Woman Charged with Renting Luxury Apartments for NYC Gangs

Waterline Square on West 61st Street (City Realty, Getty)

Federal investigators arrested a New York City woman for allegedly using stolen identities to provide luxury apartment hideouts to members of violent street gangs.

Latoya Williams was arrested Oct. 5 at her Upper West Side high-rise, the New York Times reported. The 35-year-old was charged with aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.

Investigators first suspected Williams’ involvement in the city’s violent gang life when her phone number, listed under the name “Toya Apartments,” was found on the cellphone of a man killed in broad daylight in Queens in February 2021.

The victim was a known associate of the Makk Balla Brims street gang, which is a faction of the national Bloods gang. Months later, the Times reported, law enforcement discovered a Yonkers apartment where gang members had been living was rented to a woman using the same Toya Apartments number.

Further investigation found the phone number was also connected to apartments in Brooklyn that were being used by gang members. At one of the apartments, police found five guns that belonged to the Wood City street gang.

Authorities allege Williams used falsified tax returns, bank statements, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses to rent the apartments in other people’s names so she could avoid paying for them. She allegedly paid for some of the rentals using New York state unemployment benefits cards. More than 10 victims of identity fraud were used in the scheme.

“The investigation has shown that apartments rented by Williams consistently have unpaid or underpaid rent, past-due balances, and other uncollected fees,” the complaint stated. “This has resulted, among other things, in lawsuits and debt collections being initiated against victims of identity theft in order to collect money owed for apartments leased fraudulently in their names.”

As is often the case, the ruse worked until it didn’t. When police arrested Williams they found several hundred thousand dollars hidden in her bed frame.

Williams was released on a $250,000 bond after she made her first court appearance on Wednesday afternoon.

— Victoria Pruitt