The accused Bronx firebug facing murder charges for setting a fire that killed three men in a Bronx apartment, often frequented the building, which had become a flop house for locals down on their luck who needed a place to stay, the Daily News has learned.
Investigators believe suspect Daniel Santana set the May 6 blaze that quickly engulfed El South Bronx Deli on Third Ave. near E. 140th St. in Mott Haven and the dilapidated apartment over a drug debt, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said.
Building owner Oreste De Leon, 70, rented rooms in the second-floor apartment to friends for around $25 a week. He, Gilberto “Chino” Romero, 57, and Larry Johnson, 62, all died in the 5 a.m. blaze.
Sharon Houghton was renting a room in the apartment and escaped the fire with her life — but little else.
“I can’t believe I lost everything, but that’s material stuff,” Haughton, who escaped the fire out a window with a handful of other tenants, told the Daily News Friday. “I can’t replace Ori, I can’t replace Chino, I can’t replace Larry, I can’t replace none of them. You know they’re gone.”
Oreste De Leon (pictured) was one of three people killed when an arsonist allegedly set fire to de Leon’s Bronx building on 3rd Ave. near E. 140th St. on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (GoFundMe)
The large apartment had six rooms that De Leon rented out, even though the city had put a vacate order on the second floor dwelling on Jan. 13, 2025, citing safety concerns. Some of people renting rooms from De Leon battled drug addiction, neighbors said.
Inspectors had found the second floor to be in a severe state of disrepair with missing handrails on the staircase. The ceiling, which collapsed in the fire, was sloping on its side, inspectors determined.
De Leon’s relatives said after the fire that they had just brought the deli up to code and were in the process of doing the same for second floor apartment. A call to relatives on Friday about the latest developments in the case was not returned.
FDNY fire marshals determined that the fire was “intentionally set with gasoline,” city Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
“This heinous crime took the lives of three New Yorkers and endangered the lives of our first responders,” Bonsignore said in a statement. “Thanks to the excellent investigative work by our Fire Marshals and our law enforcement partners, this dangerous individual will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
Haughton said Santana had frequently visited the apartment and hung out with De Leon and his tenants, but he hadn’t been there in weeks.
“He’s been here with us,” she said. “I’m shocked. I can’t believe it’s him. He sat with us, not once, not twice. I didn’t know he was that motherf—– crazy. Never underestimate a person.”
Investigators believe suspect Daniel Santana (pictured) set the May 6 blaze that quickly engulfed El South Bronx Deli on Third Ave. near E. 140th St. in Mott Haven and the dilapidated apartment over a drug debt, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said. (FDNY)
On the morning of the fire Haughton recalled hearing someone opening the front door leading to the second floor stairs just before the fire started.
“I smelled gasoline,” she recalled. “I said ‘Larry, someone just opened the door downstairs.’ He looked down the steps, he said ‘I don’t see nobody, I don’t see nobody.’ I said ‘OK.’”
A moment later, everything was on fire, she said.
“I looked back and the fire was coming up the steps. And from there, I said, ‘Ori. Ori, get up, get up! The house is on fire! The house is on fire!’”
De Leon tried to put out the blaze, but the fire extinguisher was next to the stairs, which was already engulfed in flames. One of the surviving tenants broke their leg jumping from the window, Haughton said.
The massive blaze gutted both the deli and the second floor apartment. The fire was so intense, the second-floor ceiling collapsed, FDNY officials said.
Firefighters respond to a fatal fire on 3rd Ave. near E. 140th St. in the Bronx on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
After learning about the vacate order, the FDNY didn’t believe think anyone was in the second floor apartment, but Haughton and others said that three people were still inside. When the fire was extinguished, firefighters found one of the victims.
Two other bodies were found over the next two days, under the collapsed ceiling, as they removed the debris.
Santana, 43, was caught on video fleeing the scene. At about 9:30 p.m. on Monday, he surrendered to cops at the 40th Precinct stationhouse with an attorney, but refused to talk about the fire, sources said.
He was charged with three counts of murder and arson and was ordered held without bail at his arraignment Wednesday.
By Friday, a demolition crew had been brought in to raze the destroyed building.
Firefighters respond to a fatal fire on 3rd Ave. near E. 140th St. in the Bronx on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Gardiner Anderson / New York Daily News)
The building may be gone, but Haughton, and many others, won’t forget the kind soul who opened his home to those who needed shelter.
“If you had nowhere to go, he helped you,” Haughton said about De Leon. “He was a good person. A father figure.”
Even the $25 a week rent was more of a guideline than a strict rule, she said.
“He worked with you, not against you,” she said about the rent. “At the end of the day, (he’d) charge it to the game.”