Old Man Turns Queens Home Into Impenetrable Fortress

Bring it on, thieves: Ozone Park octogenarian Harry Luft is ready. Sure, you may have burglarized his house three times in the past 20 years, but just try it one more time. Luft will be wide awake and waiting, monitoring the perimeter of his small property through nine security cameras as you get all cut up on the barbed wire he's strung around his yard. And should you somehow make it past that, good luck getting inside the compound, which is protected by roll-down gates, window bars, four locks on the front door, and Luft's constant vigilance.

Luft, a retired bookbinder, began fortifying his home about 20 years ago, shortly after his wife died of cancer. He started with the roll-down gates, but he was still robbed of a TV, jewelry and cash. Luft estimates that he's spent about $10,000 on his multi-layered security system, and it's worth every penny, because you can't put a price on peace of mind. "I'm not a nut or anything like that," he tells the Post, which has a great photo of his house. "I just want to protect myself. Life is too short. I lived to be 86 years old, and I don't have many more years to go."

He's experienced no theft since installing the cameras, but he's ready to flee from thieves at a moment's notice—since he doesn't have fire escapes, he installed ladders on the second-story exterior walls, to be used in an escape. Luft doesn't reveal what kind of firearms he keeps in the home (that's for him to know and you to find out) but he says can't rely on cops to keep him safe from "crazy people." The neighborhood's filled with "all kinds of characters," says Luft from his fortified compound. "They see you live alone, and they take advantage of you. You can't always call the Police Department, because after a while they get tired of you and think you're a wacko."

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By John Del Signore in News on December 10, 2009 9:49 AM

Comments [rss]

NewHCE

What all the trashing on this guy? He just wants to make his home secure. So what?

Swingline

He really should just move underground

Think2wice

But does he have frickin' sharks with frickin' lasers attached to their frickin' heads.

Bike Rider

No. Just Seabass. Mutated seabass.

buttface

with enough food and water stowed away, this would be one of the few suitable places to wait out a zombie apocalypse. cleanup in a place as dense as new york could take years or decades.

Spirit of 76

What, no high voltage electric fence?

potsmoker

well data for the 106th shows a super drop in crime since 90's. google maps street view shows a super darn nice clean neighbodhood free of liter and graffiti and broken windows theory stuff, nice cars, clean houses, his house with the barbed wire and cement lawn, is the only delapidated looking POS on the street for blocks.

im insinuating hes doing this because hes a loon.

who spends 10K to setup a security system to protect what? his TV & 8track cassette collection?

Guest

i agree that he should stop being afraid. i hope i'm not like that when i'm 86... it'd be a terrible thing.

NannyState

"...he's spent about $10,000 on his multi-layered security system and it's worth every penny."

Yeah, it's worth every penny to thwart the ambulance crew.

Guest

doens't he look like clint eastwood in that picture. not a bad look for a man in his mid-80's. with his beer and all.

Guest

reminds me of back to the future 2

potsmoker

whats his zip code? the demographic websites has two, ozone park and south ozone park. one is down with all the all mighty whitey, the other has about 40% black plus other minorities. i guess when he says "There's all kinds of characters" he means darkies.

i cant find any acris info for him to the correct address and see if theres any violations.

if hes refering to the ladder then those window gates must be fire dept approved for no key easy exit.

if he has a fire and has to find a key or fiddle with a lock in the dark or smoke, then thats a tragedy that could easily be avoided.

im no expert on the the ground floor roll down gates, any advice? is this legal? safe? does he close them down at night or only when hes off the property?

Guest

"i guess when he says "There's all kinds of characters" he means darkies."

you mean "darkies" who robbed him in the past...? hopefully there were some non-darkies who robbed him too.

in case you're insinuating that he's doing this only based on race (and i apologize if you aren't), let's remember that he's been robbed in the past. no others in their right mind will go and do something like this unless the person's house had been broken into a few times.

hunter.blatherer

You're casing the joint?

TrippinJoJo

perfect picture.

hotstepper

he's 86, cut him some slack. you hosers will be lucky to make it that far and those that do, i'm sure will be missing a few marbles by then.

lock 'n load bitches!

Potty Boy

Ozone Park a rough neighborhood?

silver

One sides Lil Mama ENY, the others 50 Cent Jamaica. Its only rough if your a pussy.

zodak

stay off his lawn!

Guest

There are no lawns in Queens... just little pieces of sod everywhere. It's more like, "You kids stay off my... 10x10 plot of grass surrounded by cement."