A mansion on Staten Island is seeking an offer the seller can’t refuse.
The house in the borough’s Todt Hill neighborhood hit the market earlier this month for $16.8 million, the Staten Island Advance reported. The home at 177 Benedict Road, also known as the “White House,” includes some bloody history, thanks to its former owner: Gambino boss Paul Castellano.
Castellano ran the crime family for nine years before he was gunned down in Dec. 1985 in front of Sparks Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan, paving the way for “Teflon Don” John Gotti’s takeover.
The mansion has eight bedrooms and an astounding 17 bathrooms across 33,000 square feet, according to the listing description. The home, spread across 3.2 acres, has a 13-car showroom, indoor and outdoor Olympic-size pools, a wine cellar, a home theater and a gym and a sauna.
Listing agent JoAnn DellaRocca of Connie Profaci Realty did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The seller is Selim Rusi, according to property records, who bought Castellano’s former home for $3 million in 2000.
He’s no wise guy, but Rusi, whose family owns a real estate firm called Salmar Properties, has run into some trouble of his own.
In 2016 he was caught making an illegal donation to former Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to the New York Post, two years after the city gave Salmar a $3.5 million grant. Rusi wasn’t allowed to make maximum campaign contributions because of the firm’s work with the city, but used a subsidiary to skirt the rules: Eleven donors tied to Salmar gave de Blasio a total of $55,000.
The house served as a backdrop for policial fundraising at lease once, as the Post reports Rusi’s father hosted Hillary Clinton at the home in 2015 for a fundraiser during her presidential campaign.