Brothers sue brother over control of White Plains condo apartment

Two brothers have petitioned Westchester Supreme Court to dissolve a family company that they claim another brother has commandeered.

Enzo and Mateo Amendola are challenging Nicola Amendola and seeking to liquidate Amendola Realty Inc., the owner of a condominium apartment in White Plains.

“The type of intense discord that has developed,” the Sept. 21 petition states, “has created such disruption and deadlock that efficient management by the shareholders, directors and officers is impossible, with no chance of repair or resurrection of any positive business relationship.”

Efforts to find contact information for Nicola Amendola, to ask for his side of the story, were unsuccessful.

Amendola Realty was formed in 1986 and purchased two apartments in the Westage Towers condominium on Rockledge Avenue in White Plains, according to the petition, to rent out as income producing properties.

Each brother held a one-third interest in the business.

Initially, Enzo states in an affidavit, he ran Amendola Realty with the consent of his brothers and “without controversy.”

Ten years later, Nicola, of New City, Rockland County, began running the business.

Since 1996, Enzo and Mateo allege, “Nicola has operated … in a secretive and self-rewarding manner.”

They claim, for instance, that they have received no income or profits from the rentals or from the sale of one of the apartments, in 2003, for $385,000.

They also allege that Nicola allowed a son to live in one of the apartments rent-free for 5 years and another son to live rent-free for three years.

Enzo and Mateo say they have no idea how much the business is worth because Nicola has refused to share financial information.

No shareholder meetings have been held for many years, the petition states, and now Nicola claims that his brothers had sold their shares to him and therefore have no standing to call for a meeting.

The petition does not explain why Enzo and Mateo waited decades to sue their brother over his handling of Amendola Realty.

They are asking the court to appoint a temporary receiver to protect the business assets, grant access to financial records, and order the dissolution of the corporation.

Enzo and Mateo are represented by White Plains attorney Wayne Spector.