N.Y. SCP Law § 1112

§ 1112. Authority to act\n The public administrator in his proper county shall have authority to\ntake possession of, manage and collect the rents of the real property\nand take charge of the personal property of an intestate:\n 1. Whenever any person not known to have left him surviving a person\neligible to receive letters shall die intestate either within this state\nor elsewhere leaving any real or personal property within the county and\n 2. Whenever any personal property of such intestate shall arrive\nwithin the county after his death.\n 3. Whenever all of the surviving relatives are not known the public\nadministrator shall conduct a search for all living distributees of the\ndecedent by reference to bank, postal, and telephone records and inquiry\nof neighbors, and other reasonable steps under the circumstances. The\npublic administrator shall maintain records of all responses to such\nnotices.\n