City Council Member Chi Osse was arrested last week at a deed theft protest in Bed-Stuy. (Photo via @chiosse)
Mayor Mamdani this week created a new office to regulate deed theft, after a Brooklyn rep was violently arrested and “slammed on the ground” last Wednesday at a housing protest in Bed-Stuy.
Council Member Chi Ossé, who represents Bed-Stuy and parts of Crown Heights, was one of four people arrested outside the home of Carmella Charrington, a local who is fighting eviction from her Jefferson Ave brownstone.
In footage posted on social media by Ossé’s staff, the 28-year-old — a DSA-affiliated rising star who became the youngest member ever elected to the city council in 2021 — can be seen speaking heatedly with a police officer outside the front gate, before another cop wrenches him face-down against the sidewalk.
Ossé was one of four protesters arrested, and he was released from the local precinct after being charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of obstructing governmental administration. The second-term lawmaker promised to file a misconduct report, noting that he felt “dizzy” and had sustained mild head injuries.
A spokesperson for the NYPD claimed that they had given multiple warnings to clear the area, and that Ossé had resisted arrest. Meanwhile, state Attorney General Letitia James said she was “deeply disturbed” by the video, and North Brooklyn rep Lincoln Restler called the police officers’ conduct “outrageous.”
Deed theft occurs when scammers transfer a property to themselves without the owner’s knowledge or consent, typically through forged signatures or tricks that target older residents. The practice has come under scrutiny in recent years, with state-level complaints skyrocketing by 240% from 2023 to 2025.
Although James’ office determined that Charrington’s case was one of a dispute between heirs, rather than textbook deed theft, Ossé’s arrest has drawn increased attention to scams that often target Black and Brown New Yorkers. The problem is particularly dire in Brooklyn, which accounted for 1,500 of the 3,500 instances of deed theft recorded citywide between 2021 and 2023, making it the most impacted borough by far.
“When my grandmother was sick before she passed, she had a stroke, there were still people knocking on her door in Crown Heights asking her to sell her home,” Ossé told reporters. “We are seeing the displacement day in and day out here in Bed-Stuy — you can see the changing of the neighborhood, and a huge reason for that is because of deed theft.”
Last Friday, only two days after Ossé’s arrest, Mayor Mamdani formally established the first-ever Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention, and appointed Peter White as its inaugural director.
White, an attorney with Access Justice Brooklyn, has long worked on deed theft and foreclosure cases. The nonprofit’s head hailed him as “a brilliant lawyer and advocate,” and fellow experts largely applauded the appointment.
Scott Kohanowski, the general counsel at the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, singled out a clear priority for the newly-created office: “Just more transparency,” he told the Star. “So many of these scammers and speculators are shielded with our LLC laws, so it’s really hard to identify who the actors are. One thing I’d like to see is this new entity and the AG’s office having access to that information, so they can start connecting the dots.”
