December 23, 2025 • 33 mins
Curtis Sliwa filled in for Mark Simone and began the show by reflecting on the tragic death of Debrina Kawam, who was burned to death on a New York City subway about a year ago by Sebastian Zapeta, who has since been charged with murder and other offenses. Curtis questioned whether the media has given this heartbreaking story the attention it deserves as we remember the anniversary of Kawam's death. To honor her memory, Curtis and the Guardian Angels held a commemorative event yesterday at the F train station in Coney Island, where the incident occurred. Curtis takes your calls, discussing his return to radio and the impact of Debrina Kawam's death. He invited callers to share their thoughts on both the tragedy and broader issues related to crime and safety in New York City.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now the Guardian Angel of talk radio is here. Curtis
Sleewah guest host the Mark Simone Show on sevent ten.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Woor oh yeah, let's do it day two.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
As I sit in for Mark Simon, I mean, this
is the guy who's smooth. Remember that song by Shah
Day nineteen eighty four. I remember hearing it in London
first time when I organized the Guardian Angels, their smooth operator.
Nobody's smoother in this business, this thing of ours, this
(00:48):
is the business we have chosen talk radio. Nobody's done
it longer than Mark Simone locally. But I'm sort of
the tagalong thirty five years and to be thirty and
now at the radio station where it all started for me,
not as a host but as a guest. When I
(01:09):
got the bug TV bug was rom Perum. That was
before WOR Radio seven ten, when I was interviewed by
Arlen Francis who had the midday show, when I was
the newspaper Boy of the Year, havn't gotten an award
from Richard Nixon, And I remember the studios they have
(01:30):
fourteen forty Broadway. I think I'm not trying to remember
if rom Perum was actually on Channel nine. I think
it was at the TV studios in Midtown Manhattan, not
far from where the ball is going to drop. Welcoming
in the new year and the change over from the
(01:51):
missing in action mayor the swaggerman with no Plan Eric Adams,
who got windyned in pocket lined over the years. Thank god,
he'll be gone. Has he gotten back yet? Is he
from this perpetual vacation, his travels around the world at
taxpayer's expension, sort of like Matt Lauer, remember before he
got the boot at NBC. Where's Matt Lawa today? Where's
(02:14):
Eric Adams today? On our dime? We're paying for all that.
We'll get into all of that. And then also uh
oh boy. At the dysfunctional home of WABC, the former
house of always broadcasting critics Sliwa, now always bashing Curtis Sliwa,
one of their hosts just he lost it yesterday. Greg Kelly,
(02:39):
Oh my god, he just went on and on. People
were telling me on the streets of Coney Island, listen
to him. This guy, he's having an episode. He certainly was.
Wow And in fact, he used words that I heard
that hadn't been said to me on the radio since
(03:02):
back in nineteen ninety two, I had on as a
guest of Angels in the Morning, where I was hosting
with my wife at that time, Lisa and al Lisa
Evers at Channel five, guy named Louis Kasman who was
like the adopted son of John Gottisenia, and he was
coming on to defend John gottisin You have been found
(03:25):
guilty for the final time triple life without parole because
of the rat Sami de Bolgravano and the memory's tapes
of conversations they had had over the Ravennight Social club
in Italy where he was ordering the executions of his
fellow Gambino crime family members. And Louis Kasman was on
(03:50):
the air and he was defending him, and it was
a very heated discussion, and I remember what Louis Kasmin said.
He said, Curtis, you better keep your mouth shut if
you know what's good for you. And soon after, remember
I got shot five times with the hollow point bullets
(04:10):
in the back of that yellow cab on my way
to WABC. We'll get into that later on. Oh you
know what I missaid, Well, yesterday the Moe Green there
at WABC. Yeah, Greg Kelly's like Mo Green from The Godfather,
you know, tough guy, tough guy, except these Irish not Jewish.
(04:31):
He said exactly the same thing he announces on the microphone,
and I heard it for myself. Curtis, keep your mouth shut.
If you know what's good for you. What do you
think you mean by that? Is that that foe for
gazy rage because he has anger management issues. Well, look,
(04:55):
I'm gonna get into it. We'll do the deep dive.
Dysfunctional former family at WABC tries to still haunt me
to this day even though I'm at the station. You
should all be listening to now War seven ten, the
absolute best with Larry Mente in the morning and then
(05:16):
obviously Mark Simon, my very dear friend in the afternoons.
For many many years, Sean Hannity, the rock ribbed all
American conservative voice of reason from Franklin Square along Island
doesn't get any better. And the whole panoply of shows
that you get here as opposed to where you may
(05:36):
have been. But let's talk about what occurred yesterday. And
I want to give credit to Natalie the wr team
here producer in the morning, who also does the news
from time to time, and she spoke to everybody here
at seven ten yesterday morning before my debut and talked
(05:58):
about how I am The Gardian Angels would be out
at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue to commemorate, memorialize the death
of the Debbie Kowom, also known as Dobrina Kowam from
Little Falls, New Jersey. You say, who's that? Well, a
(06:20):
year ago the whole world knew, at least for the
first nine days when she could not be identified because
she was burnt so badly, turned into a human torch
by an enemy of society. It came to this city
with the royal red carpet rolled out for him by
(06:43):
Joe Biden, biorchist Harris and yeah, oh yeah, at that
time the Biden of Brooklyn, Eric Adams, So we'll be
talking about him also later on today the house smiuse
said he was for twenty two years as a cop
in the NYPD. And it seems like in one year's time,
(07:04):
the memory of the most heinous, horrific crime in the
New York City subway system, in fact, in New York
City's history, involving one victim, just wiped from the memory cells.
Credit though to Natalie for bringing that to the surface
(07:27):
of what we would do. I'll get into that momentarily.
And also to the New York Posts Catherine don Levy,
a reporter who had covered this horror a year ago.
They're now doing a video broadcast to sort of remind people,
because it just seems the rest of the media and
(07:47):
most people from them, it's out of sight, out of mind.
Part of that is due to what the City of
New York does not want you to know about. All
the crime in the subway. Look at it, all the
series of stabbings that have occurred of late, all the
homeless and emotionally disturbed. They're still living in the system.
(08:09):
I know. Coming here this morning, I ran into so
many of them, some who I know personally. So we
eulogized Debrina Kwam on the anniversary that horrible death. We
had the reath out. We had pictures people were passing
by a very crowded station where the F train D
(08:31):
train merges with the N and Q. Nobody knew, and
we said to say her name. Nobody knew. And there
are so many thousands of homeless and emotionally disturbed out there.
They won't be home for Christmas. Their home is an
(08:51):
unsafe shelter, a subway car, a subway station, a platform,
a park, or the streets, and they all have a
unique story. His DeBie Kwalms the age of fifty seven,
she had become homeless, destitute, and clearly was emotionally disturbed
(09:13):
when she was set on fire on that f train
on the morning of December twenty second of last year,
at seven thirty. Where was she? From? Little Falls, New Jersey.
Grew up in a small white house. A father work
assembly line at the GM factory in Lynden, no longer operational,
(09:34):
her mother at a bakery store. She had her sister
and brother. An all American upbringing. She was a cheerleader,
mispopularity at Passaic Valley Regional High School, worked in Perkins,
a pancake house as a hostess, got so many of
her friend's jobs there. She was always the life of
the party and as so many of her former schoolmates said,
(09:58):
she was a bright light. Then unfortunately got dimmed like
so many out there. She went on to Montclair State College,
which is right there in Little Falls, got a job
at Sharp Electric and Malwa and Mirk the pharmaceutical company,
and from time to time, we'd go out with her
(10:19):
girlfriends to Vegas of the Caribbean and have a nice,
nice holiday like some of you are having now for
Christmas and New Years. And she meets a guy, and
you know what happened. Something cracked. She began to fall
(10:40):
into an abyss, last known to be working in Atlantic City.
And then, if you follow the timeline, getting arrested from
time to time all along the Jersey Shore for drunken
and disorderly conduct. When no lifelines, she was falling into
(11:02):
Dante's inferno. And then she went back home. She was
searching for her mother. She pounded on that door. A
woman answered the door. She said, I want my mommy.
I want my mommy. I want my mommy. And the
woman who had just recently bought the house from Dobrina's
(11:25):
mother and father, said, I don't know where they are.
I have a realtor's card. Maybe he can track them down.
I want my mommy. She's crying, she's disheveled. The woman
goes and finds the card. She returns to the door
and the next thing she knows to bring and kowamas
running down the block screaming, mommy, mommy, crying. She came
(11:48):
home from Christmas, at least she thought. She soon ended
up over a Grand Central terminal. Almost outreach unit brought
her up to a woman's shelter in the South Bronx.
How crazy is that this woman was from Little Falls,
New Jersey. Soon they took everything from her. She fled.
(12:14):
Where to homeless people go when they flee in the winter,
they go into the subway, so that becomes their home.
And it was for many days until this Monthster found
her set her on fire. Was there a commemoration, a
memorialization yesterday at city Hall? No any other fifty one
(12:35):
city council members, No Jessica Tish the police commissioner, no
one police president, no MTA headquarters.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
They want that image wiped from our mindsets. It'll never
be white from my mindset. Imagine for so many of you,
how many of your cheer and her grandchildren are coming
home with your parents or grandparents for Christmas and New Years,
(13:07):
and they want to see their mommy. Those are like
her last words that we know of mommy. Where's my mommy?
And yesterday Natalie brought this to your attention here wor
(13:27):
the New York Posts. Catherine don leaving and the rest
of the world wanted to remain oblivious. Not I in
the Guardian Angels. No, we want a memorial placed at
that very spot on the f train station to represent
the many thousands of homeless and emotionally disturbed some of
(13:50):
them buried in Pottersfield, you know where that is. A
million bodies are buried there, nameless, faceless individuals. They all
had stories and at least I was able to tell
Debbie Kwalms say her name. No, they won't, but we will.
(14:14):
We will remember. We should always remember. Our number is
eight hundred three to two one zero seven ten. That's
eight hundred three to two one zero seven ten. On
this Your Place to be seven ten War.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Streets, Smart straight talk Curtis Leeward, guest host for Mark
Simone on sevent ten.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Woar back in the rain this morning on my way
here to the studios, my new favorite station, and it
should be yours wor seven ten gives you all you need.
I ran across I was homeless and emotionally disturbed persons
(15:03):
that are everywhere, especially when it's inclement weather down in
the subways, and it sort of brought me to the
point of this problem wasn't dealt with with Comrade Bill
de Blasio, the part time mayor, the dope from Park Slope,
smoking Mawi Wowie and Hindu Cush at night on the
back porch of Gracie Mansion with his grift to wife Charlene.
(15:25):
Wasn't dealt with by this swaggerman with no plan, Eric Adams,
whose only contribution was tonight life in that he would
be at every club till the break of dawn instead
of being the mayor. And now at Fosters are on
Mandami who gets sworn in on January first. I don't
think he'll have a grip on it, but it's interesting.
(15:48):
While I was thinking about that, I said to myself,
she whiz Greg Kelly, former colleague over at WABC, talk
about anger man many issues, Oh my god, he he
always has them, but he we all carry some baggage
in all life. He went ballistic yesterday. He was like
(16:08):
Moe Green from The Godfather. Remember was the enforcer for
Buggsy Siegel the Hymen Ross Syndicate Maya Lansky and he's
like going off and screaming about me and just out
of control, which half the time he is. Look great, guys,
(16:30):
served the United States Submarine Corps up there and the
fly zone in Iraq. Told so many of our of
the listeners that weapons of mass destruction and all of
that was a disaster. Okay, he got like a lot
of good attributes. Great wife, great family. Had a problem
(16:52):
a while back. We all had problems. I was lucky
he had a His dad was the police Commissioner, Ray Kelly,
best relief commissioner we've ever had in New York City,
longest serving, and he was able to extricate himself, cleaned up,
no more booze hound, no more chasing skirts, you know,
found God, got back on track. We've all had stories
(17:14):
like that. But yesterday, oh my god, I think I've
gotten under his skin. You know what it was last
week when I was being interviewed by Mark Smohm preceding
this substitution I'll be here till January second, I talked
about how he was great for Greg Kelly because Greg
(17:37):
Kelly would actually sit in a side room and listen
to Mark Simone from ten to twelve. That was like
his show prep. I said, it was the equivalent of
oh remember the greatest Italian comedian of all time grew
up in my household listening to those records. Pat Cooper,
Pascual le Vito Caputo. Well, I met later on in life,
(17:58):
and he would tell me, yeah, watch, I'm gonna go
up there, I'm gonna do my routine and look at
all these other comedians. They're gonna be stealing my lines
and writing them on napkins. And it was true, some
of the best comedians. So I'm I'm I'm patting Mark
Simon on the bat. He's not the only person that
(18:19):
has had his materials utilized and recycled again by others.
He's that good. But apparently Greg Kelly took great umbrage
to that. It's like, well, it's a fact, so it
will help you do a better program. You listen to
Mark Simon and you go on your own program and
you basically repeat what he said like comedians often do.
(18:42):
Oh man, he just went eplectic. Hey, yesterday, he's saying police,
you know somebody I know, Well, I think he was
referring to his own dad. Ray Kelly, you know, never
thought highly of Curtis Lee and the Guardian Angels. No
police ever did. Hey, God, you know this is very
similar to Andrew evilized como. Remember in that debate. When
(19:05):
I turned to Andrew, evilized Como was Armandami on the
stage the first mayoral NBC debate, and I looked at
Andrew and I said, Andrew, I knew your father, Mario.
You know Mario Como. Hey, I know you're listening. Kelly,
you know you know Ray Kelly. Greg, I know your father,
(19:28):
Ray Kelly. Your father, Ray Kelly. We've been at boxing
Mattress together because he was a Commissioner of boxing for
the State of New York. We've been to dinner together,
We've discussed public safety strategies on a wide level of things.
I've been at public events with him. He couldn't be
more of a fund well you, oh my god. And
(19:53):
what I what I couldn't quite understand is why at
the very end of his diatribe, which it's easy radio
to do if you're doing a full hour, Gotta understand,
Greg always had problems finishing his shift. That's why they'd
asked me to stay in the bullpen warming up there.
They jump in with him because he'd run out of
(20:14):
gas for whatever reason. I don't know, if his mind
was wandering. Whatever he said, tough time, you know, focusing focusing.
But then he ends his diatribe and he says, Curtis,
keep your mouth shut, if you know what's good for you.
(20:37):
I said to myself the last time I was said
to me on air at that same WABC Angels in
the morning, when I was doing mom Talk, when John
Gotti's senior had been found guilty for the fourth time
while on trial because of Sammy the Bullgravano was underbores
(20:57):
riding him out the memory X tapes about his ordered executions.
Lewis Kasman, supposedly his adopted son from the garment industry
Jewish kid from Long Island, turned out to be a
rat himself eating the parmesan cheese. Later on he's on
that phone. I'll never forget his words, Curtis, keep your
(21:21):
mouth shut, if you know what's good for you. Soon
after June nineteenth and nineteen ninety two, I got shot
five times with hollow point bullets in the back of
a yellow cab on my way to WABC to do
the morning show, on the orders of John Gotti Senior
to John Gotti Junior and the Gambato crime family. Michael
(21:45):
Leonardi did twenty years for that, and I survived and
I know, look, Greg Kelly, he's not the Gambino crime family.
But hey, don't be a forget you see tough guy.
Real tough guys don't have to act like they're tough.
(22:06):
Trust me, I'm a legitimate tough guy. We'll go to
your calls up next eight hundred three two one zero
seven ten at this your place to be from now
on seven ten WAR Talk Radio with Street Crack.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Literally Curtis Leewad joined sevent ten WR to guess ohs
from Mark Zamore.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, as I continue on till January twod here for
Mark Zimone. I appreciate the time at my newfound radio station,
but I've listened to over the years from time to time,
and now I listen to it all the time. I
asso shoot you at seven ten War. A lot of
alumni WABC here that dysfunctional family. Is he our board
(22:59):
operator here he fled the dysfunction as did Crash in
the mornings with Larry MENTI as a real savant from
Morris Park, the Bronx, and I know to some of
you it sounds like Nicchco Corleone. I'm settling all scores.
I am, little by little by little, by little. But
(23:20):
you have a right to know and you have a
right to be heard. So let's go first to Sean,
who's patiently on the line from Rockland County. Your turn
to be heard here at seven to ten w O
watch on Welcome.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Home, Curtis, and those out the clowns at the other station.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I don't listen to hit out anymore.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
They just.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fake guy. See you got an here thirty five years.
You can tell fake fake voice. I know who that is.
Come on, this is Curtis sleeve pro style here. Let's
go to Bob, who's calling from Montfel. Your turn to
be heard here at w or seven ten.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Bob, Thank you Curtis, and welcome back to what it's
no longer woman only radio. Thank goodness. And I just
want to say thank you to you and your wife
because those of us who know your history and we
lived it, we saw through the other people at the
other station. You know Greg Kelly, obviously he's got like
(24:26):
an anger problem, too much estrogen. And there's another guy
talk about Rockland County dominic.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Carter.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
I wish you would send the angels up to Rockland County. Curtis.
It is out of control. It is out of control
and he lives with his head you know where. Wow, Well,
thank you, thank you, thank you. You know I live
in New Jersey. Thank you, Curtis.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, but all I need you to do is just
continue to listen to here seven ten W or Bob.
You don't need to get adjida to all of them. Hey, look,
in talk radio, you have a lot of eccentric characters.
I've certainly worked with them. I've certainly been called eccentric myself.
(25:09):
I've had my ups, my downs, but I think almost
all of them are well known to people. But sometimes
when you have an anger management issue, there are substances
out there that can keep that in check. Hey, look,
it's healthy, it's healthy. Let's go if we can to John,
(25:34):
who's calling from Staten Island. Your turn to be heard
here at seven to ten W. John.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Hey, Curtis, I'm so happy to hear you back on
the radio. We've met a few times, so I'm so
happy to be talking to here. WABC is definitely a
dysfunctional family dominic. Carter shows up to work grumpy every
single day. Lionel Square listened to the microphone. Sid Rosenberg
(26:02):
only cares about himself, toy's me Me, Me, Me Me,
I am Gray and Greg Kelly. He takes calls from
the wack o people who sent him books and they
wrote down a name to the wrong wrong people, Like
what kind of operation do they got going on?
Speaker 6 (26:19):
Over?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
He look John, John, that's their thing.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
If you're not happy with their broadcast, now you have
a place to come to. Maybe I was the sheepherder
and you were sheep for many years and that's all
you listen to. Well, now you have an opportunity to
come on over and graves on this talk radio field.
Maybe my substituting for Mark Simon will encourage more people
(26:47):
to do that. I would suggest now that we're in
the age of social networking, text it out, email it out,
phone it out, get the word out of that any
longer and more choices, And this is my choice. So
I know for many of you who followed me in
(27:07):
talk radio for what it'll be thirty six years in January,
you're welcome on over. Listen to seven to ten wor
as much as is humanly possible. And remember, unlike years
and years ago where it was live and local, that's it.
If you missed the broadcast, you couldn't recover it. Remember
(27:29):
the great Bob Grant, nobody better, King of Tark Radio
would do his opening monologue. You could never recapture that.
The whole Tri state area would stop to listen to
that opening monologue at three. Now, if you missed the program,
you can catch it on podcasts. See that's something that
(27:50):
never occurred before. Let's go if we can to uh Vic, Well,
I believe is calling from Pennsylvania. Your turn to be
heard here at seven to ten, w or Vic.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Great to hear you, Curtis. Curtis, I want to tell
you a quick story. You know, I used to listen
to Sid and if it wasn't for Bernie, he would
be nothing. But what a phone, the biggest phone he
could be. Well, they're all phonies there, but he seems
to be the biggest one. Talk about ego, you know
what I mean. And at one point I called up
(28:27):
when they were taking calls, he stopped taking calls to
let him know he had bad now Trump. And guess
what he said, Oh that's not true. I never bad
now Trump a big liar. But man, could you imagine
being in a foxhole with any of these guys? I
can't imagine it.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
No, no, no, I tell you, I tell you one
thing straight up there. It was a much better show
when Bernard McGirk was with him because it was ik
ying and the yang, because when it's just said, it's
II me me, it's all about said looking. I think
he said this himself many times. He has low self esteem.
He's paranoid, neurotic. A lot of people in talker adio
(29:07):
that's the case. But Bernard was the ying to his yang.
Bernard was given an opportunity to do a program at
WABC what Imus clearly was in his latter years. Without
Bernard McGirk, Imus could not function. I was in the
broadcast studio. I saw how Bernie would feed him lines.
(29:32):
Bernie read the books, wasn't Imus, And towards the end
of Imus's career it was so obvious. But it was
Bernard mcgirk's wish to have his own show.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Imus didn't want that. Oh no, oh no, the show
following Imus in the morning. Bernard McGirk said it should
be my opportunity and he was right after all those years,
and he said, if you can only bring sid Rosenberg
up from Florida. He had just been fired. I think
for like the third or fourth time. Nothy's wrong with that.
(30:04):
That's how you know how long you've been in talk radio,
how many times you've been fired. But he was not
on the radio. Bernie said, I want Sid to be
with me. And I remember going down Hollywood, Florida at
the hard Rock We had a Guardian Angel conference of
the Floridian Guardian Angels, and I told the general manager
(30:28):
there I would go down and just do a little
background check on city. Had had some problems. And I
talked to a lot of people down there and said, oh, no, no, no.
His days of gallimantin cavorting getting into trouble, which he's
admitted is over. He's on the straight and arrow. I
came back, I gave the report. I remember walking into
the office of Chad Lopez. He had on his desk
(30:51):
a contract to hire Mike Lupeka, the great sports writer
for the Daily News but horrible on the radio ESPN.
You know it's not his medium. I said, you can't
do that, you can't sign that. That'll destroy WABC. I said,
come on, do this for Bernard McGirk. He's never asked
(31:11):
for anything other than that, and that's what happened. They
got that opportunity h mid Morning and then eventually the
Morning Show. And it's unfortunate that Bernard McGirk is no
longer with us because that was the ying to Sid Yang,
that was his wingman. Sid was Bernard's wingman, and Bernard
(31:39):
was certainly sid Rosenberg's wingman. In God's Father reference. When
you talk about Sid Rosenberg, think of Tessio.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Oh yeah, though Beret is back. Curtis leewa guest host
the Mark Simone Show on seven ten, woo.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Is Erek Adams swaggerman with no plan? Is he back
yet from vacationing at our tach Bears expense? Where is
Eric Adams this morning? As he plays out the clock?
It's interesting The Anti Defamation League has issued a report
on some of the people affiliated which are on Mandami
(32:23):
the incoming mayor as having had relationships with Schooly Louis
Farakhan in the Nation of Islam. Question, is shuld that
eliminate you from consideration of having any place in government period?
Well it should have eliminated Eric Adams from ever becoming
(32:44):
mayor of the City of New York. I wonder you
when I ran against him in twenty twenty one. Remember
and those two debates. I said he is crooked and
there will be chaos, and oh boy, was I right.
But he won't go away quietly. He just vacations at
taxpayers expense. And now all of a sudden he's the
(33:06):
first to question people's credentials when in fact, you couldn't
have been any more supportive of Schooy Louis fara Khan
back in the nineties and the early two thousand period. Yeah, yeah,
I know, I know. So what is a good litmus
test relationship to fra Khan? I think every rapper would
(33:30):
have to be excluded because look at their Instagram and
who's their ninety two year old Schooy Louis Farrakhan and
the worst anti Semite in America.
Now the Guardian Angel of talk radio is here. Curtis
Sleewah guest host the Mark Simone Show on sevent ten.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Woor oh yeah, let's do it day two.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
As I sit in for Mark Simon, I mean, this
is the guy who's smooth. Remember that song by Shah
Day nineteen eighty four. I remember hearing it in London
first time when I organized the Guardian Angels, their smooth operator.
Nobody's smoother in this business, this thing of ours, this
(00:48):
is the business we have chosen talk radio. Nobody's done
it longer than Mark Simone locally. But I'm sort of
the tagalong thirty five years and to be thirty and
now at the radio station where it all started for me,
not as a host but as a guest. When I
(01:09):
got the bug TV bug was rom Perum. That was
before WOR Radio seven ten, when I was interviewed by
Arlen Francis who had the midday show, when I was
the newspaper Boy of the Year, havn't gotten an award
from Richard Nixon, And I remember the studios they have
(01:30):
fourteen forty Broadway. I think I'm not trying to remember
if rom Perum was actually on Channel nine. I think
it was at the TV studios in Midtown Manhattan, not
far from where the ball is going to drop. Welcoming
in the new year and the change over from the
(01:51):
missing in action mayor the swaggerman with no Plan Eric Adams,
who got windyned in pocket lined over the years. Thank god,
he'll be gone. Has he gotten back yet? Is he
from this perpetual vacation, his travels around the world at
taxpayer's expension, sort of like Matt Lauer, remember before he
got the boot at NBC. Where's Matt Lawa today? Where's
(02:14):
Eric Adams today? On our dime? We're paying for all that.
We'll get into all of that. And then also uh
oh boy. At the dysfunctional home of WABC, the former
house of always broadcasting critics Sliwa, now always bashing Curtis Sliwa,
one of their hosts just he lost it yesterday. Greg Kelly,
(02:39):
Oh my god, he just went on and on. People
were telling me on the streets of Coney Island, listen
to him. This guy, he's having an episode. He certainly was.
Wow And in fact, he used words that I heard
that hadn't been said to me on the radio since
(03:02):
back in nineteen ninety two, I had on as a
guest of Angels in the Morning, where I was hosting
with my wife at that time, Lisa and al Lisa
Evers at Channel five, guy named Louis Kasman who was
like the adopted son of John Gottisenia, and he was
coming on to defend John gottisin You have been found
(03:25):
guilty for the final time triple life without parole because
of the rat Sami de Bolgravano and the memory's tapes
of conversations they had had over the Ravennight Social club
in Italy where he was ordering the executions of his
fellow Gambino crime family members. And Louis Kasman was on
(03:50):
the air and he was defending him, and it was
a very heated discussion, and I remember what Louis Kasmin said.
He said, Curtis, you better keep your mouth shut if
you know what's good for you. And soon after, remember
I got shot five times with the hollow point bullets
(04:10):
in the back of that yellow cab on my way
to WABC. We'll get into that later on. Oh you
know what I missaid, Well, yesterday the Moe Green there
at WABC. Yeah, Greg Kelly's like Mo Green from The Godfather,
you know, tough guy, tough guy, except these Irish not Jewish.
(04:31):
He said exactly the same thing he announces on the microphone,
and I heard it for myself. Curtis, keep your mouth shut.
If you know what's good for you. What do you
think you mean by that? Is that that foe for
gazy rage because he has anger management issues. Well, look,
(04:55):
I'm gonna get into it. We'll do the deep dive.
Dysfunctional former family at WABC tries to still haunt me
to this day even though I'm at the station. You
should all be listening to now War seven ten, the
absolute best with Larry Mente in the morning and then
(05:16):
obviously Mark Simon, my very dear friend in the afternoons.
For many many years, Sean Hannity, the rock ribbed all
American conservative voice of reason from Franklin Square along Island
doesn't get any better. And the whole panoply of shows
that you get here as opposed to where you may
(05:36):
have been. But let's talk about what occurred yesterday. And
I want to give credit to Natalie the wr team
here producer in the morning, who also does the news
from time to time, and she spoke to everybody here
at seven ten yesterday morning before my debut and talked
(05:58):
about how I am The Gardian Angels would be out
at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue to commemorate, memorialize the death
of the Debbie Kowom, also known as Dobrina Kowam from
Little Falls, New Jersey. You say, who's that? Well, a
(06:20):
year ago the whole world knew, at least for the
first nine days when she could not be identified because
she was burnt so badly, turned into a human torch
by an enemy of society. It came to this city
with the royal red carpet rolled out for him by
(06:43):
Joe Biden, biorchist Harris and yeah, oh yeah, at that
time the Biden of Brooklyn, Eric Adams, So we'll be
talking about him also later on today the house smiuse
said he was for twenty two years as a cop
in the NYPD. And it seems like in one year's time,
(07:04):
the memory of the most heinous, horrific crime in the
New York City subway system, in fact, in New York
City's history, involving one victim, just wiped from the memory cells.
Credit though to Natalie for bringing that to the surface
(07:27):
of what we would do. I'll get into that momentarily.
And also to the New York Posts Catherine don Levy,
a reporter who had covered this horror a year ago.
They're now doing a video broadcast to sort of remind people,
because it just seems the rest of the media and
(07:47):
most people from them, it's out of sight, out of mind.
Part of that is due to what the City of
New York does not want you to know about. All
the crime in the subway. Look at it, all the
series of stabbings that have occurred of late, all the
homeless and emotionally disturbed. They're still living in the system.
(08:09):
I know. Coming here this morning, I ran into so
many of them, some who I know personally. So we
eulogized Debrina Kwam on the anniversary that horrible death. We
had the reath out. We had pictures people were passing
by a very crowded station where the F train D
(08:31):
train merges with the N and Q. Nobody knew, and
we said to say her name. Nobody knew. And there
are so many thousands of homeless and emotionally disturbed out there.
They won't be home for Christmas. Their home is an
(08:51):
unsafe shelter, a subway car, a subway station, a platform,
a park, or the streets, and they all have a
unique story. His DeBie Kwalms the age of fifty seven,
she had become homeless, destitute, and clearly was emotionally disturbed
(09:13):
when she was set on fire on that f train
on the morning of December twenty second of last year,
at seven thirty. Where was she? From? Little Falls, New Jersey.
Grew up in a small white house. A father work
assembly line at the GM factory in Lynden, no longer operational,
(09:34):
her mother at a bakery store. She had her sister
and brother. An all American upbringing. She was a cheerleader,
mispopularity at Passaic Valley Regional High School, worked in Perkins,
a pancake house as a hostess, got so many of
her friend's jobs there. She was always the life of
the party and as so many of her former schoolmates said,
(09:58):
she was a bright light. Then unfortunately got dimmed like
so many out there. She went on to Montclair State College,
which is right there in Little Falls, got a job
at Sharp Electric and Malwa and Mirk the pharmaceutical company,
and from time to time, we'd go out with her
(10:19):
girlfriends to Vegas of the Caribbean and have a nice,
nice holiday like some of you are having now for
Christmas and New Years. And she meets a guy, and
you know what happened. Something cracked. She began to fall
(10:40):
into an abyss, last known to be working in Atlantic City.
And then, if you follow the timeline, getting arrested from
time to time all along the Jersey Shore for drunken
and disorderly conduct. When no lifelines, she was falling into
(11:02):
Dante's inferno. And then she went back home. She was
searching for her mother. She pounded on that door. A
woman answered the door. She said, I want my mommy.
I want my mommy. I want my mommy. And the
woman who had just recently bought the house from Dobrina's
(11:25):
mother and father, said, I don't know where they are.
I have a realtor's card. Maybe he can track them down.
I want my mommy. She's crying, she's disheveled. The woman
goes and finds the card. She returns to the door
and the next thing she knows to bring and kowamas
running down the block screaming, mommy, mommy, crying. She came
(11:48):
home from Christmas, at least she thought. She soon ended
up over a Grand Central terminal. Almost outreach unit brought
her up to a woman's shelter in the South Bronx.
How crazy is that this woman was from Little Falls,
New Jersey. Soon they took everything from her. She fled.
(12:14):
Where to homeless people go when they flee in the winter,
they go into the subway, so that becomes their home.
And it was for many days until this Monthster found
her set her on fire. Was there a commemoration, a
memorialization yesterday at city Hall? No any other fifty one
(12:35):
city council members, No Jessica Tish the police commissioner, no
one police president, no MTA headquarters.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
No.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
They want that image wiped from our mindsets. It'll never
be white from my mindset. Imagine for so many of you,
how many of your cheer and her grandchildren are coming
home with your parents or grandparents for Christmas and New Years,
(13:07):
and they want to see their mommy. Those are like
her last words that we know of mommy. Where's my mommy?
And yesterday Natalie brought this to your attention here wor
(13:27):
the New York Posts. Catherine don leaving and the rest
of the world wanted to remain oblivious. Not I in
the Guardian Angels. No, we want a memorial placed at
that very spot on the f train station to represent
the many thousands of homeless and emotionally disturbed some of
(13:50):
them buried in Pottersfield, you know where that is. A
million bodies are buried there, nameless, faceless individuals. They all
had stories and at least I was able to tell
Debbie Kwalms say her name. No, they won't, but we will.
(14:14):
We will remember. We should always remember. Our number is
eight hundred three to two one zero seven ten. That's
eight hundred three to two one zero seven ten. On
this Your Place to be seven ten War.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Streets, Smart straight talk Curtis Leeward, guest host for Mark
Simone on sevent ten.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Woar back in the rain this morning on my way
here to the studios, my new favorite station, and it
should be yours wor seven ten gives you all you need.
I ran across I was homeless and emotionally disturbed persons
(15:03):
that are everywhere, especially when it's inclement weather down in
the subways, and it sort of brought me to the
point of this problem wasn't dealt with with Comrade Bill
de Blasio, the part time mayor, the dope from Park Slope,
smoking Mawi Wowie and Hindu Cush at night on the
back porch of Gracie Mansion with his grift to wife Charlene.
(15:25):
Wasn't dealt with by this swaggerman with no plan, Eric Adams,
whose only contribution was tonight life in that he would
be at every club till the break of dawn instead
of being the mayor. And now at Fosters are on
Mandami who gets sworn in on January first. I don't
think he'll have a grip on it, but it's interesting.
(15:48):
While I was thinking about that, I said to myself,
she whiz Greg Kelly, former colleague over at WABC, talk
about anger man many issues, Oh my god, he he
always has them, but he we all carry some baggage
in all life. He went ballistic yesterday. He was like
(16:08):
Moe Green from The Godfather. Remember was the enforcer for
Buggsy Siegel the Hymen Ross Syndicate Maya Lansky and he's
like going off and screaming about me and just out
of control, which half the time he is. Look great, guys,
(16:30):
served the United States Submarine Corps up there and the
fly zone in Iraq. Told so many of our of
the listeners that weapons of mass destruction and all of
that was a disaster. Okay, he got like a lot
of good attributes. Great wife, great family. Had a problem
(16:52):
a while back. We all had problems. I was lucky
he had a His dad was the police Commissioner, Ray Kelly,
best relief commissioner we've ever had in New York City,
longest serving, and he was able to extricate himself, cleaned up,
no more booze hound, no more chasing skirts, you know,
found God, got back on track. We've all had stories
(17:14):
like that. But yesterday, oh my god, I think I've
gotten under his skin. You know what it was last
week when I was being interviewed by Mark Smohm preceding
this substitution I'll be here till January second, I talked
about how he was great for Greg Kelly because Greg
(17:37):
Kelly would actually sit in a side room and listen
to Mark Simone from ten to twelve. That was like
his show prep. I said, it was the equivalent of
oh remember the greatest Italian comedian of all time grew
up in my household listening to those records. Pat Cooper,
Pascual le Vito Caputo. Well, I met later on in life,
(17:58):
and he would tell me, yeah, watch, I'm gonna go
up there, I'm gonna do my routine and look at
all these other comedians. They're gonna be stealing my lines
and writing them on napkins. And it was true, some
of the best comedians. So I'm I'm I'm patting Mark
Simon on the bat. He's not the only person that
(18:19):
has had his materials utilized and recycled again by others.
He's that good. But apparently Greg Kelly took great umbrage
to that. It's like, well, it's a fact, so it
will help you do a better program. You listen to
Mark Simon and you go on your own program and
you basically repeat what he said like comedians often do.
(18:42):
Oh man, he just went eplectic. Hey, yesterday, he's saying police,
you know somebody I know, Well, I think he was
referring to his own dad. Ray Kelly, you know, never
thought highly of Curtis Lee and the Guardian Angels. No
police ever did. Hey, God, you know this is very
similar to Andrew evilized como. Remember in that debate. When
(19:05):
I turned to Andrew, evilized Como was Armandami on the
stage the first mayoral NBC debate, and I looked at
Andrew and I said, Andrew, I knew your father, Mario.
You know Mario Como. Hey, I know you're listening. Kelly,
you know you know Ray Kelly. Greg, I know your father,
(19:28):
Ray Kelly. Your father, Ray Kelly. We've been at boxing
Mattress together because he was a Commissioner of boxing for
the State of New York. We've been to dinner together,
We've discussed public safety strategies on a wide level of things.
I've been at public events with him. He couldn't be
more of a fund well you, oh my god. And
(19:53):
what I what I couldn't quite understand is why at
the very end of his diatribe, which it's easy radio
to do if you're doing a full hour, Gotta understand,
Greg always had problems finishing his shift. That's why they'd
asked me to stay in the bullpen warming up there.
They jump in with him because he'd run out of
(20:14):
gas for whatever reason. I don't know, if his mind
was wandering. Whatever he said, tough time, you know, focusing focusing.
But then he ends his diatribe and he says, Curtis,
keep your mouth shut, if you know what's good for you.
(20:37):
I said to myself the last time I was said
to me on air at that same WABC Angels in
the morning, when I was doing mom Talk, when John
Gotti's senior had been found guilty for the fourth time
while on trial because of Sammy the Bullgravano was underbores
(20:57):
riding him out the memory X tapes about his ordered executions.
Lewis Kasman, supposedly his adopted son from the garment industry
Jewish kid from Long Island, turned out to be a
rat himself eating the parmesan cheese. Later on he's on
that phone. I'll never forget his words, Curtis, keep your
(21:21):
mouth shut, if you know what's good for you. Soon
after June nineteenth and nineteen ninety two, I got shot
five times with hollow point bullets in the back of
a yellow cab on my way to WABC to do
the morning show, on the orders of John Gotti Senior
to John Gotti Junior and the Gambato crime family. Michael
(21:45):
Leonardi did twenty years for that, and I survived and
I know, look, Greg Kelly, he's not the Gambino crime family.
But hey, don't be a forget you see tough guy.
Real tough guys don't have to act like they're tough.
(22:06):
Trust me, I'm a legitimate tough guy. We'll go to
your calls up next eight hundred three two one zero
seven ten at this your place to be from now
on seven ten WAR Talk Radio with Street Crack.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Literally Curtis Leewad joined sevent ten WR to guess ohs
from Mark Zamore.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
Yeah, as I continue on till January twod here for
Mark Zimone. I appreciate the time at my newfound radio station,
but I've listened to over the years from time to time,
and now I listen to it all the time. I
asso shoot you at seven ten War. A lot of
alumni WABC here that dysfunctional family. Is he our board
(22:59):
operator here he fled the dysfunction as did Crash in
the mornings with Larry MENTI as a real savant from
Morris Park, the Bronx, and I know to some of
you it sounds like Nicchco Corleone. I'm settling all scores.
I am, little by little by little, by little. But
(23:20):
you have a right to know and you have a
right to be heard. So let's go first to Sean,
who's patiently on the line from Rockland County. Your turn
to be heard here at seven to ten w O
watch on Welcome.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
Home, Curtis, and those out the clowns at the other station.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
I don't listen to hit out anymore.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
They just.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
Fake guy. See you got an here thirty five years.
You can tell fake fake voice. I know who that is.
Come on, this is Curtis sleeve pro style here. Let's
go to Bob, who's calling from Montfel. Your turn to
be heard here at w or seven ten.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Bob, Thank you Curtis, and welcome back to what it's
no longer woman only radio. Thank goodness. And I just
want to say thank you to you and your wife
because those of us who know your history and we
lived it, we saw through the other people at the
other station. You know Greg Kelly, obviously he's got like
(24:26):
an anger problem, too much estrogen. And there's another guy
talk about Rockland County dominic.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Carter.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
I wish you would send the angels up to Rockland County. Curtis.
It is out of control. It is out of control
and he lives with his head you know where. Wow, Well,
thank you, thank you, thank you. You know I live
in New Jersey. Thank you, Curtis.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, but all I need you to do is just
continue to listen to here seven ten W or Bob.
You don't need to get adjida to all of them. Hey, look,
in talk radio, you have a lot of eccentric characters.
I've certainly worked with them. I've certainly been called eccentric myself.
(25:09):
I've had my ups, my downs, but I think almost
all of them are well known to people. But sometimes
when you have an anger management issue, there are substances
out there that can keep that in check. Hey, look,
it's healthy, it's healthy. Let's go if we can to John,
(25:34):
who's calling from Staten Island. Your turn to be heard
here at seven to ten W. John.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
Hey, Curtis, I'm so happy to hear you back on
the radio. We've met a few times, so I'm so
happy to be talking to here. WABC is definitely a
dysfunctional family dominic. Carter shows up to work grumpy every
single day. Lionel Square listened to the microphone. Sid Rosenberg
(26:02):
only cares about himself, toy's me Me, Me, Me Me,
I am Gray and Greg Kelly. He takes calls from
the wack o people who sent him books and they
wrote down a name to the wrong wrong people, Like
what kind of operation do they got going on?
Speaker 6 (26:19):
Over?
Speaker 3 (26:20):
He look John, John, that's their thing.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
If you're not happy with their broadcast, now you have
a place to come to. Maybe I was the sheepherder
and you were sheep for many years and that's all
you listen to. Well, now you have an opportunity to
come on over and graves on this talk radio field.
Maybe my substituting for Mark Simon will encourage more people
(26:47):
to do that. I would suggest now that we're in
the age of social networking, text it out, email it out,
phone it out, get the word out of that any
longer and more choices, And this is my choice. So
I know for many of you who followed me in
(27:07):
talk radio for what it'll be thirty six years in January,
you're welcome on over. Listen to seven to ten wor
as much as is humanly possible. And remember, unlike years
and years ago where it was live and local, that's it.
If you missed the broadcast, you couldn't recover it. Remember
(27:29):
the great Bob Grant, nobody better, King of Tark Radio
would do his opening monologue. You could never recapture that.
The whole Tri state area would stop to listen to
that opening monologue at three. Now, if you missed the program,
you can catch it on podcasts. See that's something that
(27:50):
never occurred before. Let's go if we can to uh Vic, Well,
I believe is calling from Pennsylvania. Your turn to be
heard here at seven to ten, w or Vic.
Speaker 4 (28:04):
Great to hear you, Curtis. Curtis, I want to tell
you a quick story. You know, I used to listen
to Sid and if it wasn't for Bernie, he would
be nothing. But what a phone, the biggest phone he
could be. Well, they're all phonies there, but he seems
to be the biggest one. Talk about ego, you know
what I mean. And at one point I called up
(28:27):
when they were taking calls, he stopped taking calls to
let him know he had bad now Trump. And guess
what he said, Oh that's not true. I never bad
now Trump a big liar. But man, could you imagine
being in a foxhole with any of these guys? I
can't imagine it.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
No, no, no, I tell you, I tell you one
thing straight up there. It was a much better show
when Bernard McGirk was with him because it was ik
ying and the yang, because when it's just said, it's
II me me, it's all about said looking. I think
he said this himself many times. He has low self esteem.
He's paranoid, neurotic. A lot of people in talker adio
(29:07):
that's the case. But Bernard was the ying to his yang.
Bernard was given an opportunity to do a program at
WABC what Imus clearly was in his latter years. Without
Bernard McGirk, Imus could not function. I was in the
broadcast studio. I saw how Bernie would feed him lines.
(29:32):
Bernie read the books, wasn't Imus, And towards the end
of Imus's career it was so obvious. But it was
Bernard mcgirk's wish to have his own show.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Imus didn't want that. Oh no, oh no, the show
following Imus in the morning. Bernard McGirk said it should
be my opportunity and he was right after all those years,
and he said, if you can only bring sid Rosenberg
up from Florida. He had just been fired. I think
for like the third or fourth time. Nothy's wrong with that.
(30:04):
That's how you know how long you've been in talk radio,
how many times you've been fired. But he was not
on the radio. Bernie said, I want Sid to be
with me. And I remember going down Hollywood, Florida at
the hard Rock We had a Guardian Angel conference of
the Floridian Guardian Angels, and I told the general manager
(30:28):
there I would go down and just do a little
background check on city. Had had some problems. And I
talked to a lot of people down there and said, oh, no, no, no.
His days of gallimantin cavorting getting into trouble, which he's
admitted is over. He's on the straight and arrow. I
came back, I gave the report. I remember walking into
the office of Chad Lopez. He had on his desk
(30:51):
a contract to hire Mike Lupeka, the great sports writer
for the Daily News but horrible on the radio ESPN.
You know it's not his medium. I said, you can't
do that, you can't sign that. That'll destroy WABC. I said,
come on, do this for Bernard McGirk. He's never asked
(31:11):
for anything other than that, and that's what happened. They
got that opportunity h mid Morning and then eventually the
Morning Show. And it's unfortunate that Bernard McGirk is no
longer with us because that was the ying to Sid Yang,
that was his wingman. Sid was Bernard's wingman, and Bernard
(31:39):
was certainly sid Rosenberg's wingman. In God's Father reference. When
you talk about Sid Rosenberg, think of Tessio.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Oh yeah, though Beret is back. Curtis leewa guest host
the Mark Simone Show on seven ten, woo.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Is Erek Adams swaggerman with no plan? Is he back
yet from vacationing at our tach Bears expense? Where is
Eric Adams this morning? As he plays out the clock?
It's interesting The Anti Defamation League has issued a report
on some of the people affiliated which are on Mandami
(32:23):
the incoming mayor as having had relationships with Schooly Louis
Farakhan in the Nation of Islam. Question, is shuld that
eliminate you from consideration of having any place in government period?
Well it should have eliminated Eric Adams from ever becoming
(32:44):
mayor of the City of New York. I wonder you
when I ran against him in twenty twenty one. Remember
and those two debates. I said he is crooked and
there will be chaos, and oh boy, was I right.
But he won't go away quietly. He just vacations at
taxpayers expense. And now all of a sudden he's the
(33:06):
first to question people's credentials when in fact, you couldn't
have been any more supportive of Schooy Louis fara Khan
back in the nineties and the early two thousand period. Yeah, yeah,
I know, I know. So what is a good litmus
test relationship to fra Khan? I think every rapper would
(33:30):
have to be excluded because look at their Instagram and
who's their ninety two year old Schooy Louis Farrakhan and
the worst anti Semite in America.
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