City Marshals Cited for Unprofessionalism, Antisemitic Remarks or Other Misdeeds

In December 2019, City Marshal Howard Schain sought to evict husband-and-wife tenants from their basement apartment in Brooklyn. It’s the kind of confrontation that has the potential for friction — and often results in conflicting accounts that make determining the truth impossible.

But in this case, the tenants recorded video of the whole thing.

On the video, one tenant is seen descending a staircase into the apartment and zooming in on a crumpled up notice of eviction on the floor. Then the tenant — who later told investigators that Schain had tossed the notice to the ground when they refused to sign his receipt — ascends the stairs and confronts Schain.

In response, Schain yells, “I’m gonna make your life miserable…piece of shit.”

Schain stalks off and gets in his car — but he isn’t done yet. He exits the car and returns to continue the argument with the tenant, who points out that they’re recording the encounter.

“Stick it someplace,” Schain says before driving away.

A few weeks later, the tenant went to the Manhattan offices of the city Department of Investigation (DOI) with the video in hand.

Two years later, DOI investigators viewed yet another video of Schain.

During evictions, marshals must keep a meticulous inventory of all items removed from an apartment. But in one incident, DOI compared a Schain inventory to what they saw in the video and realized he had excluded “numerous boxes of sneakers and a keyboard” from his list.

In both cases DOI issued Schain a warning letter, but as it happens, the department was already quite familiar with him.

In 2000, the veteran marshal agreed to a four-month suspension and a $50,000 fine to settle DOI’s charges that he had falsified records, lost his badge, allowed a car to be a towed with a child inside and chased a scofflaw motorist onto the entry ramp of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

Schain is one of 14 marshals sanctioned by DOI since 2018, including two who have retired or resigned. The other 12 are among the 28 marshals currently empowered to evict tenants, seize assets of debtors and take possession of vehicles in New York City on behalf of landlords and lenders.

A review of investigative summaries obtained by THE CITY via the Freedom of Information Law reveals that DOI sanctioned these marshals for infractions including unprofessional behavior during evictions, attaching boots to the wrong vehicles, making racist and antisemitic comments and placing levies on debtors’ assets outside their New York City jurisdiction.

Marshals are not city employees. They are appointed by the mayor based on recommendations from a panel made up of appointees of the mayor, local law schools and the presiding justices of the First and Second Department of the state court system.

Tasked with collecting debts, marshals in return pocket hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees known as “poundage” annually, with some taking in more than a million dollars in fees in a given year. Schain, for instance, collected more than $1 million in fees and netted income of $1.06 million in 2023, after expenses.

As of this week, none of the 28 marshals currently in this job have been appointed by Mayor Eric Adams. All are holdovers from prior administrations.

A mayoral spokesperson, Liz Garcia, said the advisory committee “is currently reviewing marshal candidates. While we have not had any staffing capacity issues throughout the administration, we are always assessing our staffing needs and will have more to say after the candidate review process.”

Racist and Antisemitic Remarks

Interacting with the public appears to be a particular sore point for some marshals.

Marshal Robert Solimine received an admonition after a vendor reported to DOI that Solimine routinely made disparaging remarks about the Hasidic Jewish community, African Americans, Muslims and unspecified “foreigners.”

The vendor, who had been hired by the city Department of Finance to affix boots to scofflaw vehicles, alleged Solimine referred to Jewish people as “curlies” and said that certain neighborhoods were “areas that negatively changed since Blacks or ‘foreigners’ had moved in.”

Solimine admitted using the term “curlies,” saying that the comments “showed poor judgment.” But he insisted “they were not comments made as a direct impact upon an individual.”

In 2013, Solimine made headlines for placing a boot on a volunteer ambulance, rendering it unable to respond to calls for several hours. Solimine, who retired as a marshal in 2021, could not be reached for comment.

Bungled Evictions

Evictions also often present unique problems for marshals, the DOI records show. Last October, for instance, DOI got an interesting tip from Sheriff Anthony Miranda: a marshal (Miranda wouldn’t say which one) had discovered a big cache of marijuana and cash inside an apartment during an eviction when the tenant wasn’t present. But somehow, the stash got stolen during the eviction because the marshal departed the scene for a period of time.

DOI figured out that the marshal involved was Robert Renzulli, who told them that after discovering the drugs and money, he called the NYPD to secure them. But when the NYPD didn’t show up, Renzulli said, he became thirsty. He said he stationed the building’s superintendent outside the locked door while he went to get water. While he was by his car, Renzulli got a call from the super telling him about noises coming from inside the empty apartment.

When he returned and entered the apartment, the weed and cash were gone and the window to the fire escape was open, Renzulli claimed.

Asked to explain why he’d left the apartment with the contraband inside unoccupied, Renzulli explained he needed water “as it was a hot day and he’d walked up and down five flights of stairs twice with his tool kit.”

DOI issued him a warning letter for failing to report this incident to them. Renzulli did not respond to THE CITY’s inquiry.

A sadder interaction involved Marshal George Essock Jr., who was cited by DOI for failing to ensure as required that an Adult Protective Services caseworker was present when evicting a 76-year-old elderly veteran, described in records as “confused” during the eviction. DOI noted this was the second such incident for Essock Jr., who did not return THE CITY’s call seeking comment.

DOI also cited Marshal Justin Grossman for giving misinformation to investigators regarding an eviction. When a tenant claimed he had never received the required second notification of an eviction, Grossman claimed a judge had decreed that the notification wasn’t necessary. But when DOI investigators checked the judge’s order, there was no such decree.

Grossman admitted to DOI he’d never read the order and took the word of the landlord’s lawyer. He did not respond to THE CITY’s inquiry.

Wrong Boots

The DOI records also document how marshals erroneously seized vehicles, causing headaches for their owners — and triggering citations from the department.

Marshal Matthew Regan, for example, placed the dreaded boot on the wrong car after it was identified by a license plate reader (LPR) as eligible for seizure.

The car had a vanity plate, and when DOI inquired, Regan admitted he was “aware the (LPR) program keeps ‘mixing up vanity plates,'” but that he didn’t notice the vehicle’s registration code, which would have revealed he was booting the wrong car. Regan did not respond to THE CITY’s inquiry.

For Marshal Edward Guida the issue was altering documents submitted to the Department of Finance after he booted the wrong car. DOI determined Guida had changed the vehicle identification number on a Chrysler and its model year from 2003 to 2016 to match the information taken from a license plate reader.

“It was unclear why the booted vehicle’s information was manually changed,” DOI’s report said, noting that, “Guida exclaimed that he did not know what DOF and DOI wanted him to say besides the fact that ‘the evidence showed that he had booted the wrong vehicle.’”

Last week Guida returned THE CITY’s call stating, “It was nothing crazy. I hope you don’t make us sound like killers. You’re supposed to just contact DOI.” He promised a spokesperson, Michael Woloz, who represents the City Marshal’s Association, would call back with a comment.

One vehicle owner’s interaction with a city marshal was even more agita-inducing. DOI determined that Marshal Stephen Biegel did not properly notify the owner before placing a boot on the car, towing it away and then auctioning it off.

The enraged owner contacted DOI stating that he’d left the car for repairs at an auto body shop and that his plates had been exchanged for another which was, apparently, on Biegel’s watchlist for booting.

A staffer in Biegel’s office did not run the required Department of Motor Vehicles check, which would have revealed the plate was not matched to the vehicle identification number. The employee was fired, and Biegel was issued a warning letter. After the inquiry, Biegel told DOI he’d returned the purchase money to the auction winner and returned the car to its actual owner.

Out of Bounds

Biegel has also been cited for another recurring problem that has triggered multiple DOI citations: marshals seizing bank accounts and other assets that are located outside their jurisdiction.

Marshals are restricted to pursue debtors’ assets located only within the boundaries of New York City, and they must serve notice in person. But in the last five years, DOI has repeatedly cited city marshals for illegally placing levies on hundreds of thousands of dollars held in bank accounts outside of city limits, often serving notice to debtors by email or fax.

In November 2019, Marshal Vadim Barbarovich resigned after DOI established he’d routinely pursued assets outside New York City and then lied about it under oath.

Since then DOI has cited three other marshals, two of whom had to return funds and pay minor penalties — Biegel and Richard Pagnotta — for placing levies on assets outside the five boroughs.

DOI determined Pagnotta had received $26,670 in fees for securing $378,000 for various creditors by seizing assets outside New York City. He agreed to refund the city for those fees and also pay a $2,667 fine. Pagnotta did not return THE CITY’s call seeking comment.

With Biegel, DOI ultimately found he had served 105 levies improperly. In 20 of those, Biegel collected more than $691,000, pocketing $40,000 in poundage fees.

Confronted with the findings, Biegel acknowledged to DOI he is required to serve in person and only within the city boundaries, stating “I apologize that we are here.” Biegel ultimately returned $40,000 to the city and paid an extra $4,000 in fines. Going forward, he was required to keep a daily log documenting he was personally serving levy notices only within New York City.

As THE CITY recently reported , Biegel was sued early this month by a company, Zomongo TV, accusing him of seizing $900,000 from a Toronto bank account as he sought to collect debt owed to Capital Advance Services. Attorney General Letitia James recently sued Capital Advance, deeming them to be a predatory lender charging outrageous interest rates of up to 200%. Zomongo’s lawsuit alleges the cash advance firm relied “almost exclusively” on Biegel to collect its debts.

In 2023, Biegel collected $3 million in fees, netting income of $1.1 million after expenses, records show.

Biegel did not return THE CITY’s calls seeking comment on the DOI disciplinary actions or the lawsuit allegations.

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