This shocking video, obtained exclusively by DailyMailTV, allegedly shows a Brooklyn, New York man being stomped on and choked until nearly passing out by his landlord and a teenage henchman – over an air conditioner.
Event coordinator Laurence Cappelli, 36, told DailyMailTV, ‘I feared for my life as they duct tapped my hands behind my back, put a plastic bag over my head and choked me until I was barely conscious, leaving me for dead.’
Cappelli’s landlord, Fahad Kahn, 39 and his associate Zain Baig, 18, each face charges of felony burglary, assault, criminal obstruction of breathing, menacing, possession of a weapon, trespass and harassment for the May 2017 attack.
They are scheduled to stand trial at Kings County Supreme Court in Brooklyn on July 23. Despite being 16 at the time of the alleged crime, Baig has been charged as an adult.
This footage, recorded using a car’s reversing camera that still has parking guidelines on it, shows baseball cap-wearing Laurence Cappelli set upon by a man he claims to be Zain Baig, then 16, as Cappelli leaves his apartment in Brooklyn, New York, to make a phone call in May 2017
Stunnned Cappelli (left) lies on the floor of his apartment’s communal hallway as his attacker, who he alleges is Baig, is caught on camera stomping his foot down on him
Cappelli claims this security camera footage shows Baig (left) and a ski-mask wearing Fahad Kahn (right) after they allegedly beat him
Cappelli claims this shows Kahn reaching towards the security camera. Cappelli told DailyMailTV he tricked him and accomplice Baig into thinking they had escaped with the camera’s hard drive but in fact had only taken a portable battery. Cappelli was able to show police the footage of the brutal attack
During the attack, Kahn and Baig allegedly discovered they were being recorded by Cappelli’s surveillance camera.
However Cappelli described tricking the bungling pair into believing a portable battery he had was the hard drive the incriminating footage was being downloaded to.
The men stole the battery, leaving Cappelli with the hard drive containing the video of the vicious attack which he was later able to show police.
DailyMailTV has agreed not to disclose the current location of Cappelli, who still feels in danger for his safety.
Cappelli explained how he moved into the $1,285-a-month basement studio apartment, in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn, in the winter of 2016.
He said things only turned nasty when he bought a small window air conditioner in May 2017 to prevent his 200 square foot home from becoming too hot as summer approached.
Cappelli said, ‘That’s when my troubles began. I was outside smoking a cigarette and a relative of Kahn’s came up to me and told me I was going to need to pay an extra $80 a month for the electricity the AC unit would be using.
‘I told him I wasn’t going to pay a dime extra. The man mumbled something under his breath and walked off.‘
A few days later Cappelli said he heard loud noises outside of his window, with someone tapping on the glass. Then the harassing phone calls started.
Cappelli said: ‘I received phone calls from a guy who said his name was Boris, he said he was from the Russian mafia. He said I’d better get out of the apartment.
‘I was getting scared of what was going on. I couldn’t believe this was all over an AC unit.’
Now living at a secret location, Laurence Cappelli (above) alleges his attackers were landlord Fahad Kahn and accomplice Zain Baig
Laurence Cappelli suffered bruises to his arms and left eye in the attack
Laurence Cappelli took this photo after the alleged attack by Kahn and Baig. He suffered scratches and bruises on his forehead, scratches around his eyes and neck and bruising to his chest
Cappelli told his parents and his father installed a make-shift motion sensor security camera – made from a car’s parking camera – and placed it the communal hallway outside his apartment.
On May 16, 2017 Cappelli said he was walking out of the apartment to order a chicken parmigiana for lunch – his cell phone did not work in the apartment – when he was attacked by two men.
He claims the men were Kahn, who wore a gray hoodie and black ski mask, and Baig, who wore a blue and white hoodie with a red bandana across his face.
The video shows Cappelli being viciously beaten to the ground by two men.
Cappelli said, ‘They both started to hit and punch me. When I fell to the floor they began kicking me. I was in fear for my life.
‘I curled up in the fetal position as I was getting kicked and punched. One of them put a plastic grocery bag around my head.
‘I was only able to breath because I managed to poke a hole in the bag with my finger.’
‘I almost passed out when one of the men had me in a head lock, I could barely breath. At one point I even pretended that I had passed out.
‘When my assailants let up and I attempted to escape, they knocked me to the ground and the beating and kicking continued.
‘I kept on thinking that I was going to die, that I’m never going to see my mother again. They took my cell phone from me and smashed it to the ground.’
Video footage showed the man who is allegedly Kahn noticing the camera recording them and is seen grabbing it from the wall.
This is the home in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn, New York where Laurence Cappelli lived in a studio basement apartment
The charges brought by Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office against Fahad Kahn and Zain Baig
Cappelli said they dragged him back into his apartment, bound his hands behind his back with duct tape and took off the plastic bag.
The men began to destroy Cappelli’s belongings, demanding to know where the hard drive was that the camera was downloading its footage to.
He said: ‘One of the men picked up a miniature golf club I had in my apartment and started smashing my TV, my computer and almost everything else in my apartment.
‘They spared my fish tank. Thinking back on it, the only reason why they didn’t smash it was probably because they didn’t want the water damage it would have caused.’
His attackers demanded to know where the hard drive camera was downloading its footage to.
Cappelli said, ‘I pointed to a 13 lb portable battery, pretending that was the hard drive. Kahn picked it up and both men fled.
‘I was able to break the duct tape binding my hands and I ran outside. I spotted the men trying to get away.
‘I yelled to people in the street, telling them to call the police, that I had been assaulted.
‘In the meantime, Baig was throwing bottles at me, trying to stop me from following them.
‘At this point the men had taken off their masks. I caught up with Kahn because he was winded from carrying the heavy battery. I could hear police sirens in the background.
‘Baig joined him and Kahn said to me , ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s my building anyway.’
‘We all walked back towards the apartment, where the cops were waiting. Kahn told the police that I was his tenant and I had been the one who destroyed the apartment.’
Cappelli said police were initially skeptical with his claims that Kahn and Baig had beaten him.
But officers found a ski mask and bandana thrown away by Cappelli’s attackers and arrested Kahn and Baig.
Cappelli said at first he did not tell the police about having the hard drive with the evidence of the attack, fearing someone could have destroyed it.
He said, ‘Later that day I brought down a copy of the video that gave the police and prosecutor indisputable evidence of what happened to me.’
Cappelli said he had never met or seen either man prior to the attack, believing Kahn’s relative, who he had disagreed with about the rent increase, to be the landlord.
Cappelli showed photos to DailyMailTV of the injuries he sustained in the attack.
They include scratches and bruises on his forehead, scratches around his eyes and neck and bruising to his chest.
But he said he is at least thankful he was able to fool his attackers into taking a battery pack instead of the hard drive which captured the footage.
To his attackers, Cappelli said, ‘I will not allow you to get away with his violent attack on me. I want justice to be served for what you both did to me.’