GOOD. This is simply greed and disregard for human life. All in the name of cash. The people who spearheaded this tragedy are sociopathic and need to held accountable for their actions. Lock them up, charge them, and throw away the keys. Let's see how long they last, how powerful they think they truly are in prison or where or how they can spend their freaking money locked up. These asswipes make me sick.

April 8, 2015 at 8:36 AM

WELL THEY FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT THE CHARGES SHOULD BE FOR THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF THOSE 2 MEN. IT'S MURDER ALONG WITH GREED !!!!!!!!!!!!

April 8, 2015 at 8:39 AM

I do hope everyone involved is prosecuted. They should not get away with this. If you live in a building, and you get gas that you don't pay for, it would be worth it to get together with your neighbors to hire a licensed plumber to check out the situation to make sure your landlord isn't doing the same thing this one did.

April 8, 2015 at 8:54 AM

Good. I hope all the charges stick.

April 8, 2015 at 8:58 AM

When ConEd finds evidence of tampering during an inspection, instead of just shutting down the gas line, shouldn't the police be called immediately? Am I crazy to think this?

April 8, 2015 at 9:00 AM

Next time your tea party friend tells you that there are too many govermental regulations
just point to this as perfect example why we need regulations in our society

April 8, 2015 at 9:24 AM

Good. It's time landlords understand they can not sidestep rules and ignore legal protocol .

April 8, 2015 at 9:28 AM

Perhaps this avoidable tragedy will lead to reforms in NYC building codes and laws the way the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire did.

More attention is needed to the ongoing violations so many landlords in the "new" east village are getting away with in their rush to gut renovate buildings for quick profits.

April 8, 2015 at 9:32 AM

If the Con Ed inspectors found problems during their inspection, and they did not do anything about those, immediately, then they are at fault, not the building owners / contractors.

April 8, 2015 at 9:45 AM

The City has been "privatizing" certain functions that it should be performing. They let people self certify. The City should be investigated and brought up on charges, as well as, Con Edison, who knew that there was something wrong.

April 8, 2015 at 10:08 AM

9:45am - I'm with you (in part). ConEd was there a bit earlier in the day. And there was still an explosion in the building? The inspectors were THERE. WTF? Something is fishy. Obviously whoever caused the leak is at fault, but something still doesn't make sense. If there was a potentially lethal situation (and there was) then the inspectors failed, too.

The regulations the tea party talks about are already on the books. They did not prevent this tragedy. They do add to costs, though, which makes people want to cut corners. Which is what happened here.

ConEd ain't no band of angels. Ask anyone involved in getting electrocuted by a manhole.

April 8, 2015 at 10:16 AM

9:45am,

1) From all reports, the ConEd inspectors did not allow gas to flow.

2) In what world would a landlord tampering with gaslines not be at fault just because a ConEd inspector does a poor job?

April 8, 2015 at 10:49 AM

As a tenant in the neighborhood, most of the buildings include heat and hot water with the rent so the tenants of 121-213 wouldn't know if the landlord was paying for the gas or not. The fact that tenants received text messages telling them not to call 911 if they smelled gas is shady AF tho. I personally would have walked to the 9th and shown that to someone or called 311.

April 8, 2015 at 10:58 AM

I am not for persecuting them for criminal behavior because the issue is complicated. As horrible as landlords can be, they don't intend to murder. I saw a post by a plumber who said that it takes forever for Con Edison to approve plumbing work and supply gas to buildings. Perhaps we should start with addressing the problem of why landlords feel compelled to resort to illegal tapping of gas lines.

I don't buy the line that it is all about greed. Let's not get hysterical here..mob mentality is never good.

Let's solve these problems to everyone's satisfaction.

April 8, 2015 at 11:05 AM

Does anyone on here know how self certification works? I heard that this is a recently instated protocol. Anyone?

April 8, 2015 at 11:09 AM

Based on my very limited knowledge of this stuff, the DA would normally offer lesser charges to the plumbers in exchange for evidence/testimony on the contractor and subcontractor, who in turn would give evidence on landlord and son. They must have evidence on the whole crew.

About Con Ed. Con ed workers showed up because of 911 reports of a gas leak and "shut off the gas and locked the pipe." The pipe-tampering that caused the explosion happened after they left. Con Ed's probably not culpable.

April 8, 2015 at 11:27 AM

Yes, heat and hot water are usually provided by the landlord. If the boilers are running on natural gas (a lot are using oil), then the supply line has to be a lot bigger than what goes to supply a gas stove. The buildings department and ConEd are a lot more restrictive on the supply lines to boilers. You can usually tell if your radiators are run off an oil boiler if there is a spot in the sidewalk out front where oil is delivered. But there could be a separate boiler for the hot water tank that is supplied by natural gas. If you have a gas stove and not a separate fee from ConEd for gas usage, then definitely call ConEd. However, I have a friend in a building where the gas supplied to the stove is included in the rent so it isn't separately metered, but it is noted in her lease (and it is a HUD building, majorly regulated, and it's done this way to save money for the tenants).
My question is, did the restaurant know their gas line was tampered with? They would have been paying for that siphoned gas and presumably had a jump in usage. Unless the connection happened before the meter, but I would think ConEd would've figured that out pretty quickly too.

April 8, 2015 at 11:30 AM

To the poster who wrote this at 9:45 a.m.: If the Con Ed inspectors found problems during their inspection, and they did not do anything about those, immediately, then they are at fault, not the building owners / contractors.

I don't get your logic. Does this mean if a couple of guys rob a store, and the police catch them but let them go, then the police are solely at fault for the crime committed? Seriously, think about what you are saying.

April 8, 2015 at 12:10 PM

ConEd's hands are tied on a lot of this because of regulations and limits on what they can do. Basically, they can shut off the gas, like they did in this case, and then report the landlord to the Department of Buildings. That's it. As someone said above, law enforcement needs a role in this. The ConEd people should be able to call the police about this kind of tampering and be taken seriously.

April 8, 2015 at 12:12 PM

Every ConEd bill has a warning about the danger of gas leaks. The plumber, especially, knew about the potential disaster that could result from tampering with a gas line. For all of them to claim ignorance is disgusting.

Please tell me that this family will not profit from the sale of the lot to one of the many developers that must be circling the waters right now

April 8, 2015 at 12:18 PM

I read somewhere that Con Ed DID turn off some of the gas during that inspection ad found several violations, and after they left, somebody tampered with the line again, which caused the explosion.

April 8, 2015 at 12:29 PM

As far as I know it means that the plumber inspects his own work and says it's ok

April 8, 2015 at 12:50 PM

@zee zeem Nobody is getting hysterical here, the facts speak for themselves and they are horrific enough: two young men are dead, even more people were injured, dozens have lost their homes, all of their possessions and businesses were wiped out. Three buildings which stood here for a hundred years or more were destroyed. All that's left is a giant hole in the heart of the Village.

It is the police and the DA who are talking about bringing murder charges against all involved. Nobody is "persecuting" anyone. No one forces a landlord or a contractor to tap a gas line illegally. Stop with the landlord enabling, they make tons of money in this city already but still do many extreme things to make more money, like harassing tenants or cutting corners on maintenance and safety.

If you still have more sympathy for the owners than you do for the victims then that's your problem, not those of us who want justice and better control over all of these out of control landlords.

The landlords may own the buildings, but this city still belongs to us.

April 8, 2015 at 1:00 PM

If the landlords are charged and found guilty, I hope the city takes the lots and builds affordable housing there (with the displaced having first choice of apartments).

April 8, 2015 at 1:07 PM

To add to Giovanni's (1:00 pm) remarks about landlords, the late great Esther Rand, a co-founder of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, once said that the "landlords are not the lords of the land; they are the scum of the earth". Bravo for her! We need more Esther Rands and fewer landlords. Let housing be in the public domain.

April 8, 2015 at 1:57 PM

I hope the City buys the land and puts a park with a memorial fountain there. This site should always be a reminder of how bad things happen when people play with fire.

April 8, 2015 at 1:58 PM

@1:07pm: I agree with you. The only issue is that the prosecutions (and likely appeals) of the owner, etc. will probably take so long that some developer will have a glassy "luxury" building up & running LONG before this case is over in the Court system.

Sadly, it's a good bet that NO ONE in authority will do anything that will genuinely give the displaced tenants any priority in moving back to an affordable apartment in this area.

April 8, 2015 at 1:58 PM

Self-certification is a huge problem and needs to be stopped. What this means is that an architect or engineer can essentially swear that the plans they are submitting and the work being performed meets all required standards. If they allow work to be done that is contrary to what they self-certified they can be fined, lose their ability to self-certify or in rare cases lose their licenses. Unfortunately like all the other DOB fines, they are small and are generally perceived as a cost of doing business. I have said it here before, this kinda illegal work is being done all over the neighborhood. DOB is slow to respond to 311 complaints, often show-up with the wrong info and generally give up after not being able to get in to a building or apartment after 3 tries. Landlords and developers know how inefficient DOB is so they use it to their advantage. The Mayor knows this, Rosie knows this, CB 3 knows this as do all our local elected officials and housing advocates. The problem is that unless you can get the attention of one of these groups directly then nothing happens. CB 3, GOLES and Cooper Square work hard to help residents but have limited resources. The elected officials frankly have not stepped up to the plate and the Mayor is the same as the last two - in bed with the RE Developers so . . .There has to be some good from this tragedy and sending a clear message to all involved that they will be held accountable for homicide is a good place to start. Hopefully we will know when this trial begins and hopefully it will not be a grand jury, because we know how those goes. These people need to be put on trial for the public to attend and for the public to hear their lame excuses.

April 8, 2015 at 2:10 PM

I would be perfectly fine with it if they brought back the death penalty for all involved in this nightmare scenario of greed and resulting loss of life. Which brings me to my next point.

@zee zeem, your vacuous, Zen-like blatherings are jaw-dropping in their pathetic stupidity. Here's a hot flash for ya - no matter HOW long it takes to get gas piping done right, since everyone knows the destructive powers of gas, there is NO excuse to cut corners, illegally tap into pipes, or do anything to court the disaster that happened on 7th and 2nd. These greedy - yes, you heard me - scum deserve every drop of the hatred, vitriol and rage being loaded onto their shitty heads; they're lucky a mob didn't go after them with pitchforks and flaming torches.

April 8, 2015 at 2:51 PM

What it all comes down to is there is a gold rush mentality here in the East Village, with all the landlords, big and small, rushing in to renovate apartments to get higher-paying tenants in. They do surface renovations, they cut corners, and they take risks. The city needs to take our complaints seriously now that they have seen what can happen.

April 8, 2015 at 3:33 PM

I'd like to see all involved charged. But I'd also like to see another 100 landlords rounded up and charged who are doing more of the same illegal work

April 8, 2015 at 3:48 PM

Somehow I hope all monies made buy all of this scum, their defensive lawyers incuded is somehow taken away, and given to those displaced, homeless, and failed in bussiness. In prison and penniless is all they deservie. I will be infront of the courthouse & this best not take years. I miss my neighborhood!

April 8, 2015 at 3:52 PM

Are u saying robers are guilt free if police let them go. Its the most idiotic thing I have heard.

April 8, 2015 at 4:51 PM

OK 9:00am…I like your thinking here: "When ConEd finds evidence of tampering during an inspection, instead of just shutting down the gas line, shouldn't the police be called immediately? Am I crazy to think this?"

ConEd LISTEN UP:
You have a duty to any human who is or was endangered by an OBVIOUS not-to-code rigging of gas lines. Sex offender registries are a perfect corollary… If we have the right to know that there's a danger of that sort in the neighborhood - then we all have the right to know if you found what is essentially a bomb with a fuse attached next to our sleeping quarters.

You think it's OK to discover that someone is playing with our lives for some extra profit and WALK AWAY? On what planet is that OK? The second you find evidence of - let's be real and call it what it is: attempted murder - for hire. There should be fuchsia signs posted on every lamppost in front of the building: "WARNING - ILLEGAL GAS HOOKUP FOUND (ADDRESS, DATE & TIME)".

Put some teeth into your discoveries! Allow US to hold greedy narcissists accountable! Do we need a class action suit before you stop counting bodies and start acting like gas explosions are serious sh!t?

See this sign http://evgrieve.com/2014/02/stray-voltage-warning-on-second-avenue.html ? Why don't you take people screwing around with our lives via explosive gasses just as seriously??? Moises and Nicholas deserved a chance to save themselves - you robbed them.

And lastly; what are you hiding - what is the REAL reason you don't instantly call the cops when somebody's genuinely, clearly, endangering my life? I'm guessing: follow the money.

April 8, 2015 at 6:10 PM

I had always hoped that issuing much larger fines would stop landlords from their dangerous and illegal harassment of rent-stabilized tenants. Sadly, it seems this may be the worst-case scenario - murder charges - that finally gives landlords' a reason to pause.

April 8, 2015 at 6:34 PM

You folks are insane. It is beyond comical that in one breath you spout anti-government rhetoric, a supposed need for more regulation, and a desire for life imprisonment for a bad plumbing job that went awry. The criminal laws are designed to punish bad intent, not bad results.

April 8, 2015 at 6:52 PM

@Anon 6:52 PM:

Here's a car analogy that might clarify the situation for you:

1. You are driving on the highway, have to stop fast, but your brakes which were just repaired fail. You are likely not at fault (though you may be dead) for any casualties that result.

2. Same scenario except you removed the brakes on your car to save weight when you drag race it. You are now guilty of criminal negligence for whatever harm your illegal actions have caused.

#1 is "bad results", #2 is "bad intent". The Second Avenue gas explosion was "bad intent"; death, multiple injuries, and loss of property were the results. The charges must include homicide.

April 8, 2015 at 8:20 PM

@6;52 First of all, don't call people who are just trying to make sense of a crazy world insane. That is neither polite nor accurate.

Second of all, this was not a case of a "bad plumbing job that went awry"-- either you must be fucking kidding or have been very drunk when you typed this little chunk of absurdity into your Android device during happy hour at the bar.

Third, this is not about intent, it's about negligence. Nobody says the landlord wanted to blow up her buldings, but under the law she SHOULD have known her actions were dangerous and put others at risk. This is a case about negligence, not intent, which is why the police and DA are about to charge someone with criminally negligent homicide or manslaughter.

And calling the death of two young men and total destruction of 3 buildings "bad results" does not even deserve the response that the troll who wrote it wished for.

April 8, 2015 at 9:00 PM

Stealing gas to save money equals bad intent.

April 8, 2015 at 9:08 PM

No, laws are designed to punish people who kill other people.

April 8, 2015 at 9:08 PM

@Anon 6:52, speaking of insanity...

April 8, 2015 at 9:09 PM

Let us hope the judge sitting on this case is not paid off.
I would love to personally read our Constitution , with everyone. This tragedy has brought out glaring examples that we are failing as a country, as a city, and as a community. It breaks my heart.

April 8, 2015 at 10:54 PM

Conservatives still support laws that defend property and life. In other words, nobody would condone stealing utilities or causing a lethal explosion. The discussion of regulations in this scenario seems hardly relevant.

April 8, 2015 at 11:09 PM

Don't worry. Prosecutors won't let @6:52 onto any jury.

April 9, 2015 at 6:24 AM

So if this is just "bad plumbing job that went awry" The german plane going down was "just a bathroom break that took too long?"

April 9, 2015 at 12:58 PM

Yes my landlord's gas got shut down by coned for multiple gas violations. So he ripped the gas out. But funny the Coned guy comes by yesterday and knew nothing about that, was ready to read the meter. What, coned, you never followed up?

April 9, 2015 at 11:31 PM