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Residents Displaced by East Village Explosion Sue City and Con Edison

 The massive explosion on March 27, 2015 killed two people, injured 22 others, and leveled three East Village buildings.
The massive explosion on March 27, 2015 killed two people, injured 22 others, and leveled three East Village buildings.
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Getty Images/Nancy Borowick-Pool

EAST VILLAGE — A "Sopranos" actress who lost her home in last year's deadly East Village gas explosion is among residents now suing the city, claiming it was negligent in inspections and failed to spot "red flags" before the tragedy.

Lead plaintiff Drea de Matteo, along with 35 neighbors who also lost their homes at 119-123 Second Ave. in the massive explosion that took two lives, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the city, as well as Con Edison, the buildings’ owners, and the adjoining sushi restaurant, as first reported by the New York Daily News. 

The actress, who currently stars alongside Jennifer Lopez in NBC’s “Shades of Blue,” told the Daily News she had lived in the apartment at 123 Second Ave. with her family for more than two decades — and that her children still don’t understand why they can’t return to their home.

“For 22 years that was my home, my children’s home,” she said. “We lost every memory, photograph, and hard drive… We lost everything from my childhood through my adulthood.”

The complaint states the parties were “careless and negligent in failing to observe significant and dangerous ‘red flags’ and malfeasance” on the part of the buildings’ owners, managers, and contractors — each of whom are also listed in the lawsuit, and have already been indicted for manslaughter in connection to the explosion.

Maria Hrynenko, the owner of 212 Second Ave., her son Michael Hrynenko, contractor Dilber Kukic, and plumber Anthanasios Ioannidis illegally tampered with the building’s gas line and failed to warn residents about the danger, according to the Manhattan District Attorney, who in February leveled criminal charges against them.

Neighbors and local politicians in March gathered on the one-year anniversary of the explosion to commemorate the victims and introduce legislation aimed at preventing future tragedies.  

The 36 plaintiffs in the most recent lawsuit are represented by attorneys Scott Agulnick and Mark Friedman, who say the city and others must be held accountable for the losses faced by their clients. 

“We very much look forward to our clients having their day in court,” Agulnick told DNAinfo New York. “They have endured a long year, and it’s finally time to move forward and hold people accountable.”

The City of New York “will review the complaint,” a spokesman said.

A spokesman for Con Edison said the gas company had not seen the lawsuit, but would respond in court.