The daughters of the late maraschino “Cherry King” Arthur Mondella rip Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson’s office, the NYPD and other authorities in a new lawsuit for treating their dad like “Pablo Escobar, El Chapo and Osama Bin Laden” all rolled into one when they executed an “illegal” raid on his Red Hook plant.
In their $50 million Brooklyn federal court suit, Dana Bentz and Dominique Mondella say investigators with the DA — which led the raid along with state Department of Environmental
Conversation agents — and the NYPD are to blame for their dad’s death in the “guns blazing, cowboy, cavalier” raid at Dell’s Maraschino Cherries in February 2015.
“The NYPD came heavy – with enough firepower that it would appear to the casual observer that they were there to take out Pablo Escobar, El Chapo and Osama Bin Laden – ALL AT ONCE,” says the lawsuit filed Monday.
“When the cops choose to play ‘Cowboys and Indians,’ the NYPD must [be] responsible when the Indians are needlessly killed.”
The suit says investigators allowed the 57-year-old fruit scion to sneak off and commit suicide in a factory bathroom just after authorities uncovered his massive marijuana-growing operation behind secret walls in the factory.
He was never searched for the hidden gun that was strapped to his ankle.
“They should’ve known this guy had a concealed carry permit. They didn’t do homework on that,” said the daughters’ lawyer Richard Luthmann.
“When they made the decision to go in, they bum-rushed the place and it becomes responsible on all law enforcement to do it correctly. They did it recklessly.”
The grisly situation unfolded after the DEC and DA’s Office obtained an environmental search warrant a day earlier related to waste-water discharge at the plant.
But the daughters blasted the warrant as a “ruse” for authorities to carry out an “improper and impermissible search for a drug manufacturing and distribution plant,” the suit says.
The DA’s Office and DEC “did not disclose the true nature of the investigation and [committed] blatant fraud on the court,” the suit says.
Luthmann added: “It was a very dishonest warrant.”
The attorney expects to soon file a lawsuit against both the DA’s Office and DEC –- neither of which are defendants in the federal case –- in the state Court of Claims.
“It was very fast and loose. People get hurt and people die when you do that –- when you don’t follow correct protocol,” Luthmann said.
A law enforcement source called the lawsuit misinformed, saying an extensive investigation led to the warrant.
A DA spokesman declined to comment and DEC didn’t return a message.
“The city and the NYPD will review the complaint which we have not seen yet,” said a city Law Department spokesman.
The federal suit comes just weeks after Dell’s settled with the DA’s Office for $1.2 million after pleading guilty to environmental charges.
A judge also recently signed off on Bentz as the administrator of her father’s $8.5 million estate following a bitter feud with Arthur’s ex-wife.