Tag Archives: housing

This woman deserves the pimp of the year award. You got an 85-year-old man to adopt you and his $100 a month rent-controlled apartment? Please gives us lessons in pimpin’ 101. Woman Adopted By Man For His Rent Control Apartment According to NY Post What does it take to get a rent-controlled apartment in New York City? For the 62-year-old sister of the mayor of Salt Lake City, it was a death-bed adoption by a senile 85-year-old man in order to claim rights to his Queens apartment and its $100-a-month rent. Although Pamela Becker grew up in a privileged family — her actual father, the late Ralph Becker, was US ambassador to Honduras during the Ford administration — she has chosen a low-rent lifestyle in Long Island City. And she took a curious route to get there. Married at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1976 and later divorced, Becker came to Long Island City in the 1990s. A cat-sitting gig brought her to a six-unit apartment building on 47th Road. There, she met Nicholas “Uncle Nicky” DeTommaso, a retired dock worker and generous man who liked to keep his door open and cook for his neighbors. DeTommaso was married for just six weeks in 1950 and had lived in the 47th Road building his whole life. Friends described him as a gregarious “Star Trek” fan. Becker befriended him and would take him shopping. By 2002, she had moved into the two-bedroom railroad-flat apartment. “She has a way of working on you until she gets what she wants,” according to a neighbor. Becker managed to get a power of attorney for DeTommaso in 2007, meaning she could make financial and legal decisions for him. Less than a month before DeTommaso died, Becker got the big prize: a new dad with deep pockets and piddling rent. Her adoption was formalized on June 23, 2009, and she had already become the beneficiary of his life insurance and pension, records show. Becker told The Post she took good care of DeTommaso as his health flagged, but denied he was senile. The onetime yoga instructor got DeTommaso to buy her a series of cars even though he did not drive, the neighbor said. “I feel sorry for her; she doesn’t have anyone,” DeTommaso would tell his friends. Becker managed to get a power of attorney for DeTommaso in 2007, meaning she could make financial and legal decisions for him. “Some people said I should marry him. I didn’t want to marry him — that’s gross. I don’t do stuff like that,” Becker said from the flat where she lives with two dogs and a cat. When DeTommaso died, the building’s owners thought the unit would be available and they could charge market-rate rent of $1,500 a month. They were shocked to learn Becker had been adopted by her elderly roommate and claimed she would “remain in this apartment for as long as I live.” She even changed her name to Maria DeTommaso. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker Jr. said through a spokesman that his sister has “some challenges” and had been estranged from the family for “quite some time.” He said he was unaware of her adoption. But the “family ties” may have broken for Becker. The state Division of Housing and Community Renewal last month ruled she was not entitled to the apartment because she lived as a “family member” in the apartment for only 22 days before DeTommaso’s death. “I’m legally adopted,” insisted Becker, who has refused to move out. “I’m going to win this battle.” Do you think she is right to stand her ground or is she just another gold-diggin’ hussy? Continue reading →