This Aristocratic Nutlessness Is Why Celebrities Pretend To Be On Your Side

dailymail |  New York's 'one percent' are hiring armed guards to protect them from a feared 'zombie apocalypse' - stationing former cops outside their luxury properties in Manhattan and the Hamptons in preparation for a coronavirus doomsday where criminals come breaking down their doors. 

Two leading private investigative agencies in Manhattan, Sage Intelligence and Beau Dietl & Associates, tell the DailyMail.com that business is booming from rich New Yorkers who worry they'll become prime targets if the coronavirus spirals out of control. 

Clients are citing potential red flags - thousands of police officers are getting sick, stores are running out of basic supplies, millions of families are losing their livelihoods, and hundreds of potentially violent inmates are being released from Rikers Island and other jails - all due to the pandemic. 

'These people are fearful of anarchy, that crime is going to spike and that people will get desperate and steal to feed their families,' said Mike Ciravolo, a retired NYPD detective who serves as president of Dietl. 

'They fear they will become targets if this thing really ramps up. These are very affluent people, with very, very expensive units.' Ciravolo said he's assigned guards, round-the-clock, to secure an upscale co-op in Soho and two luxury apartment buildings on the Upper East Side, and is getting more calls every day. 

Herman Weisberg, of Sage, said he started receiving Covid-19 business two weeks ago. 

At first, it was clients who wanted security guards to accompany them on errands to their banks, so they could withdraw stockpiles of cash in the event of a run on banks. 

Another client, a business executive in Soho, called him in a panic, saying he was seeking to acquire a firearm to protect himself, but couldn't find one because all the stores he contacted were sold out.

'That moved up his decision to hire me,' Weisberg said. 

Another Manhattan power couple called Weisberg from their summer home in the Hamptons, where they were hunkered down with their kids. 'They got on the phone and explained they have an alarm system that they almost never turned on,' Weisberg said. 

'Now they're turning it on, but the husband was still stressed, saying, 'What good is an alarm if nobody's around to respond?' 

The husband was insistent on hiring 24-7 security, despite his wife's hesitation and the fact the East Hampton police department is still fully operational, with just one officer reportedly testing positive for the coronavirus.