THE FANGS OF N.Y.

Scorsese’s terror of a terrier bit, badly hurt me: suit

SO MUCH FOR letting sleeping dogs lie. A dog owned by “Wolf of Wall Street” director Martin Scorsese is accused in a new lawsuit of attacking a home nurse several years ago, the Daily News has learned.

Scorsese and his wife, Helen, allegedly let Desmond the terrier — who has since died — “approach, menace, attack and bite” Natara Matias on Sept. 5, 2015, at their townhouse on E. 64th St. near Park Ave., according to a lawsuit filed in April.

Matias, of the Bronx, was working inside the Scorseses’ $12.5 million Lenox Hill manse when Desmond chomped her right leg. Matias tried to escape the crazed canine and fell, hurting her neck and back, she alleges in the Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit.

“She was disabled where she wasn’t able to work for the better part of two years,” said Matias’ lawyer, Greg Martello. “There were prior complaints about this dog.”

The Scorseses were aware Desmond was “wild, unruly, vicious and possessed of a ferocious nature and disposition with a propensity to attack other dogs and human beings,” the complaint also says.

The Scorseses were “negligent, careless and reckless and grossly negligent in the ownership, operation, management, maintenance, supervision, use and control of the aforesaid dog,” court papers contend.

While the allegedly pugnacious pooch was not named in court papers, Martello identified him as a white terrier named Desmond.

An Instagram post made by Scorsese’s daughter, Francesca, indicates that a family dog named Desmond, which matches Martello’s description, died in July 2016.

Martello said he didn’t know about Desmond’s passing, adding “we’re saddened by the animal’s loss, and how that may have affected the Scorseses.”

“I’m an animal lover, as is my client. An animal’s loss is a terrible thing,” Martello said. “That has, again, nothing to do with what happened. My client — while the dog was alive — got hurt.”

Asked why Matias’ suit came more than two years after the alleged incident, Martello said they had wanted to gather evidence before suing.

Matias says the incident left her with “severe and permanent injuries” as well as “great pain, shock and mental anguish.”

In the Scorseses’ answer to the suit, they claim Matias was at least partly at fault for her injuries, and the couple had no “negligence or want of care” in their handling of the pet.

Scorsese’s personal assistant, spotted outside the family’s fivestory, 10-room residence late Tuesday, said Matias’ claims weren’t true.

“I was here on the day it happened. I saw what happened or I should say, what didn’t happen? She is a liar,” the assistant said.