Ex-tenant accused of violently mugging 99-year-old NYC landlord who died of stroke faces felony charges

The disgruntled ex-tenant accused of violently robbing a 99-year-old Upper Manhattan landlord – who died of a stroke in the aftermath of the $20,000 heist – was shipped back to the city Friday to face felony charges as the victim’s grandson slammed him as a “coward.”

Domingo Vasquez Rodriquez, 39 – who lived in nonagenarian Jose Antonio Tur’s Washington Heights building for five years before moving to Philadelphia – was charged with robbery, two counts of assault, grand larceny and six counts of burglary.

A judge ordered him held without bail, at prosecutors’ request.

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“He had the same look like he’s always had,” the slain man’s grandson, Jose Miguel Tur, told The Post after Rodriguez’s arraignment. “And that look is the look of a coward. It’s the look of someone that’s never and never has accepted responsibility because… the system has shielded him throughout his time as our tenant.”

The younger Tur described Rodriguez as “a horrible tenant” who left the apartment an “absolute disaster…covered with roaches, cabinets destroyed.”

To make matters worse, he allegedly owed the elder Tur more than $30,000 in late rent payments – and in August, the landlord offered him $8,000 to leave the apartment, according to the Manhattan DA’s Office. 

But he was back in the city on Sept. 22, when he allegedly called the elderly building owner and tricked him into coming outside, claiming he had a package that needed to be delivered to an apartment within the residence, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny previously said.

Rodriguez allegedly requested that the senior meet him on the side of the building – and when the victim went to open the gate, the intruder grabbed it and pushed his way past, the chief said.

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“The 99-year-old starts to fight with the perpetrator,” Kenny said. “During this fight over the door, his hand gets crushed between the door and the metal frame, hurts his hand, and he ends up having to get stitches.”

The cunning, ski mask-wearing criminal then made his way into the basement of the five-floor, 30-unit building, where he allegedly pressed a gun into the victim’s back and demanded access to the office, the police official said.

He then forced his way into the office, where he snatched up at least $20,000 in rent that was stored in a cabinet, he added.

The senior was hospitalized for his injuries, and while there, he suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side, his grandson Jose Miguel Tur, 31, told The Post.

The former ship merchant from Cuba was then moved to the intensive care unit, and ultimately hospice care, where he died Oct. 8, his grandson said.

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“We hope that justice is served since he killed my grandfather,” the victim’s grandson of the alleged robber.

In the courtroom, Rodriguez’s attorney Harlan Greenberg tried springing his client out on lesser bail and supervised release, revealing he lives in Philadelphia with his wife and daughter and works as a “self-employed music promoter.”

Rodriguez is a legal resident who has lived in the US for nine years, according to his lawyer. 

But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michele Rodney ultimately sided with Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Vimi Bhatia, who pushed to keep him behind bars. 

He will next appear in court in February and could spend up to 25 years in lock-up if convicted.