A Bronx building manager accused in the deadly Black Sunday blaze didn't even know there was an illegal partition in the apartment where the fire started, a tenant testified Wednesday.

Amarilis German told a jury that in the days before the blaze, building manager Cesar Rios demanded to know if a wall he'd ordered torn down a year earlier had been rebuilt.

"He talked about that, yes," said German, the daughter-in-law of Rafael Castillo, who allegedly built the wall in his third-floor apartment.

The testimony apparently knocks down a key part of the case against Rios, who prosecutors say was part of a money-making scheme to subdivide apartments into dangerous warrens of rooms.

Lt. Curtis Meyran and Firefighter John Bellew plunged to their deaths after they became trapped in a room without a fire escape on Jan. 23, 2005. Four other firefighters were badly hurt when they jumped from 50 feet up.

German, who spoke in Spanish through an interpreter, said Castillo had torn down the partition a year earlier on Rios' orders.

The building manager had heard rumors that Castillo had rebuilt the wall and told German that he planned to evict him if he had rebuilt the partition.

German said she wanted to protect her father-in-law from the manager, especially since her relative owed three months' back rent.

So she told Castillo she wasn't sure whether the wall was back.

Prosecutors must prove Rios, 52, knew about the partition, and did nothing to correct it to win a manslaughter conviction.

Fire officials say overloaded electrical outlets in Castillo's cutup apartment sparked the blaze, which got out of control and trapped the firefighters in another unit directly above it.

Rios, Castillo, 57, and tenant Caridad Coste, 58, whose apartment above Castillo's also had an illegal partition, are all on trial for their roles in the tragic blaze.

mgrace@nydailynews.com

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Tenant Testifies In 'Black Sunday' Fire Case   Newsday 1/22/09