Pretty much everything you can read online about his business practices is true. You basically weren't getting paid the last 20% of your contract unless you had a good hook. We were the structural engineers, so he needed our filings for the building department. It's the only reason we got paid. He was in the top 3 of shitty developers to deal with in the 1990s along with Macklowe and Trevor Davis. He hasn't changed his spots, except that his mental capacity does seem quite diminished compared to when I dealt with him. In any event, he always thought he was the smartest guy in the room, when in reality he was just the biggest dirtbag. I briefly dealt with his kids. The daughter was the smartest, but that wasn't saying much.

I was too young to have dealt with his dad, but from what I've heard, he was a complete gentleman to deal with by comparison. Paid his bills on time, etc, and was fair. Obviously he was from a different time in NYC when outright racism in the real estate industry was standard, but that too was drastically changed before I moved here. Not completely changed, obviously, but nowhere near as blatant as it was in the past with redlining, etc.