"Billy The Kid" Cops Guilty Plea In North Jersey Flipping Scam

In Northern New Jersey, The Star Ledger reports:

• An unlicensed real estate appraiser known as "Billy the Kid" pleaded guilty yesterday for his role in a mortgage scam used to flip dozens of rundown properties rented by low-income families on federal assistance. William Ottaviano, 41, of Branchville admitted inflating the value of dozens of multifamily houses in a series of sales orchestrated by Michael Eliasof, a Paterson real estate manager who pleaded guilty last month in the scheme that officials said netted as much as $2.5 million. The operation has been tied to Garfield's long-time municipal court judge, William Colacino Jr., who has not been charged, but has been named as an unindicted co- conspirator in the ongoing criminal investigation.

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• The case revolves around the sale of dilapidated residential properties throughout the city of Paterson that were quickly sold at inflated prices to obtain higher mortgages from banks. The houses were rented by tenants receiving federal Section 8 assistance, but most of the houses, sold to buyers with no money down, ended up in foreclosure.

For more, see Home appraiser pleads guilty in flipping scam (Paterson plot reportedly netted $2.5 million).

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