Tracey Towers is known for its robust representation of Ghanaian Americans new to the country or second or third generation. And their ample presence—complete with their own tenants association and yearly events highlighting the colorful culture of the West African country—has earned it a cute name among residents: “Little Ghana.”

The fun fact has extended beyond the looming towers and to published works, where one book, African & American: West Africans in Post-Civil Rights America, mentions Tracey Towers as being home to “literally hundreds of Ghanaians and became the basis for the development of the most recognizable physical enclave of this West African group in New York.”

But murmurs among long-time residents persist: how did one complex house hundreds of Ghanaians?

For Sallie Caldwell, a 40-year tenant and active member of the Bedford Park/Norwood community who’s not one to dabble in conspiracy theories, the coincidence is too much. The answers lie roughly 20 years ago after a block of units had been made available. A roomy apartment in Tracey Towers—one of the oldest Mitchell-Lama buildings for middle-class earners—was highly sought after. Residents wishing to secure an apartment would be placed on a waiting list.

For Caldwell, it seemed too much of a coincidence when she saw a line of prospective tenants, mostly from Ghana, waiting outside the management office. In her estimate, the tenants received help from some kind of fixer to handle management.

“They paid off—we don’t know what kind of money—but they paid off somebody here because they had blocked all those empty apartments that were supposed to be going to somebody else,” Caldwell told the Norwood News.

Non-Ghanaian residents who were placed on the list suddenly had their deposits refunded, losing their place on the waiting list, said Caldwell.

Caldwell even pulled some of her friends over to confirm the long-running suspicion, drawing nods, wide eyes, and the rubbing of fingers that gesture the possibility that someone from management had been paid off.

“What they did was once one family came, then they sent for members of their family to stay in their apartments. And they had two or three families in the same apartment,” alleged another tenant who asked not to be named for fear of becoming a target, backed up Caldwell’s belief. The tenant also recalled a moment when a resident came demanding an appliance at one of the units only for management to find the tenant was not on the lease.

Tracey Towers is one of the oldest buildings falling under the Mitchell-Lama housing subsidy program intended for middle-class earners.

Hard proof on whether something nefarious at play takes a backseat over just an inkling.

“If a lot of us who is intelligent, and know right from wrong, if we all seen it, there’s got to be some truth behind it,” said Caldwell.

While the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which holds oversight of this Mitchell-Lama property, did not respond for a comment to this story, representatives for RY Management did, chronicling the level of HPD-mandated redundancies and safeguards that it abides by to ensure a fair process and no doctoring of its handwritten waiting lists. Each applicant is also given a reference number in sequential order. That number stays with them throughout the time they’re on the list, and is given to them via typewritten letter sent to their current address.

On why there’s a large cluster of Ghanaians in two towers, Daniel Durante, property manager for RY Management, explained that the phenomenon comes down to persistence and word of mouth. That and a flood of applications from Ghanaian natives, exploiting RY Management’s policy of not closing the categorized waiting list.

“One of the biggest marketing tools that you have are the people living in your building,” said Durante. “The list starts to populate with whatever demographic that would be. Now, all of a sudden, you got a lot of Ghanian people saying, ‘Let me get an application…’ If the next 500 applications I got were Ghanian you’re gonna have 500 people on the waiting list.”

The persistence comes in Ghanaians waiting several years for an open apartment. Should a prospective renter be offered the chance to obtain an apartment, verification they are indeed the right applicant is cross-referenced with prior letters featuring their reference number they’ve received acknowledging their placement. The paperwork also includes the entire page on the waiting list detailing their placement as a check on their actual placement is photocopied and sent to HPD. With layers of verification, Durante told the Norwood News it’s impossible for forgery to take place.

“The only way to do that is to take a block of people and remove them,” said Durante, adding, pretty soon the follow-up phone calls will arrive with applicants wondering what happened to their application and $100 application [deposit] fee.

Applicants, can of course, reject the offer altogether or dispute a rejection.

If a prospective renter is called twice for an apartment offer, but does not respond, that application is instantly terminated. During the course of waiting, it’s the applicant’s responsibility to alert management of any changes that could impact their application, which could include an address change. Apparently, with so many years passing, that became the case. It just so happened that Ghanaians seized on those moments.

“If you’re next on a list, I don’t care what color you are, where you were born, where you’re from. If your name is there, you’re getting called,” said Durante.

Talk of a large Ghanaian community at Tracey Towers is known all the way on the other side of the world, according to Durante.

“If you go to Ghana, and you go into the airport, there are advertisements there for Tracey Towers,” said Durante. He recalled a time when he introduced himself to his pastor, who had lived in Ghana, letting him know about the large Ghanaian community at two Bronx buildings without mentioning Tracey Towers. Durante was stunned to learn his pastor knew he was referring to Tracey Towers. “I was like, ‘How do you know Tracey Towers? He said, ‘Danny, if you are from Ghana, you know Tracey Towers.