Billy's Antiques Owner Speaks Out on Subway Sign Arrest

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The owner of Billy's Antiques and Props on E. Houston vented about his arrest, after cops raided his store Friday, accusing him of selling stolen MTA property. NYPD officers took 96 subway signs priced between $40-$1,000. But Leroy says a MTA subcontractor sold him the signs fair and square for $3,000. "He was supposed to dispose of the signs, and he disposed them to me," Leroy told the News. "I don't send an army of crackheads into the subway to unbolt signs."

Leroy says police overdid it in the Friday night raid. "There were 20 cop cars here. It was like they were arresting Public Enemy No. 1," he said. Leroy recalled that when he first started stocking the signs, cops came sniffing around the store, but for the next 12 years they left him alone. "Why didn't they just tell me I wasn't able to sell the signs?" wondered the junk shop owner yesterday.

Allegedly, cops told Leroy that if he revealed his secret subway sign source they wouldn't put him in cuffs. (Previously he'd kept his supplier carefully guarded: “If I made it public then every shop would have them,” he told NYC the Blog in 2008.) But they didn't keep their promise, says the antiques dealer: "They took me out in cuffs and put me through the system."

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By Sabrina Jaszi in News on March 24, 2010 11:30 AM

Comments [rss]

Addie

This is a total land grab situation. Unfortunately Leroy's going to be going through a lot more of this in the future. I love his quirky place and now am definitely going back to show a bit of support for keeping that corner weird. Damn the man, save the freaks!

pinball29

If the guy has a reciept that says he bought them legit, then theres no case. Its the supplier they should be raiding (or...spending more time actually preventing real crimes rather than bogus raids and tickets)

Wonder where those subway signs will eventually end up? My guess is they will be impounded and auctioned off and the money will go to.......let me guess.

Powerhugs

I think Woody Allen used one of those stolen Subway signs for a bedroom scene in Manhattan Murder Mystery....Maybe he will be arrested too...

longacre

One of the smarter things the MTA has done over the past few years has been to tighten up its intellectual property enforcement so they can make money off of things like subway route logos and old signs. This contractor probably had no right to sell these signs. "Dispose of" and "sell" are not synonyms.

frog 1

...That shop has been selling those signs for 12 years. Then all of a sudden the MTA and the Transit Police Goon Squad raid his tent like he is public enemy #1..what a waste of taxpayer money.

OMG !! does that mean MOBY is going to take him off his "Favorite Google Shop" list...now that is a serious matter!

potsmoker

so what exactly was he arrested for if he got them from a legitimate source and supplier? was the supplier arrested????

luke*

This is America. You could probably be written up for half a dozen things while sitting at your computer browsing Gothamist.

S.K.

MTA's greed closed Billy's.

Papercutninja

a comment pointed out that this could be an attempt at a land-grab by forcing Billy's out. It's a nice plot of land, and some douchey investment firm is probably licking its lips right now.