempt to sell its 324 condo units within the Dorchester Towers at 155 West 68th Street, between Broadway & Amsterdam Avenue, for $375 million, while facing two separate cases in the New York County Courts by former tenants Anthony Dolci & Ming Infante and the unit owner who rented Apt. 224 to the gay couple.

According to statements in a counter lawsuit against the board of Dorchester Towers, the unit owner of apt 224 stated that “Dorchester Towers exceeded its authority in dealing with her tenants Anthony Dolci and Ming Infante by retaining security personnel who were not needed, required or permitted pursuant to the bylaws or the proprietary lease" and "Dorchester Towers failed to use reasonable judgment and fair dealing with her tenants Anthony Dolci and Ming Infante."

The unit owner's lawsuit against Dorchester Towers’s board alleges that “Dorchester Towers has purposely and willfully engaged in a scheme to prevent the unit owner from selling or renting her condominium unit (for the past 5 years) by improperly calculating common charges and miss attributing charges on the unit owner's monthly statements." "Whether due to fraud or error"

Amsterdam News: In 2018 and 2019, Anthony Dolci was falsely accused and wrongfully placed in handcuffs 10 times. These arrests were the result of his management company instructing the employees of Dorchester Towers to call the police on his LGBT family. “By August 2020,” Dolci wrote in an email, “all criminal charges (filed by former Dorchester Towers Property Manager Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier) were dismissed” after he turned down four plea bargains with the Manhattan DA’s office, “despite the evidence of false police reporting and more than 30 911 calls against the couple. https://www.facebook.com/share/i9Ba1FF3sxBm6pk5/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Gay City News: A gay couple is suing their former landlord in Manhattan after they said they were banned from passing out candy on Halloween in 2018 & faced ongoing anti-LGBTQ harassment — including when building management allegedly removed the couple’s Rainbow Flag from their apartment. Anthony Dolci & his husband Ming Infante who previously lived at Dorchester Towers at 155 West 68th Street in Manhattan, claim in their suit that they faced a barrage of adversity from the building during their time living there. The $2.5 million lawsuit, filed in New York’s Supreme Court on August 20, accuses the building’s former property manager, Mrs. Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier and vice president of Ogden CAP Properties, John McDermott, of defamation, malicious prosecution, discrimination, and filing false police reports. https://www.facebook.com/share/8GtvbpJoncwiP8wa/?mibextid=WC7FNe

New York Post: In 2022, a gay couple living in the building filed a $2.1 million lawsuit against the building alleging that they “were systematically and aggressively discriminated against and made the subject of harassment tactics by employees of the building,” because of their sexual orientation, according to the New York Post. The suit alleged that building management removed pride flags from the couple’s door and told them that they “did not fit in with the building.” The case is still making its way through the court system. https://www.facebook.com/share/ZpwwSCmrGieDsNi8/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Despite the allegations of fraud, and supporting evidence of aggravated harassment, staking, and false police reports by Dorchester Towers and Ogden Cap properties. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has yet to investigate and prosecute those responsible for causing harm to the gay couple and unit owner.

Please follow us at G**s against Dorchester Towers

https://www.facebook.com/share/9AUGfZRUUPrDRoyw/?mibextid=WC7FNe

The owners will give current tenants first shot at buying their apartments. They will have until May 6 to purchase their units.

07/02/2022

Filing False Police Reporting is a Crime!

Dear Erie Sentner,
My husband Ming Infante and I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to share our story in The New York Post.

We are grateful for the time & efforts you spent working on this article. We were also thrilled to see that our interview appeared in the New Post's newspaper edition
on Gay Pride Day.

Thank you for highlighting the illegal tactics that Dorchester Towers & Ogden Cap properties used against my family.

We truly appreciate it!
Thank you.

Sincerely yours
Anthony & Ming

For more details please follow us at G**s against Dorchester Towers @ Facebook or

04/18/2022

Former Dorchester Tower’s property manager Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier has resigned from Ogden Cap Properties.

Our current lawsuit against Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier, her boss John McDermott, Ogden Cap properties and Dorchester Towers put enough pressure on them to force Kelly Ann out of Dorchester Towers and make her quit her job.

She quit sometime between September 2021 and March 2022 after Ogden Cap properties removed her from Dorchester Towers last year.

Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier is responsible for filing 5 false police reports against my LGBTQ family, weaponizing the 911 call center, and having me arrested twice for crimes that I did not commit. Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier falsely accused me of threatening to kill her. (completely untrue).

Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier is the same property manager who stalked, harassed, terrorized, defamed my family and is responsible for getting us kicked out of Dorchester Towers located at 155 west 68st street and Bway. #ᴅᴏɴᴛʙᴇᴀᴋᴀʀᴇɴ

10/21/2021

A gay couple is suing their former landlord in Manhattan after they said they were banned from passing out candy on Halloween in 2018 & faced ongoing anti-LGBTQ harassment — including when building management allegedly removed the couple’s Rainbow Flag from their apartment. Anthony Dolci & his husband Ming Infante who previously lived at Dorchester Towers at 155 West 68th Street in Manhattan, claim in their suit that they faced a barrage of adversity from the building during their time living there. The $2.5 million lawsuit, filed in New York’s Supreme Court on August 20, accuses the building’s former property manager, Mrs Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier and vice president of Ogden CAP Properties, John McDermott, of defamation, malicious prosecution, discrimination, and filing false police reports.

Dolci, a Latinx man, and his husband, Infante, an Asian man, believe they were targeted because of their race and sexual orientation. Now, they are calling for the building to be held accountable for the alleged actions. “Halloween night is just a very small glimpse of the injustices that this building did to my family,” Dolci said. “They allowed Dorchester Towers employees to call the police with impunity, over and over, simply because they didn’t like us, and they wanted us out of the building.” Dorchester Towers allegedly hired off-duty NYPD officers as security guards to stand in the lobby of the building due to accusations that the couple made tenants feel unsafe, the complaint states.

On Halloween night, the security officers went even further and barred the couple from participating in trick-or-treating activities in the building. In protest of the guard’s orders, Dolci, who was wearing a witch’s hat, no T-shirt, and a yellow cape, headed outside with a bag of treats. According to footage reviewed by Gay City News, Dolci was holding a glow-in-the-dark Halloween globe and pleaded for help while the guards attempted to sn**ch his bag of candy from off of the street. In the video, the guards allegedly confirmed that they were calling the cops on Dolci because he “cannot block the pedestrians.” “For what? for standing on a public street!” Infante chimed in from their bedroom window. “For standing on a public street!”

The (22)-page complaint claims the police were called at least (25) times on the couple, with at least half of those times resulting in Dolci being arrested or taken to local hospitals for psychiatric evaluations, he added. “They were weaponizing the 911 call center against us,” Dolci said.

The following year, Whipple allegedly told the couple they “did not fit in with the building” and did not dress appropriately “for the building.” Dolci claims the couple was repeatedly reprimanded for trivial reasons, such as when Whipple allegedly criticized the couple for listening to LGBTQ singer Boy George and Madonna because it was not “appropriate” for the building. “I felt she’s talking about my sexuality; I wear nail polish. I am flamboyant,” Dolci said. “I think I didn’t fit her idea of what a gay person should be for this building.” He added, “I’m not gonna tiptoe around anyone with my sexuality, and I think that when I stood up to her about that, she retaliated.” The couple is also accusing the staff of removing the Rainbow Flag that was placed on their door.

General Counsel for Ogden CAP Properties Stephen Nahley denied the allegations. “The accusations contained in the lawsuit concerning Dorchester Towers, Ms. Whipple, and our other employees are baseless, totally without merit. We will defend them vigorously and are confident that we will prevail,” Nahley said in a written statement to Gay City News. Whipple and McDermott did not immediately reply to Gay City News’ request for comment.

In March of 2019, the couple moved out of the apartment, and soon after, Dolci began standing outside the high-end condos in protest. During a couple of Dolci’s one-person rallies, the building’s staff allegedly began spraying and assaulting him with water hoses and damaging his signs. Dolci said he submitted this footage along with a complaint to the (New York City Human Rights Commission).

In a statement, the Commission said they “cannot comment on the status of open investigations” but “once the matter is closed, it is then publicly available information.”

In April, out gay NY State Senator
Brad Hoylman spoke out in support of the couple at the Stop False Police Reporting rally at One Police Plaza. In a statement to Gay City News, Hoylman called the allegations of false police reports “troubling” and said he hopes “we can get to the bottom of it.”

Last year, as an outgrowth of the alleged harassment, Dolci started G**s against Dorchester Towers, a page chronicling the couple’s movement to hold the building responsible for their alleged actions. “We could have been the worst tenants in the building, which we weren’t,” Dolci said. “But that doesn’t justify breaking the law, and abusing people, and abusing their position of power and using the police as a weapon.”

Story and interview by:
Tat Bellamy-Walker

09/30/2021

Dorchester Towers banned my husband & I from passing out candy on Halloween night 2018. Dorchester Tower’s property management office purposely took our names and Apt # off the sign up sheet without telling us so no other resident in the building would know to bring their kids to our front door for candy. We were the only 2 people in the entire building targeted by Dorchester Towers.
Dorchester Towers hired retired NYPD officers as security to stand guard in front of our door blocking us from passing out candy.

Because we are not allowed to pass out candy from our home, I decided to leave and pass out candy on the public street. However, the superintendent and a retired NYPD officer followed me from my front door to the public street saying that I was not allowed to pass out candy on the public street either.

They continued to stalk, and harass me and at one point, the retired NYPD officer tried to sn**ch my bag of candy away from me. Dorchester Towers continued to retaliate against me that night by filing a false police report against me. Which later resulted in me being wrongfully placed in handcuffs and taken to Believe Hospital’s psychiatric facility where I did not belong.

The police report made on October 31st 2018 is one of the 31 times that Dorchester Towers called the Cops on LGBTQ family as a form of harassment.




 

09/08/2021

On October 26th 2018, someone near Dorchester Towers threw a brick at our living-room window(shattering the entire glass window) where a gay rainbow flag was being displayed. Instead of filing a police report about the Hate Crime, Dorchester Towers called the cops on us when we tried to report the Hate crime to our management office.
20th precinct NYPD officers refused to report it as a Hate Crime. They said “It might be considered a Hate Crime if the brick had a note attached to it saying “Dear Faggots”.

This inspired us to create our very first protest sign (pictured below) and hang in a window next to the widow that was shattered because Dorchester Towers & 20th precinct NYPD officers refused make a report about the Hate Crime that we experienced that day.

The police report made on October 26th 2018 is one of the 31 times that Dorchester Towers called the Cops on us a form of harassment.

Sadly, City Council member Helen Rosenthal refuses to speak with us or help us hold those accountable for this Hate Crime or the NYPD who refused to report it. Check out our page G**s against Dorchester Towers for more details.

05/10/2021

🟨 GAY COUPLE sues Dorchester Towers for $2.5 MILLION DOLLARS.

My husband and I are suing Dorchester Towers, Ogden Cap Properties, Property Manager Kelly Ann (Whipple) Desrosier, & Vice President John McDermott for $2.5 million dollars for the following:

1, FILING FALSE POLICE REPORTS
2, WRONGFUL ARREST
3, MALICIOUS PROSECUTION
4, HARASSMENT
5, DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER

In total, Dorchester Towers filed 31 police reports against us and had me placed in handcuffs 10 times due to their false police reporting.

🟨 NY State Senator Brad Hoylman
& Jimmy Van Bramer for Queens Borough President have written letters on our behalf requesting Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance investigate: our allegations against Dorchester Tower.

🟨 NYC Commission on Human Rights:
is also taking legal action against Dorchester Towers for its staff’s retaliating against me while I was peaceful protesting Dorchester Tower’s unlawful actions on the public street.

🟨 The District Attorney’s office decided to drop all criminal charges after Dorchester Tower’s current property manager Kelly Ann (Whipple) failed to provide evidence to support her false allegations that I threatened to kill her. (completely untrue!)

🟨 We encourage you to please share this link on your page or visit:
Stop False Police Reporting @ Facebook
Stop False Police Reporting @ Change.Org

We thank you in advance for your feedback and support.

Sincerely,
Anthony Dolci & Ming Infante
G**s against Dorchester Towers

12/24/2020

Our Letter to City Council Member Helen Rosenthal dated 12-24-2020.
“It has been brought to my husband Ming Infante & my attention that your staff told the “I Love The Upper West Side”website that none of our claims about the injustices that we suffered by Dorchester Towers have been substantiated.
It is bad enough that you refuse to meet with us to take a look at the evidence that we have in hand .But ,now your staff is giving out misleading information about the facts to our claim .It is very hurtful what you & your staff our doing to my LGBTQ family.
I kindly ask that you & your staff stop giving out misleading information about our case. Especially when no one, including yourself has bothered to look at any of the details.



Sincerely,
Anthony Dolci & Ming Infante