The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our latest print edition. 

Nearly five months after federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) raided a Norwood building used by gang members at 3267 Decatur Avenue, and almost two months after federal prosecutors announced the seizure of the building through the courts, much to the relief of block residents, workers were later seen sealing the two-story home at the end of March.

 

One month later, on April 30, the home was broken into and not for the first time. Meanwhile, a law firm has said in reference to a planned public foreclosure auction or sale of the property, that once a judgment of foreclosure and sale is received, the property could be sold to a 3rd party purchaser.

 

On March 29, Norwood News had observed a half dozen contractors mixing cement and cutting plywood as they boarded up the garage door, front door, and first-floor windows of the two-family home. When asked about their work at the property, one man who seemed to be in charge, said, “We’re from the City.” Asked if the City was taking over the property, he replied, “We only seal it up.” We asked if anyone had been inside the property when the workers arrived. The man responded, “Nobody inside, empty, empty.”

 

According to City records, a “Satisfaction of Mortgage” document is in place dated October 2024, one month before the home was raided by federal agents and four years after the property owner, the late Mrs. Mary McCaffrey, 97, of 3267 Decatur Avenue, Bronx died in July 2020. Her mortgage covered the entire lot which includes the building, a garage and/or vacant land.

 

Prior court records from around 2022 show NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) had been issuing notices to McCaffrey on different occasions instructing her to safeguard the property which had fallen into disrepair, likely not realizing she had already died in 2020. The records show the legal action against her was discontinued in January 2024.

As reported, residents of the block allege the home was taken over by a local gang sometime after McCaffrey died. In 2022, they allege the same gang pushed out a man who claimed to be the last legal occupant of the home. In November 2024, Norwood News contacted the man who declined to be identified out of fear for his safety.

 

He duly alleged the building had been left to him in 2020 by McCaffrey when she died. The same man alleged he was the legal owner of the home from around 2020 to 2021 when he allowed a pregnant woman and her boyfriend to stay there rent-free. The man also alleged the local gang later took up residence in the building.

 

As reported, on Nov. 20, 2024, a former female second-floor occupant of the home said she had been renting at the location but did not specify from whom. Subsequent visits to the home found the door with a new lock, before it was apparently kicked in again. This happened on multiple occasions. At one point, a panel from the front door was removed. Residents claimed they continued to see teenagers and young men enter the home.

 

When the ATF raided the property on Nov. 4, 2024, Norwood News obtained video stills from a resident which show dozens of agents at the location and later, children filing past them as they walk towards P.S. 56 Norwood Heights School located about 200 feet away on East 207th Street. Residents alleged the agents were searching for a suspect who fled out the back of the building and that investigators recovered drugs and guns inside the home.

In response to an inquiry, on Nov. 19, 2024, Amanda Hay, a public affairs specialist at ATF, told us in part, “Unfortunately we can’t comment on any part of the investigation and what we’re doing.” At the time, we asked Hay if ATF had secured the property after the raid. She replied, “I was not on the operation. I was just advised that we cannot comment on any aspect of it until it’s, you know, once the news release comes out.”

In February 2025, as reported, prosecutors announced the home had been seized via the courts via a civil forfeiture complaint in which it was alleged the property was being used by members of the “Drilly Gang” as a stash house for drug trafficking and guns. Civil forfeiture is a legal process that allows law enforcement to seize property that is suspected of being involved in a crime without charging the owner.

 

They said federal agents had recovered, among other things, a pistol magazine; 177.73 grams of cocaine; 33 grams of methamphetamine; 38 grams of fentanyl; 65 grams of psilocybin mushrooms; and 240 grams of marijuana, drug packaging materials, which were designed to make the drugs look like candy, and around $1,700 in cash. No arrests were announced.

 

Other City records for the property show that a law firm located in Manhattan is representing Celink, a loan servicer of the mortgage. In response to questions raised by a concerned resident of the area about the comings and goings at the property, the law firm referred to a planned public foreclosure auction or sale and said once a judgment of foreclosure and sale was received, the property could be sold to a 3rd party purchaser.

“Any person who wants to bid at the sale/auction can do so once Plaintiff obtains a judgment,” a law firm official said. “The successful bidder takes ownership of the property, can begin any landlord tenant proceeding, or take any action to secure their investment.”

 

The official added that Celink had been monitoring the property and was actively trying to resolve the safety issues raised. “Due to the occupancy (from alleged squatters) they have not been able to secure the property previously,” the official said. “Once the property has been determined to be vacant per inspections (which occur regularly) it will be secured.”

 

Two residents of the block and the former male resident of the home had previously alleged that a “Bloods” gang who allegedly took over the home in 2022 was part of the same gang tied to the March 17th, 2021 fatal shooting of Delila Vásquez, 20, in an apartment on Hull Avenue and East 209th Street in Norwood, which had also allegedly been taken over by the gang.

 

According to the Bronx district attorney (DA)’s office, Precious Williams (female) later pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in connection to the death of Vásquez and is currently serving a two-and-a-third to seven-year sentence. The Bronx DA’s office said Omar Gibbs pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and was sentenced to 6 years in prison, and 5 years post-release supervision.

Both Gibbs, AKA “Leeky,” and Williams, AKA “PW Jet,” among others, were named on April 7, 2022, as announced by the Bronx District Attorney, in an 82-count indictment of the “G-Side / Drilly Gang,” prominent in the Drill rap scene. The members were charged with various offenses related to murder, non-fatal shootings, and stabbings that took place broadly between 2018 and 2022. According to the Bronx DA’s office, the gang is a subset of the “Bloods Sex Money Murder” gang.

On March 24, 2021, the super of the Hull Avenue building where Vásquez was shot recalled, “The girl that got killed in there, she was not living in the apartment. She was visiting. The person that is supposed to live in that apartment, she’s in jail.” Asked if the apartment was being used to sell drugs, the super replied, “The only thing I can tell you is there were a lot of young guys going in and out of that apartment. What they were doing inside the apartment, I don’t know.”

 

Meanwhile, prior to the latest apparent break-in at 3267 Decatur Avenue, as seen on April 30, when asked what the heavy sealing of the property meant to local residents, one said, “It definitely secures it now and it keeps the riff raff out of there, and I think it’s also good for the schools, because a lot of parents were concerned.”

Upon receiving news of the latest break-in, Norwood News informed the 52nd Precinct. We also reached out to the law firm listed in the City records to request more information on the apparent transfer of title regarding the property and will share any feedback we receive. Defendants not yet convicted of a crime are deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

A reverse mortgage of over half a million dollars was taken out on the property and signed by McCaffrey in 2008. We asked the legal firm if, given what has transpired in the interim, there is any possibility that the senior, who would have been about 85 at the time, took out the reverse mortgage under duress. We will share any updates we receive.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.