mickey bargetto this is a criminal scammer who was abusing a certain facet of the rent stabilization law. michael tobin is a rent stabilization expert who talked to us about the quirk in new york's rent law that bargetto is accused of exploiting to gain a foothold a permanent home in the new yorker checked into a hotel and then claimed fillled residence and refused to leave, and a judge ruled that bargetto could in fact stay in the hotel and then this already strange story took a really bizarre twist. >> the later incredible claims of ownership of the entire property were clearly the acts of an unwell criminal individual. the manhattan da says. >> in 2019, bargetto filed papers with new york city saying he owned the new yorker all 42 stories of it. he even tried to get some tenants to pay their rent to him and to have the current owners evicted. >> i don't know if it's smart or crazy or what it is. >> it's wrong, obviously, but the fact that he was able to do that pretty crazy sandy, isn't it? yeah, absolutely. i mean, not only is it bizarre, but for him to think that he can actually