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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/re...ref=realestate
Big Deal

Star Marshal

By JOSH BARBANEL
Published: October 2, 2009


The Lucida

WHEN times are tough, the tough get going: There are people to evict, judgments to collect, wages to garnish, property to seize and sell. So the worst of times can be the best of times for a group of independent contractors known as New York City marshals, who are authorized to keep a nickel of every dollar they collect.

The best, or worst, of the city marshals last year was Martin A. Bienstock, who earned $5.4 million, more than any other marshal, through a variety of fees and the 5 percent assessment known as poundage.

So partly as a result of the dire economy, Mr. Bienstock was able to step up in the world. Property records show that he paid $3.16 million for a three-bedroom apartment on the 17th floor of the Lucida, a new 21-story limestone and glass condominium at Lexington Avenue and 85th Street.

The Lucida offers its residents filtered fresh air, and a fitness and spa center with a “sky-lit” indoor pool, according to a building Web site.

Mr. Bienstock’s marshal’s office is in a squat two-story office building on Bell Boulevard in Bayside, Queens, far from his new LEED-certified nest on the Upper East Side. Mr. Bienstock and his lawyer did not return several telephone calls, and the Department of Investigation, which oversees the marshals, declined to confirm that he was the purchaser of the apartment.

But in closing documents, Mr. Bienstock, who is 62, gave his address as 300 East 85th Street, a 37--story co-op built in the 1980s at Second Avenue, and he used that same address in making campaign contributions to city, state and federal candidates or committees, listing his occupation as city marshal. That apartment on East 85th, records show, is owned by Gregg Bienstock, who is 29, and according to the Department of Investigation, is also a city marshal who shares the Bell Boulevard office with a Martin Bienstock.

Last year the younger Mr. Bienstock took home $1.66 million, according to city records.

Diane Struzzi, a spokeswoman for the Department of Investigations, declined to comment on the relationship between the two Bienstocks, but noted that city marshals are appointed by the mayor to five-year terms, upon recommendation of a review committee.

She said marshals pay their own expenses. They also pay a fee of 4.5 percent of their proceeds to the city.

In addition to his city duties, the elder Mr. Bienstock has a Web site devoted to his photographs. According to the site, he has been a marshal for 32 years and began taking pictures while serving in the First Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam, as a way of “making sense of the chaos” around him.

His photographs show tranquil Western landscapes and peeling and rusting scenes of the Old West. There are no images of the bustling chaos of New York City. Perhaps the view from his new 17th-story abode will inspire him.

E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com

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