Speaking of castles in upstate New York, a house known locally as the Skaneateles Drug Castle in Onondaga County is going to auction next month. Its former owner, Charles Ludwig Blomquist III, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2013 for money laundering connected to cocaine trafficking. Blomquist was apparently notorious in the region for building the house before the drug stuff came to light—a headline from CNY Central reads "Skaneateles mansion owner sentenced to 7 years for money laundering."
The mansion was asking $4.33 million the last time it was on the market in 2014, and the auction has a reserve of $2.25 million, so if you've got a few million lying around that you didn't make from being a drug lord, this blue-roofed lakefront mansion could be yours. Syracuse.com speculates that locals hate Blomquist, and, by extension, the mansion so much that none of them would even be willing to buy it:
He was also an awful neighbor, angering many who lived near the house during its construction. He moved piles of dirt around to block neighbors' lake views and set up mannequin hands with raised middle fingers in his windows. Hmm. Doesn't sound like something a cocaine kingpin building a private mansion on a lake would do.
The house is currently owned by developer Cosimo Zavaglia, who won it in an IRS auction for $1.55 million in 2012, after Blomquist gave it up as part of his plea deal. Zavaglia added $120,000 custom garage doors, and more, and is now hoping to cash in.
· Design, history make Skaneateles drug castle a tough sell to locals (new photos) [Syracuse]
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