Strangled in apt., cops have susp

a homeless man who hung out near W. 81st St. on a daily basis.

Fernando Munizaga, 35, of New Jersey, who once worked for Zabar at Escuelita, said his former boss was a giant in the city’s nightclub scene and active in gay rights causes.

“He was a huge figure in the gay community,” he said. “He gave us a voice. He gave us opportunity. He gave a platform to the gay Latin community.”

Zabar’s neighbor, Vinnie de Angelis, 61, a nursing attendant who’s been living in the building since 1976, was shocked to hear of Zabar’s death.

He said he spoke to Zabar in the elevator just last week.

“I never thought it would be the last time,” he said, clutching a Catholic rosary. “He was a very sweet guy.”

Neighbors say Zabar was an eccentric man with a taste for the finer things and he always had a car service pick him up outside their building.

He also had an ever-present entourage of good-looking buff young men who lived, traveled and worked with him, de Angelis said.

“He had a whole posse of handsome young guys, mostly Latinos,” he said. “Really handsome guys, well built, lots of tattoos. They were crashing there [in Zabar's apartment].”

Zabar was robbed twice in the past, but detectives do not believe robbery was a motive in his death, sources said.

On Sept. 15 2012, a man pistol whipped Zabar on the street and stole $8,000 in cash, his iPhone and some paperwork from him. That crime remains unsolved.

On March 15, 2012, a burglar knocked on Zabar’s door and forced his way in at gunpoint,sources said.

The crook slammed Zabar repeatedly in the back of the head with a silver gun and demanded to know where he kept his money, sources said. Zabar told him the security code to his safe and the robber got away with $4,700 in cash.

Cops later arrested 26-yearold Anthony Siciliano and he was sentenced to a three-year stint in prison.