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Bruce Anderson
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Bruce Anderson
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Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Most violent crimes that capture the public's imagination are about serial killers, mass shooters, or crimes of passion. Yet some of the most shocking conflicts we encounter are between everyday neighbors in ordinary neighborhoods. What makes a good neighbor go bad? We may never truly know, but heed this warning about the terrible things that can happen when even the pettiest disagreements pass the point of no return. We're in an apartment building in the storied Harlem neighborhood of the Big Apple, New York City. This building is on a street so beautiful that director Steven Spielberg filmed some of his west side Story remake. Here, residents of all ages and backgrounds mingle effortlessly and deep friendships have formed between several tenants over the years. When a new tenant arrives with an insatiable infatuation, the stage is set for a deadly conflict. This is fear thy neighbor. The enemy upstairs. West Harlem is the definition of a classic Manhattan neighborhood. Many families in the neighborhood have called it home for generations. It's a perfect community where the young and elderly coexist well together.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
West Harlem is a really beautiful neighborhood. The streets are lined with gorgeous brownstones, beautiful trees. It's a very family oriented neighborhood. Everybody knows each other. People often have lived here for 20, 30 years. People say hello to each other on the street. You really have the feeling of a community, a tight knit community.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
That's New York Post journalist Rebecca Rosenberg. Now here's a neighbor at the heart of this story, Dolores Nettles.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
You feel at ease. You can sit on the stoops or you could just pass by. It's always somebody outside. It's always lights there.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Today's story takes place in an apartment complex on 131st Street. Like many in the neighborhood, it is a five story walk up, covered in fire escapes and filled with friendly neighbors. Perhaps the most cherished resident of his complex is Hampton Smith, known to his friends as Smitty.
Bruce Anderson
Hey, Jaden, how you doing?
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
The neighbors called Smitty the Watchman because he kind of looked out for everybody. You know, he looked out for the kids. He just was considered just a really loving guy.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Originally from South Carolina, Smitty has lived here for 25 years, working as the building superintendent and handyman.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He had all those aspects of Southern men. He was quiet. If you ask him to do something for you, he will do it without any hesitation.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty's not the only one keeping an eye out. His best friend, Ronnie Mitchell, is the super of the building across the street.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
I said, why are you bothering these kids? And, you know, we would just get a laugh out of it. We were playing just like kids would be playing.
Bruce Anderson
Hey, Jaden, you don't have to hang around with this old man here. They know this thing. He a old man.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Alan Thomas and Mary hall are two more friends and neighbors who reside here.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Ronnie was the mayor, from what I understand, that Smitty was the watchman, I think they called him. They seem like, to me, brothers from a different mother.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
They always joked with each other and teasing each other and, you know, whatever men do.
Bruce Anderson
You take care now. Say hi to your mama, all right.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
A lifelong New Yorker, Bruce has just moved in with his sister Rosetta, who lives on the first floor of Smitty's building. As Alan Thomas and Rebecca Rosenberg explain, the neighborhood is initially quite taken with the new resident.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Bruce is a very nice looking guy, big and strong. He was so cordial to me.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Some neighbors described him as a little bit shy, a little bit quieter.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He had worked in construction for a long time, but he had a hip injury and was out of work.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And it makes sense. Bruce is so warmly received considering his sister Rosetta is also a favorite in the building.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Smitty, nice shirt.
Bruce Anderson
Very cute.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Always so stylish.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce's sister was this very sweet, petite woman. She was a bit chattier than he was.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce and his bicycle soon become well known throughout the block.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
98% of the time, he always had that bike with him.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He went on a bike ride every single day. He said it was to kind of help his hip.
Bruce Anderson
Hey, man, looks like you got a little bit of problem there with your bike. I can take care of it for you.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Smitty helped Mr. Anderson with his bike because they both rode bikes. Smitty rode a bike everywhere. It was very rare that you would catch him walking.
Bruce Anderson
Serious? Yeah, it's not a problem. You know, give me a day.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
I had that done.
Bruce Anderson
Oh, man, I appreciate that, man.
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Hey, man, no problem.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Just when Bruce thinks he's hit the jackpot with his new community, things get even better when he catches of another tenant, Yvette Rivera.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Yvette Rivera was this really vivacious person. She just was a really good looking woman, a petite woman. She loved to dance. She was really, really friendly. Loved to socialize.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
When I first met Yvette, I said, she's a firecracker. Her mouth is not gonna stay closed. She was. Get the party started.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
All it takes is one look at Yvette for Bruce to fall head over heels. But not even a friendly building and the promise of meeting the potential woman of his dreams can distract Bruce from his one big complaint. Noise.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Definitely one of the downsides of city life and apartment living is how close you live together. You hear everything.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I think that's part of urban living. You're gonna have noise.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Specifically the commotion in the apartment directly above. Bruce is keeping him up at night. When Ronnie Mitchell drops by Bruce's place to fix a leaky faucet, Bruce confides his problem.
Bruce Anderson
Man, that person upstairs is niggas. It's a racket at night, man. I can't get no sleep.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
It's a bit of a shock when Ronnie informs Bruce who he's testy about.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Oh, man.
Bruce Anderson
You know who's upstairs? Smitty, man.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Really?
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Yeah.
Bruce Anderson
Let me talk to Smitty. You know, he's got some cats up there, you know, they play around, they knock things over.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
I didn't think it was a big deal. It's normal that people complain about noise. You get used to it.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
As if on cue, Smitty appears in the doorway with Bruce's repaired bicycle.
Bruce Anderson
Hey, Ronnie. I didn't know your old lad was down here. Hey, hey, old Smitty. Hey, man.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Hey, Bruce.
Bruce Anderson
Got your bike, man. She's good as new. I know that. That's your wheels. Hey, man. I'm gonna say, oh, you don't have to worry about it, man. I got you. Appreciate that, man.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Ronnie tells Smitty about Bruce's noise. Complain is entirely conciliatory.
Bruce Anderson
North. Yeah, okay, man. I'm worried about it, man. I've been getting off work a little late, you know what I'm saying? But I got you, man. You know, I'll hold it down. Don't worry about it.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
All right, man.
Bruce Anderson
I appreciate that. Smitty, man, I didn't want to say nothing, you know what I'm saying?
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty's friend, Dolores Nettles tells us how the super took Bruce's issue in stride.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Smitty said, all right, all right, all right. Because he was a more seldom man, but he wouldn't sing you off, but he'd be like, okay, okay, no problem.
Bruce Anderson
Hey, man, it's all good, man. It's all good. Here's your bike, man. Ronnie, man.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Both men are happy to resolve the problem. Bruce is even happier when he next spots Yvette Rivera. This time, he approaches her and makes his attraction known.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I'm Bruce.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Yvette.
Bruce Anderson
Pretty name. You live in this building?
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Second floor.
Bruce Anderson
I'm hoping to see you more often.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Oh, Bruce, I'm sorry, I'm taken.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He may have misconstrued her greetings, her niceties, as something, as a come on, but it wasn't Yvette.
Bruce Anderson
I'm a patient man.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
She was happily married, and it made her a little bit cautious.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Sorry, but you got to the starting gate too late, fella. Move on.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Despite the rejection, Bruce remains determined to win Yvette's heart.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Most women, when they tell a man, thanks and no thanks, I'm not interested, that man moves.
Bruce Anderson
But he kept.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Oh, boy. There was no no to him.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Later, Bruce runs into Yvette once again as she's heading home. And again he makes an attempt to approach her. But this time he's shocked to see the man that's been waiting for her.
Bruce Anderson
Oh, hey. What a coincidence.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Jamal, grasp.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Hola, Mommy.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Hampton. Smitty Smith.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty and Yvette had been together about 20 years. They were married maybe four years, five years. Connected at, you know, he'd run for her and she'd run for him.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Being that Smitty was in his 70s, close to 80, Mr. Anderson probably felt, how could he get this woman? And I can't cause jealousy. It can hurt you real bad.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Now that Bruce has learned, Smitty shares the apartment overhead with the woman he's been crushing on. The noise goes from annoying to agonizing.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Mr. Anderson was hearing a few things.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I believe he heard intimacy. I don't know. I think that ate him alive because in his head I wish it was me.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Anderson was infatuated and this older man is going home to be vet and he just, he couldn't handle it.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
He didn't understand why a young woman would want an old man and not him.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And after several nights of tortured sleep, Bruce is about to snap.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
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Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
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Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
To Bruce Anderson, the noise coming from his upstairs neighbor's unit is just about unbearable. Thinking his civil requests won't get him anywhere. He decides to up the ante.
Bruce Anderson
Stop that racket. Fat globe.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
No idea.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Journalist Rebecca Rosenberg notes Yvette and Smitty's alarm.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Yvette and Smitty thought this was really strange behavior, and they were starting to wonder if there wasn't a little bit more going on with Bruce.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce is still out of work due to his hip injury, so he's stuck at home all day and night. It doesn't help his issues with the couple above him. And Smitty and Yvette's place isn't just above Bruce. Part of their unit also maps over top of Mary hall and her boyfriend Alan Thomas unit. Here they are now to explain their perspective on the noise complaints.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Bruce is always calling and complaining. Too much noise was coming from upstairs, and as I was telling Mary, I think there's more to it than that, my dear. The slightest noise would set him off.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce Anderson was my neighbor. Maybe four feet from my door would be his door, and he was complaining about the noise. He said that there was too much noise over his head, but I couldn't hear what he could hear.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Mary and I have been seeing each other for two years, and all the times I've been there, I've never heard anything. Something's wrong there. Maybe once or twice a week, max, you would hear something above her, and that was it. Clauses open and closing. Something being dragged across the floor like a dining room set. Nothing crazy.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
What's more, Mary shares a wall with Bruce when she plays her music. He never seems to mind.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
My living room wall attached to his, so my stereo is right there and the TV is right there. And he never complained. At times I've played it loud, but he never knocked on my wall.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Only the alleged noise from Yvette Rivera in Smitty Hampton's apartment seems to bother Bruce.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
When I found out that Bruce made a pass at Yvette, that sounds to me like it's a personal issue because she wouldn't accept his past.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Anderson complained because Pete couldn't have her himself. He was in love with her, and he didn't know how to go about it.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
He was seeing something or hearing something, feeling something that really wasn't there. And I don't think nobody had a solution for him because it was all in his brain.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce's woman trouble worsens when his sister Rosetta decides to leave, says Ronnie Mitchell.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
The more time went on, the more agitated he got with people around him, and she probably got tired of it and moved out.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
When his sister lived with him, things Were pretty calm. And when she moved out, that's when a lot of this strange behavior started cropping up. And all these conflicts in the building began.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I think she provided some form of stability as well as company, and female company at that. Maybe he felt abandoned. And I think that started his spiral downward.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He was lonely. He was in a house by himself. It wasn't nothing for him to do, no one to talk to.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Piling onto his stress is Bruce's hip pain, which is worsening by the day.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
All I know, it was a bad pain. It was a throbbing pain. Naturally. You know, you want solitude, peace and quiet.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce eventually hits his breaking point and storms upstairs to give the neighbors a piece of his mind.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He really harassed Yvette and Smitty. Smitty, if he had any kind of issues, he wouldn't really discuss it with, But Yvette's gonna let you know.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
What do you want?
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
We used to always say, you better not mess with Yvette.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
You can't speak.
Bruce Anderson
You gotta move.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
You gotta move. We've been here 20 years. We're not going anywhere.
Bruce Anderson
Well, I can't sleep with all that noise.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
We're not noisy. Nobody has ever complained.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Any little thing bothered him. It wasn't the noise. It was no knowing that he couldn't have Yvette. I don't believe that she opened the door anymore after that. It was like, a little creepy for her.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Smitty, Bruce just came here.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Yvette would call him and say, well, Bruce is up here threatening me. And he would leave his job and
Neighbor / Mary Hall
go home as a man and a husband. Then I'm gonna have to come to you and confront you. Cause I'm not gonna let my wife be unhappy because of you.
Bruce Anderson
You threaten my wife, man? I ain't threatening her, man. What you talking about?
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Smitty would go downstairs, confront Bruce, and say, you need to leave Yvette alone, man.
Bruce Anderson
She wouldn't lie about that. She did. Hell no. Seriously talking to you, man. What? I said beat him, man.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
On this occasion, Bruce becomes so furious that he shoves Smitty to the ground.
Bruce Anderson
What's wrong with you?
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And storms back inside his apartment.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Now, he actually physically assaulted this old man. And I think then the trains were coming off the track.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce's neighbor, Mary hall, has witnessed everything.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Are you okay, Smitty?
Bruce Anderson
Yeah. He came out of vet, but he's gonna have to go through me first.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty said to me, I'm not gonna let him hurt Yvette. I'm sure it bothered Smitty because all men want to protect their partners. And because Bruce was so much bigger than Smitty, he had to be intimidated.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
The vet told him, you're £150. You. You're 78 years old. Bruce is this huge guy, and it's just not safe to put yourself in that position.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Now that the conflict has escalated to physical violence, Smitty decides to play it smart.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Smitty called 911 and said Bruce had shoved him and threatened Yvette.
Bruce Anderson
I never threatened her. Never. Well, Ms. Rivera says you did. I should have called y' all first, man. They're the ones that's terming the peace. Ask her.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Mary being Mary, I went to listen, and the police officer was telling him, well, you know, y' all all got to live in the building and yada yada.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
But police aren't convinced Bruce is the victim, and that only escalates his anger.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
So the tensions were really rising between Yvette and Smitty and Bruce. All the neighbors could feel it. Yvette and Smitty were such beloved members of the community. So all the conflict in the building was making people very wary of br.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
When Yvette confides to Dolores Nettles that Bruce hit on her, her friend becomes even more worried. Here she is again, along with neighbor Alan Thomas and Rebecca Rosenberg, weighing in.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Michelle Smithy. Are you crazy?
Neighbor / Mary Hall
From my experience, a woman would not tell her husband that because it would create unforeseen problems. It would make him more hostile to that man.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Yvette didn't want to Smitty to get into nothing with Bruce because he might have hurt him.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
I gotta keep them apart. Aw, I got a bad feeling about this. You gotta call the police. We did that already.
Bruce Anderson
Good.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
You need a paper trail.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Dolores encouraged her friend to not confront him. Just call the police. Make sure there's a paper trail to document, you know, these encounters.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
The pen is mightier than a sword. If anything had occurred, she can always go back.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Speak of the devil.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Eyvette tried to avoid Mr. Anderson because she didn't want anything else to escalate.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
But on this block, sometimes the only option is to face your problem head on. And when Bruce approaches her once again, Yvette decides to hold her ground.
Bruce Anderson
Hey.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
What do you want?
Bruce Anderson
I just wanted to fuck off, or
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
else
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
you don't know what a person might try. So she wanted to go.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
She knows how to handle herself. He felt threatened. He came up to her and approached her in a manner that was. Wasn't right.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Once again, Bruce walks Away rejected. And this time, he wants revenge.
Bruce Anderson
Look, she scare me, and I don't scare eazy.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce called 911 and told them that he had confronted Yvette in the street. And she put her hand in her pocket like she had a gun.
Bruce Anderson
She's definitely carrying a gun. And for all I know, he is, too.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He said that he felt very threatened by this.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
If you want the police to come that you'll say somebody has a gun, because they're gonna come right away.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
But Bruce's call doesn't go as planned.
Bruce Anderson
No, not. Not really.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He did admit that he never actually saw a gun.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I can picture Mr. Anderson lying to the police. Mr. Anderson was a troublemaker. He was a troubled man.
Bruce Anderson
Y' all ain't helping nobody, man. Y', all, man.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce clearly thinks he's the victim here, that his neighbors upstairs are terrorizing him, and he's really distraught about this.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He had no way to turn the sister, never came back. He didn't have any friends or family or woman in his life.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
As Bruce's behavior continues to intensify, many in the neighborhood feel on edge. One day, on an outing, Delores Nettles again cautions her friend Yvette.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
I've seen how Bruce looks at you away all day.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Something could happen.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Like what? Like rape.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I was a little scared for her, and I was letting her know that Mr. Anderson can overpower her.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Do I look scared? You should be scared of me.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
She was saying, oh, you know, I'll start screaming and hollering. The whole building gonna wake up when I get through, because, you know, my mouth is big.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
When the two women suddenly encounter Bruce on the street, Yvette's resolve is tested.
Bruce Anderson
You stop making all that damn noise.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
We don't make any noise. It's all in your head.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Yvette had had enough, and she just grew so frustrated.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Do you want noise? Huh? You want noise? This is noise.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
She got tired of the harassment. It will drive a person insane a little bit.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Everyone shut the hell up. Guys, take the kid up. Shut the hell up.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce has taken to using a cane for his sore hip, and he swings it at her.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Anderson tried to hit Yvette with her with a K. Guy tried to kid us.
Bruce Anderson
Shut the hell up.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He couldn't catch her because Yvette can move. She dodged him running from him.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
I'm calling the cops, you big jerk. Come on.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce's outbursts towards Yvette have escalated from threats to violence, and she won't stand for it, sir.
Bruce Anderson
This is the second time You've been reported as a threat. She was screaming at me. They're the ones making all that noise. Look, one way to end this is you move, okay?
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Me move?
Bruce Anderson
You gotta be kidding.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Naturally, you get upset about that. Why do I have to move? They're making the noise.
Bruce Anderson
Sir, there's going to be consequences if you can't resolve this. Get real. Are we done here?
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
When Yvette and Smitty started calling the police on Miss Anne the smoke, I believe they turned the tables.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
With the police firmly on their side. Hampton, Smitty Smith and Yvette Rivera hope Bruce Anderson will finally leave them alone.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
So it's like, okay, we still gonna live our life like we've been doing because we know we're not doing anything.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
But in truth, the position the authorities take has only fueled Bruce's sense of persecution. And his neighbors, Alan Thomas and Mary hall shared it only worsens his behavior.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I think he was so pissed off. She doesn't want me. I can't get no satisfaction from the police.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Whatever was going on in his head was just getting worse, and he couldn't control it anymore. Bruce started knocking on the ceiling. I could hear him tapping. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
Bruce Anderson
Stop making all that damn noise.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Stop it.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Dolores Nettles and Ronnie Mitchell tell us how this time Bruce takes his retaliation one step further.
Bruce Anderson
Stop it. Stop it. Get out here now.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
He came upstairs and he was threatening somebody.
Bruce Anderson
Bring your ass up, sir, so I
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
can whoop your ass, old man. No, it's me.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He was frightened. Two older people up there in this mountain of a man wanting to get in.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
The commotion is so loud, it brings out neighbor Ronnie Mitchell.
Bruce Anderson
What's going on? They keep stomping on my ceiling on purpose, man.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
You're saying that they're doing it on purpose? Naturally, you feel victimized. That's what he felt.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty.
Bruce Anderson
Yeah?
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Are you okay, man?
Bruce Anderson
Yeah, man, I'm okay. This dude is tripping, man. Tripping, tripping. They keep screaming at me, man. I said, get out of here now.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Chill now. It's not just the response from police that's fueling Bruce's sense of persecution.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He's pissed off at Ronnie for siding with Smitty.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He didn't want to be friends with Mr. Ronnie if he was friends with the person that I disliked the most.
Bruce Anderson
I'm waiting for you outside, Smitty, so we can end this.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He wanted Smitty to come downstairs to fight, and he went downstairs and waited for him.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Yet Bruce has no intention of waiting. Silently, he pounds on his upstairs neighbor's lobby buzzer.
Bruce Anderson
I said, get down here now.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And in doing so, he discovers another piece of arsenal in his ongoing war with his upstairs neighbors.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
That bus is extremely loud. It's like a foghorn out at sea on a ship, and it will drive you insane. For them to negate it and ignore it, since they had a lot of fortitude, I couldn't have done it.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce had rung their doorbell so many times that the buzzer burnt out. It was just really compulsive behavior.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Anderson was unraveling. He was unraveling all over the place.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Over the next weeks, Bruce's state of mind continues to deteriorate.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
The man had mental health issues. He lived in the dark. He stayed to a. His darkness just got darker and darker.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He was just becoming increasingly more isolated.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He was becoming totally unhinged.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
In the midst of their neighbor dispute, Yvette Rivera decides it's time to confess her secret to her husband.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
He made a pass on me.
Bruce Anderson
Who made a pass on you?
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Bruce.
Bruce Anderson
Bruce, why didn't you tell me?
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
I didn't want to worry you.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Worry me?
Bruce Anderson
Damn right I'm worried.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
She had to come out and tell because what if Mr. Anderson would have came out and just told Mr. Smitty what happened, and he might have. Wouldn't have told him the right way.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Cap, I'm sorry. Nothing happened.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I'm not gonna tell my husband. Cause that's gonna open up a can of worms we don't need. As any man, you would confront an
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
aggressor when it comes to protecting his wife, nothing will hold Smitty back.
Bruce Anderson
Yo, man, you made a pass at my wife. You better beat it, old man.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce came after him with a stick and was threatening to beat him with it. It just became so intense that people had to come in and break them apart.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Anderson just snapped. But I never thought it would have came to blows the way it did.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce Anderson's violence leaves the entire building concerned for Smitty and Yvette's safety.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Bruce was twice the size of Smitty. Bruce could have beat Smitty up. One, two, three.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I believe he was going to pummel him or just beat them right there in that lobby or in front of that building. That's what I thought was going to happen.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
More neighbors begin keeping their distance from Bruce.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
If he's not controlling that anger and he's just letting that anger continue, it's like a pressure cooker. You know, if it's building, it'll boil up.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I think this forced A siege mentality. It's me versus them. People saw the ugliness in him and avoided him.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
It just escalated out of control and something should have been done about it before it escalated.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Nothing worked, and this situation just continued to avalanche. His world was just becoming smaller and closing in.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Burning with resentment, Bruce turns to social media to venture. Dolores Nettles and Alan Thomas are horrified at some of the photos they encounter.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
When I saw Bruce's Facebook, it was a lot to take in. Bondage and things that torture. Like he wanted to torture women.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And not only that. Many of the disturbing photos Bruce posts allegedly have one thing in common.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
All the women looked like Yvette. That's what bothered me. If Yvette had seen those pictures, she would have been terrified to death of Bruce.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
But the photos are hardly the most distressing thing on Bruce's page, says New York Post journalist Rebecca Rosenberg in one Facebook post.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He puts up an article about a new machine gun and puts this really disturbing comment underneath it. What are you gonna do when Mr. Cuckoo gets one of these? This post almost seemed like a premonition.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I believe Anderson was letting you know on his Facebook what was transpiring, what was gonna trickle down.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Mary hall grows increasingly wary of her next door neighbor.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
The more I find out about this man, the more dangerous he becomes. He was a ticking time bomb, but the law and state says they can't do anything to him until he does something to somebody.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Bruce fed on that fear that they were afraid of him, because once you let a bully know that he can piss on you, he'll do it every time.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
In the midst of this nightmare, Smitty and Yvette try to carry on with their lives as best as possible.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
They were being incredibly careful and just really trying to appease Bruce.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
They tried to defuse the situation. They went to management, they went to the police. They tried to do everything that they they could do.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Yet their downstairs neighbor's decline continues.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I just think his brain told him that, you know, Yvette was in love with him and he could see them together. Like he could visualize it actually.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He was becoming so irrational to the point where he could not decipher reality from fantasy.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
If he got rid of Smitty, he could have had Yvette to himself.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
In his rage and frustration, Bruce launches his worst assault yet on his bedroom ceiling.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I could not believe it. He had a hammer and it's going bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Like he was actually going around in a circle.
Bruce Anderson
Get on now. Get on.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Yvette and Smitty don't know what's going on, and it's really terrifying.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Should we call the police? No, no, no, no.
Bruce Anderson
I think that'll make it worse.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
People were scared. Neighbors said that some people just didn't really want to go outside anymore.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He was just irrationally so far gone he didn't give a damn. That scared me.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He's like a train that's getting ready. You know the train's gonna crash. You just don't know when the impact is coming.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And on October 18, 2019, that crash is imminent.
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Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
It's a fall morning like any other, except for one key difference. Bruce's neighbors notice that he hasn't wheeled his bike outside yet to exercise his hip. Neighbor Alan Thomas explains why this is unusual.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Bruce was like clockwork. He would come out with the biking table. You could sit Amtrak by his schedule.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Little does anyone know, Bruce has made other plans. He knows Smitty's schedule. And when his rival ventures home at midday, he puts his sinister plot in motion.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
Smitty had came home for a break, went upstairs, had his lunch, and then on his way down, this man had to been waiting for him.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
This was premeditated. He timed when Smitty would come down.
Bruce Anderson
Yo, told you to move, man. Now you move. Now you pick.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce confronts him. He slugs him in the face.
Bruce Anderson
Get off. Come on. Get off.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Get him. Get up.
Bruce Anderson
Smith. Get off. Get poke.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
I think Anderson just snapped. He didn't see anything working in his favor. So listen, let me just do what I gotta do.
Bruce Anderson
I told you. I told you.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Huh?
Bruce Anderson
Huh? I told you. I said I told you.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
Told you.
Bruce Anderson
Get up. Get up. Told you, man.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Neighbor Ronnie Mitchell recounts that as the fight continues, Bruce pulls out a knife and plunges it into Smitty.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
He got stabbed 11 times. I think when you go after someone like that and you just keep on, that's built up rage.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
That was rage, and that was a crime of passion. Barry stabbed him. He probably called them names while he stabbed them.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
And the carnage doesn't end there. After stabbing Smitty 11 times, Bruce pulls out a gun and shoots him directly in the head. Hearing the gunshot, Yvette Rivera rushes out of her apartment and comes barreling downstairs, stairs.
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
What happened?
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Seeing Bruce Anderson looming over her husband, Yvette frantically returns inside and locks the door. But what she doesn't know is that Bruce has Smitty's keys.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Bruce forced his way into Yvette's apartment.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He probably told her, listen, I killed you. Gonna be with me?
Neighbor / Yvette Rivera
No, that's not cool.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
She was screaming for help, so he took that as, oh, she's rejecting me again. He couldn't have her, so nobody else can.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
Once the devil is in you, then the devil takes you where he wants to take you.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
Neighbors are calling the police after they hear the gunshots, and Bruce races downstairs to his apartment, barricades himself in, and then just starts spraying bullets at the wall that he shares with Mary's apartment.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Thankfully, Mary hall isn't home. She stopped for a Cigarette on her way home from lunch and missed her bus.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
I was never so grateful for Mary smoking a cigarette since I've known her in my relationship. Because if she'd have smoked that cigarette, we would have ran into that nut at 2:50pm and our lives would have been changed forever.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
I'd have been dead. Nosy as I am, I would have went to the door.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Police descend on the building. Within minutes, they start pushing all the
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
apartment buzzers, just trying to get somebody to open up. And Bruce answers.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
This is an actual recording of Bruce Anderson responding to police over the building's intercom.
Bruce Anderson
Come on in and get it over with. What's that? Come on in and get it over with.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
What doing are you?
Bruce Anderson
What are you talking about?
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Come on, kill him. Get it over with.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Avoid.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
We need to get a shoe here. Bruce's plan then takes an explosive turn.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
He used an accelerant to set that polar apartment on fire.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He wants it to be like some fatal attraction. He didn't want to go to jail.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He buzzes them in, and they see Smitty on the ground in a pool of blood and smoke billowing from under this door that's right off the hallway. And there's smoke, like, filling through the building.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
Police remove Smitty from the scene while Bruce locks himself in the bathroom of his burning apartment. Reporter Rebecca Rosenberg explains what happens next.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
FDNY shows up with ESU units. There's like 100 emergency personnel on the scene trying to figure out what to do here. It's a really dangerous situation. You have this building that's on fire, and the firefighters can't even go in yet because there's an active shooter situation. The police make their way upstairs, and they find Yvette is on the ground with a gunshot wound in the head and in the neck. This quiet neighborhood where very little ever happens is now the scene of a double homicide and this enormous police presence.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
It was surreal. Capital S. And I said to myself, this actually looks like a movie set, but a movie set can't be this good. By the time we got to hunt 30 second umpteen fire trucks, I counted at least three ambulances. And ESU was there. And we went into the block and they had it taped off. And ESU was there with their bulletproof shields. And I even saw a police officer with an oxygen tank and mask. I said, damn.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
When first responders finally make their way to Bruce's apartment, their face faced with another gruesome discovery.
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
He's in the bathtub with a gunshot wound to his head.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
We actually watch him being rolled out down the street to an ambulance. They tried to save him, but that bullet was in his head. He was too far gone. And a reporter came and said to us, three are confirmed dead. And Mary started crying and lost it.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
The murders of Hampton Smith and Yvette Rivera leave their family and friends devastated.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
New he knows the little things that he did that, you know, you just take for granted that you don't have, that's gone now. You don't have that.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
I never would have thought that anything like this would have been happening on where I live, especially to people that I cared about.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
The havoc that one sick mind can do. One sick mind can destroy so many lives. How do you kill two people over noise? And how do you kill a woman because she's not attracted to you? She don't want you. You don't kill another person because they don't want you.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He's a troubled person and apparently nobody really dug into his past to find out what he was really about.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Bruce thought that the world was against him. Yvette didn't want him. Smitty never backed down from him.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
He was angry, just couldn't take any more of either one of them. He took it out on him first and then he went after her.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
He eliminated his infatuation and his competition. He took two good people from a community that loved him.
Neighbor / Rebecca Rosenberg
They were so loved because they gave love. Smitty, he see you struggling down the road, he'd ask you, can I help you?
Neighbor / Alan Thomas
It was especially difficult for Yvette and Smitty's friends that they had to continue to live in the building where this terrible tragedy happened.
Neighbor / Ronnie Mitchell
The block came together. People donated money for his funeral.
Neighbor / Dolores Nettles
Maybe last week I asked Mr. Ronnie, you know, how you doing? And he was telling me, I miss my friend. I said, yeah, I miss him too. We picking up the pieces little by little.
Narrator / Rebecca Rosenberg
This podcast is produced by Cream Productions in association with Fremantle Media and id. You can check out Fear Thy Neighbor on Max Discovery plus and id.
Neighbor / Mary Hall
Par le tu francais hablas espanol? Parl italiano?
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Podcast: Fear Thy Neighbor
Host: ID
Episode Title: The Enemy Upstairs
Air Date: May 11, 2026
Main Story Location: West Harlem, New York City
This chilling episode of Fear Thy Neighbor explores the escalation of a neighborly dispute in a tightly-woven Harlem apartment building that ends in a lethal confrontation. Through intimate testimony from residents, the story chronicles how a newcomer's personal grievances—jealousy, loneliness, and perceived slights—unravel into harassment, violence, and ultimately, a tragic double homicide. The episode deeply examines the thin line between ordinary neighborly conflict and catastrophe, asking: What happens when an obsession goes unchecked, and cries for help go unheard?
The Roots of Tragedy:
On Bruce's Mental State:
Chilling Premonition:
Lingering Aftermath:
This episode serves as a potent reminder that sometimes the people you fear most aren’t strangers but live just beyond your walls. Amid the everyday challenges of urban life, unchecked mental health struggles and unrequited obsession can be catalysts for unfathomable violence. The central lesson resounds clear: communities must not ignore red flags or escalating conflict—lives depend on early, collective intervention.