Paterson’s Michael Jackson hit with defamation lawsuit over ‘slumlord’ claims

PATERSON — Councilman Michael Jackson faces a defamation lawsuit over his Facebook video postings earlier this year calling a city apartment building owner a “slumlord.”

The lawsuit, filed on March 21, says Jackson’s videos posted on Jan. 17 and Feb. 1 were made “maliciously and willfully and were intended to cause harm" to the landlord, Frankee Firrito, who lives in Lodi.

Jackson recorded the videos at Firrito’s building at 221 Broadway, which has about six apartments.

“The defamatory statements included ... accusations of failing to provide heat to tenants, unlawful partitioning of the apartment, maintaining unusable appliances that were leaking gas, failing to provide hot water to tenants, breaking the law by failing to provide heat in the hallways, breaking the law by not having the garbage pick up the trash and unlawful removal of appliances,” Firrito’s lawsuit says.

When told about the lawsuit by a reporter last week, Jackson didn’t retract any of his criticism of Firrito.

“I made no false accusations against him — he is a slumlord,” the councilman asserted. “Any human being who is able to permit people to live with no heat and no hot water should not be allowed to be a landlord.”

Earlier: NJ Supreme Court rejects Michael Jackson's appeal in Paterson election fraud case

Outspoken member of Paterson City Council

Jackson, who represents Paterson’s 1st Ward, has been the most outspoken member of the City Council since he was first elected in 2015.

Mayor Andre Sayegh has been Jackson’s primary target for criticism, with council members Al Abdelaziz, Shahin Khalique, Alex Mendez and Luis Velez also coming under fire from their colleague.

Elected officials blasted by Jackson often take issue with the accuracy of his assertions, just as Firrito is saying the councilman made false statement against him.

For example, Firrito said Jackson’s video claiming there was no heat in his building focused on an apartment where the landlord said the thermostat showed the temperature to be 72 degrees.

The lawsuit says Jackson’s Jan. 17 video about Firrito had about 2,200 views and the Feb. 1 video more than 1,600 views. The landlord said he sent the councilman two letters demanding that the posts be removed from the internet.

Firrito's suit says Jackson’s videos resulted “in harassment, terroristic threats, public comments being posted about him, and threats to his livelihood.”

“Plaintiff has also had difficulty renting out empty apartments due to backlash surrounding the publicly viewed videos,” the suit says.

Firrito bought the Broadway building for $123,800 in October 2000, city property records show. The current assessment is $379,400.

Firrito owns at least one other property in Paterson: a multifamily apartment building at 196-198 Beech St.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ Councilman Michael Jackson facing a defamation lawsuit