Bronx slumlord who owned apartment building where 12 died had HUNDREDS of complaints and violations across his property empire

The family multimillion-dollar real estate empire which owns the apartment block involved in New York's worst fire in 25 years - which left 12 dead including five children – has had hundreds of complaints and violations logged in its buildings, including issues related to fire safety and electrical work, DailyMail.com can reveal. 

The five-story, residential Bronx building, 2363 Prospect Avenue, was gutted by fire just before 7pm on Thursday. Officials said a three-year-old boy playing with a gas stove in a first-floor apartment started the blaze.

According to New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro, the child's mother grabbed him and a sibling to escape the home but left the door open. The fire commissioner said flames quickly spread up to the fifth floor because 'the stairway acted like a chimney'.

Matching numbers: 281 Edgecombe Avenue in Harlem - the only non-Bronx property - and 1818 Anthony Avenue were both recorded by the Department of Buildings with 35 violations

Another record of shame: 1181 Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx

More cause for concern: 388 Tiebout Avenue and 2025 Walton Avenue in the Bronx

The five-story, residential Bronx building, 2363 Prospect Avenue, was gutted by fire just before 7pm on Thursday. The fatal blaze has been called New York's worst fire in 25 years - killing 12 and injuring 15 

The New York City Fire Department released the one minute video clip on Twitter Friday afternoon showing the damage inside 2363 Prospect Avenue.

Nigro said the building was fitted with smoke alarms but it was unclear if all were working.

One apartment on the first floor reported defective carbon monoxide and smoke detectors months ago to a city housing agency, CNN reported. 

The Prospect Avenue address is owned by 84-year-old real estate developer Howard Akloff's D&A Equities and operated by his company Annal Management, located on Castle Hill Avenue the Bronx.

The address is also listed for several other companies linked to real estate including 281 Edgecombe Partners LLC; 1915 Morris Avenue Corp; 215 East 197 Street LLC and Anthony Equities Ltd.

According to public business filings, Annal Management currently has 18 other properties under its control across the borough.

DailyMail.com can reveal in the past decade, that the majority of addresses have had dozens of complaints and violations including fire safety, structural and elevator issues.

According to NY Department of Buildings records, one property, 185 McClellan Street, had 45 complaints from residents, the majority of which relate to elevators being out of service for several weeks and continually breaking down.

In December 2013, one complaint reads: 'Door leading to fire escape has a deadbolt that is locke[d].' This complaint was later resolved. 

Other complaints related to illegal conversions of apartments and dangerous construction conditions.

Another property, 1181 Sheridan Avenue, had 16 complaints between 2005 and 2016, a number of which were related to out-of-service elevators and falling debris.

In September 2015, a resident complained about exposed wires from a large electrical box placed on a thin wall and claimed the work had been done by an unlicensed contractor.

At 2390 Tiebout Avenue, there have been 20 complaints

Another property, 1181 Sheridan Avenue, had 16 complaints between 2005 and 2016

At 1860 Morris Avenue, DOB issued a fine of $1,500 to Annal Management this year due to a failure to correct 'an immediately hazardous' issue with an elevator

Howward Alkoff is listed as the chairman and president of Annal Management. They 84-year-old lives in Pound Ridge, Westchester County

The building also had 45 Department of Building violations and 25 Environmental Control Board [ECB] violations.

In one ECB violation from 2015, Annal Management's violation was described as a 'Class 1' meaning 'immediately hazardous'. A fine of $4,800 was imposed by the ECB.

It was described as a 'failure to ground electrical systems' and was later remedied. 

At 2025 Walton Avenue in the Bronx, residents have registered complaints about the elevators for almost 20 years.

One complaint, from March 2012, reads: 'The only elevator in a 6-story building has been O/O/O for a week. There are senior[s] in building, chronic problem.'

Each complaint is later listed as resolved. The building also has a log of 28 violations.

At 2390 Tiebout Avenue, there have been 20 complaints – including in May 2016 when one report logged: 'Not a construction. Caller just wanted to report that she walked by the building and one window from 4th floor fall [sic] down in front of her.' 

Other complaints, over a number of years, state that the elevators break down continually for weeks at a time and note that there are disabled tenants in the building.

Victims: A relative at the scene identified two- and seven-year-old sisters, Kylie (left) and Kelesha (right) Francis, as victims of the fire

The girls' mother, 37-year-old Karen Francis (left) also died in the historic blaze on Thursday night. Shawntay Young (right), aged 19, has also been identified as a victim in the fire

Tragic: Officials say the youngest victim in the fire that destroyed the apartment building near the Bronx Zoo is an eight-month-old Amora Serenity Vidal (center) who died in a bathtub being held by her 56-year-old grandmother, Maria Batiz (left), who also perished in the blaze. The child's mother, Christine (right), is distraught by the tragedy

At 1860 Morris Avenue, DOB issued a fine of $1,500 to Annal Management this year due to a failure to correct 'an immediately hazardous' issue with an elevator.

New York Department of Buildings inspectors were at the scene of the fire investigating the building's structural stability today.

The Department of Buildings said that prior to the fire, the building had no open complaints and no open DOB-issued violations.

Howard Alkoff is listed as the chairman and president of Annal Management Company and Dora Genao, a relative, as the owner and manager. The company was started in 1967 by Alkoff, who lives in Pound Ridge, Westchester County. 

DailyMail.com made multiple attempts to contact Annal Management at their Bronx headquarters but an employee who answered the phone, but would not provide her name, was unable to comment or provide further contact information. DailyMail.com requested an email address but this was not available and the company website is currently down. 

Horror: At least 12 people have been killed, including a one-year-old child, in a fire that broke out Thursday evening in Bronx, the north of New York City

About 170 firefighters worked in bone-chilling cold, just 15 degrees, to rescue people from the building. Water sprayed from hoses froze into ice on the street

Emergency workers wheel away a body from the site of an apartment fire where at least a dozen people died

Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed during a press conference that four of the 15 injured are in critical condition and fighting for their lives at a local hospital

'This is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter century,' de Blasio said, adding that the fire will rank as one of the 'worst losses of life to a fire' in many years for the city. 

The mayor said at least 12 people were rescued and will survive thanks to the FDNY's quick response to the scene. 

SOLDIER, 28, STILL MISSING AFTER FIRE 

Missing: Emmanuel Mensah, 28

US Army soldier Emmanuel Mensah, 28, is missing in the wake of the Bronx fire and his family fear for his safety.

The serviceman, who lived in the building, was home on leave for the holidays and was last seen by his roommate.

'He was telling the roommate to not come out of the apartment because there was smoke,' his father told the New York Daily News.

But when they rescued everyone from the windows, we couldn't find him.

'I went to four hospitals, I can't find him.' 

Photographs and video of the building located at 2363 Prospect Avenue in the Belmont section, showed the fire that occurred just one block from the Bronx Zoo, appeared to be under control by the time the mayor spoke at 10pm.

The mayor confirmed during the press conference that the fire had been put out completely. No smoke or flames were visible, but windows on some upper floors were smashed and blackened.

'I want to offer my prayers to all of the families who have lost their loved ones this evening,' de Blasio said. 

'I ask all New Yorkers to keep them in your prayers.'

Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said that crews received the fire alarm at 6.51pm and the department responded within three minutes.

'In a department that is certainly no stranger to tragedy, we are shocked by this loss,' Nigro said. 

Nigro confirmed that the fire started on the first floor and quickly spread to the fifth floor of the building that has 25 apartments.  

'People died on various floors' of the apartment building Nigro said, adding that their ages range from one-year-old to over 50. 

Two of the dead were found in a bathtub, according to cable news station NY1. 

Nigro called the fire, 'historic in its magnitude,' because of the number of lives lost.

'As far as the cause, it's way too early to tell you about that,' Nigro said. Officials said more information about what caused the fire will be released as soon as it becomes available. 

Saved: Some of the dozens of people evacuated during the fire shelter from the freezing cold under Red Cross blankets

The Fire Department of New York says the blaze that raging in a Bronx apartment building killed at least 12

FDNY photos show ladders stretched to the roof of the five-story building

'This is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter of a century,' de Blasio said, adding that the fire will rank as one of the 'worst losses of life to a fire' in many years for the city

City Department of Buildings records show the building is a walk-up apartment house. According to city records, the building had no elevator. Fire escapes were visible on the facade of the building

Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said that crews (pictured) received the fire alarm at 6.51pm and the department responded within three minutes

'In a department that is certainly no stranger to tragedy, we are shocked by this loss,' Nigro said. Nigro confirmed that the fire started on the first floor and quickly spread to the fifth floor of the building that has 25 apartments

City Department of Buildings records show the building is a walk-up apartment house. City officials advised people in the area to close their windows to keep out the smoke.

Witness, Xanral Collins, told the New York Post that he feared children were among the dead or injured.

'A father ran into the building, he couldn't get in,' said Collins. 'I saw him screaming, 'My babies are dead! My babies are dead!''

Another witness, Jamal Flicker, told the newspaper that he said he saw flames near the trash cans.

'It started down where they take the garbage,' Flicker said, adding that he heard a woman yelling, 'We're trapped, help!'' 

Video of the scene showed numerous firefighters wheeling victims out on stretchers. An EMT was seen administering chest compressions to one victim as two other firefighters wheeled them to a rescue unit nearby. 

'People died on various floors' of the apartment building Nigro said, adding that their ages range from one-year-old to over 50

Nigro called the fire, 'historic in its magnitude,' because of the number of lives lost. Firefighters are seen working the scene of the tragic fire 

Officials said more information about what caused the fire will be released as soon as it becomes available

Members of the FDNY work at the scene of a four-alarm fire at an apartment building where 12 people were tragically killed 

Officers from the NYPD stand guard during an evacuation following the Bronx fire 

Luz Hernandez, a resident of the building, told the New York Times that she realized something was wrong when the smell of burned rubber filled her apartment on the fourth floor.

She said the smell was followed by smoke so thick that it made the room pitch-black. She was able to get to her husband and two sons, 11 and 16, to the window, and they climbed down the front fire escape.

Hernandez said once she and her family were safe, she saw the charred bodies of two women who lived together and their two young daughters being carried away on stretchers.

Thierno Diallo, 59, a security guard originally from Conakry, Guinea, said he was asleep in his ground floor apartment when he heard banging on the door. 

Diallo said it took him a moment to realize what was happening. He said he heard people screaming: 'There's a fire in the building!' He then ran out in his bathrobe, jacket and sandals. 

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Firefighters worked desperately to put the fire out after responding to the blaze shortly before 7pm 

Video of the scene showed firefighters wheeling out victims of the horrific fire on stretchers (pictured)

An EMT was seen performing chest compressions on one victim as firefighters pushed the stretcher 

Neighborhood resident Robert Gonzalez, who has a friend who lives in the building, said the woman was able to get out on a fire escape.

'When I got here, she was crying,' Gonzalez said. 

One witness, Rafael Gonzalez, who lives across the street from the building, told WCBS-TV, that he saw some youths on a fire escape of the burning building as the fire raged.

'What woke me up was the smoke, because I thought it was my building,' he said.

A tenant in an adjoining building, Ana Santiago, told the Times that she fled when she smelled the smoke and saw young girls who had escaped the burning building on the fire escape standing barefoot outside with no coats on.

Luz Hernandez, a resident of the building, said she realized something was wrong when the smell of burned rubber filled her apartment on the fourth floor. She said the smell was followed by smoke (pictured) so thick that it made the room pitch-black. She was able to get to her husband and two sons, 11 and 16, to the window, and they climbed down the front fire escape.

Firefighters were able to rescue several people by climbing up ladders to reach them and bringing them back down to safety

Fire Department of New York (FDNY) personnel work on the scene of the apartment fire. The fire was put out by the time Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke during a press conference 

Firefighters continued to search the apartment building late Thursday night  

According to city records, the building, which was built in 1916, had no elevator. Fire escapes were visible on the facade of the building. 

City officials said nearby Crotona International High School will be opened as a reception center for those displaced families who may need housing.

The American Red Cross will also provide housing for displaced families.  

The 12 confirmed fatalities made the fire the deadliest since the inferno at the Happy Land social club in 1990 that killed 87 people.

It also surpassed one of the deadliest fires in recent city memory that happened elsewhere in the Bronx in 2007. Nine children and one adult died in that blaze that was sparked by a space heater.

Anyone who needs to check on loved ones or relatives who may have been in the building are asked to call 311.

Evacuees wear blankets as they stand outside after a fire at the apartment building in the Bronx

City officials said nearby Crotona International High School will be opened as a reception center for those displaced families who may need housing 

The American Red Cross will also provide housing for displaced families