WILLIAMSBURG — A violent dispute over money owed in a credit card scam precipitated a man's deadly 15-story plunge from a Brooklyn balcony Tuesday, police sources said.
John "White Boy" Morales, 27, was arrested and charged Wednesday afternoon for tossing partner-in-crime Miguel Santiago, 53, over the railing after an argument over money he believed the dead man owed him from an identity theft operation, the sources said.
Investigators initially believed that Santiago, who is bipolar, committed suicide after his body was found early Monday morning behind 60 Division Ave. in the Kent Village Housing Co. complex with severe trauma from the drop, officials said.
But investigators later spoke with a witness who saw two men arguing on the balcony, then watched as Morales threatened Santiago with a gun, a law enforcement source said. The two began struggling violently and then Morales launched Santiago over the side of the terrace, sources said.
Santiago's death comes two weeks after a drug raid in the same 15th-floor apartment, according to court records, though neither man lived there and it was not immediately clear whose apartment it was.
On March 31, police busted into the apartment and arrested Jeanette Feliciano, 49, Angel Vasquez, 43, and Morales, charging them with criminal possession of a controlled substance for crack and heroin, according to court records and a police source.
Feliciano's attorney declined to comment on the case and information on Vasquez' attorney wasn't available immediately. They were both due back in court on May 11, court records show.
Morales, the only one of the three to plead guilty while being arraigned, paid a $250 fine and was released from Rikers Island on April 4, correction and court records show.
Morales has 27 prior arrests for everything from beating up his girlfriend and weapons possession, to drug sales and grand larceny, police said.
The Legal Aid attorney who represented Morales in that plea didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
