How noise complaints in a Manhattan co-op led to a $750,000 legal settlement and shattered a friendship.
Meet Curtis.
He's a parrot.
A goffin's cockatoo to be precise.
13 inches tall, white feathers, native to Indonesian forests.
But at the time this recording was made, he lived in a co op building in midtown Manhattan.
Cockatoos are some of the loudest pet birds.
This is what Curtis sounded like through a wall from the apartment next door.
I'm David Siegel, a reporter for the New York Times.
And like Curtis, I also live in New York City.
Curtis is a central character in the story I'm going to read.
It's a story about the real estate roulette that happens every day across the city.
When you move into an apartment, you hope you've picked the right place to live.
And that means not just the right location, but as importantly, the right neighbors.
And that's mostly a matter of chance.
But at the heart of it, this story is also a drama about a friendship.
One that lasts for about 15 years and then turns really quickly,
about as toxic as a friendship can turn, and then into something like war.
It all started with a noise.
Noise is more or less a constant in New York City.
Everyone's packed on top of each other,