The Dakota

The co-op board of the Central Park West empyrean, which famously hosted John Lennon, is coming under suit for racial bias. This article in the Times is like a Tom Wolfe story come to life.

The lawsuit’s explosive allegations include claims that board members made ethnic slurs against prospective residents, including describing one couple as part of the “Jewish mafia” and suggesting that a Hispanic applicant was interested in a first-floor apartment so that he could more easily buy drugs on the street. The applicant, who was rejected, was married to a “prominent financially well-qualified white woman,” according to the suit, and though neither is named, the timing and circumstances suggest that it was Mr. Banderas.