A New Orleans real estate developer has been charged with one count of racketeering and four counts of criminal blight for allegedly allowing multiple properties to deteriorate into hazardous and uninhabitable conditions.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams announced the charges against developer Edward Neal Morris III, who owns dozens of properties across New Orleans, at a press conference Monday, calling it a “historic step forward for public safety and neighborhood preservation.”

The charges mark a new strategy in New Orleans’ attempts to hold landlords accountable for neglected properties, Williams said.

It follows a change in state law that makes it easier for prosecutors to charge property owners with criminal blight and also added the wrongdoing to the list of cr

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