‘Mayor’ of NYCHA complex — cat named Tuxedo — killed by pit bulls
The “mayor” of NYCHA’s Breukelen Houses — a chunky black and white cat named Tuxedo — was mauled to death by a pair of pit bulls egged on by their owners, and residents claim the NYPD isn’t doing enough to investigate, The Post has learned.
Tuxedo, who lived at the complex since 2011 and was part of a managed feral colony where he had friends and even a girlfriend, was spotted running away from the two pit bulls on January 13, according to witness Raymond Morales and the colony’s caretaker, Latonya Walker.
“What I witnessed, it was horrible. I was getting ready for work and I hear two dogs, I thought they were fighting, so I peeked out my window and I saw these two f–king people like antagonizing a cat,” Morales, 44, told The Post.
He said Tuxedo had run up a tree to escape the canines but the dogs’ owners, a young couple who looked to be in their 20s, were using a large stick to knock him down.
“As soon as the gentleman knocked the cat off the tree that’s when he let the dogs go like ‘get ‘em’ exactly just like that,” Morales recalled.
“The cat was screaming, it was trying to defend itself against two pitbulls as best as it can. Seriously, that was the worst.”
Morales yelled at them to stop through his window and then went outside to help but it was too late — Tuxedo’s jaw was hanging from his mouth and the mauled kitty was clinging to life.
“It was so bad it was unbelievable,” Morales, an animal lover who owns a dog, recalled.
But when he called 911 for help, Morales was rebuffed, he claimed.
“I said ‘listen, I witnessed two pit bulls attack a cat over here, the two owners was basically edging the dogs to attack the cat’ and they were like ‘oh don’t call us, call 311’ and I’m like ‘really? This is an emergency,’” Morales recounted.
An NYPD spokesperson didn’t address the 911 operator when asked for comment and said only “The Animal Cruelty squad is investigating whether any criminal charges can be brought against the owner of the dogs involved.”
The Animal Care Centers of NYC later came to pick up Tuxedo and confirmed to The Post a caller witnessed the feline getting “attacked by 2 large dogs,” the agency wrote in an email.
A medical examination of Tuxedo revealed he’d been bitten on his head and his jaw and sustained a number of horrific injuries that proved fatal, ACC said.
Walker, who’s been managing the colony since 2011, said she was heartbroken when she heard the news.
“When it first happened, I wanted to die, I couldn’t even get out of the bed for three days,” Walker sobbed by phone.
She said Tuxedo had a vibrant “personality” and was like a “dog cat” — he used to hang out with the guys while they worked on their cars in the parking lot and would sometimes hop in her car and join her for trips to the store.
“Everyone over there loves him, that’s why he was so fat, he had like five feeders,” Walker said.
Whenever a new, younger cat would join the colony, Tuxedo would “show them the ropes” and he was always spotted with the same female calico, nicknamed Meanie, who Walker called his girlfriend. He also had a “best friend” named Supermac that’s been “very depressed” since his buddy was killed, Walker said.
She added six cats are currently missing and another three were recently found dead in conditions similar to Tuxedo. She’s concerned the same pitbulls are responsible and the NYPD isn’t doing enough to investigate.
“[The officer] was like ‘well I don’t know if we’re going to do anything about it because we gotta make sure it’s a crime first and I said ‘how is that not a crime?’” Walker said of a Friday call with the NYPD’s animal cruelty squad.
She claims she’s since called them back three times, leaving messages that she has new information, but said no one has returned her calls. Morales, who was interviewed by the NYPD, is also awaiting a callback, he said.
In the meantime, Walker has resorted to posting signs around the building offering a $200 reward to anyone who comes forward with information.
“No cat should go through that but out of all of them, this is the one it shouldn’t have happened to,” Walker sobbed by phone.
“I am driven to get justice for him… If it takes 15 or 20 years, I don’t care. I’m never going to stop.”
