Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to the bike Did You Even? Podcast hosted
by media personality and consultant Mike Glow.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh yeah, you're listening to the event inside the NYPD's
Emergency Service Unit.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
As I was telling tonight's guest Off the Air and
producer Victor as well. The evolution of this spinny series
over the years has been really interesting from starting it
and the story has been told on the air before
with Sergeant John Lampkin, who worked in two truck and
one truck for many years of his twenty year career
in the NYPD before he retired in two thousand and two.
That interview with him kickstarted so many more or so
(01:27):
much more, i should say, and so many really entertaining
episodes with a lot of fascinating people. They all worked
in the same unit, of course, being the NYPD's Emergency
Service Unit, but they all had different contributions to the
unit over the years. It's been really a pleasure to document,
and it's not just getting to know them on air
and really chronicle their history in the unit and really
(01:47):
their time as a whole in the NYPD on the air,
it's getting to know them off the air too, and
it's really been a fun mini series to do, and
as I thought about it and now it's re live
on the air, doing it fifty volumes is just incredible.
So many different stories, so many different people. One of
them is in the Chat already, John Latanzio, you were
on a while ago. It's been amazing and I just
(02:09):
want to take a second to thank everybody, as always
the audience, but also the ESU community past and present,
guys who are still working, and shout out to them,
Guys who were working years ago and retired in a
big shout out to them as well. Would either come
on the show, give me recommendations, in giving me support,
it's always humbling and you guys have welcomed me with
open arms, and I'm glad you have because you make
(02:29):
it so much fun, you make it worthwhile. And for
this fiftieth volume, we got a great guest To'll introduce
in a moment, but just a quick shout out to
everybody in the chat. Johnny Latanzio out of a housing
rescue and five truck and three truck I see of
my friend Billy Ryan, retired out of the arson explosion
squads here, Joe Maliga and Christian Williams and everybody else.
Randy Miller's watching as well via LinkedIn. Good to see
Randy and everybody else's tuning in as well. So we're
(02:51):
just gonna run one AD, which is Bill Ryan's AD,
real quick, and then of course they'll introduce this guest
for volume fifty of the Email The Mic Thing You
Have for podcast is proudly sponsored and some ported by
the Ryan Investigative Group. If you need an elite PI,
look no further than the elite Ryan Investigative Group, which
is run by retired NYP Detective Bill Ryan, a twenty
year veteran of the Department who served the majority of
(03:12):
his career in the detective Bureau, most notably in the
arson and explosion Squad. So if you need a PI
to handle anything from fraud, legal services, and anything else
that you might require, contact Bill at three four seven
four one seven sixteen ten. Again three four seven four
one seven sixteen ten reach him at his website or
the email that you see here. Again, if you need
a PI, look no further than Bill Ryan and the
(03:34):
Ryan Investigative Group, a proud supporter and sponsor of the
Mike the New Haven podcast. Billie of course, another big
contributor to this. Of course, he helped me launch sales
from the boom Room profiles in the NYPD's Arsenal Explosion
Bob Squad. Another mini series had scrown its legs over
the years on Mike the New Haven. Well for this
mini series, Like you said, we celebrate volume fifty with
my next guest, who served the City of New York
(03:54):
for over two decades. He began his career at the
beginning of nineteen ninety five. The anniversary just passed him
Geting's sworn in the New York City Housing Police, and
that was right before the merger in May of nineteen
ninety five, but he stayed in Housing. The patch has changed,
but the mission didn't. As they'll tell me about tonight.
Was originally in Police Service Area nine in Queens, then
in the summer of two thousand was assigned to the
(04:16):
NYPD Academy as a Police Science instructor, but he ended
up in ESU not too long after, in February of
two thousand and one, assigned to the Specialized Training School,
and by July of two thousand and one out in
the field, particularly in Truck six. First for the first
couple of years out in Brooklyn and then Queens in
nine truck until he retired in twenty sixteen, and that
(04:36):
for this volume fifty of the EMA inside the NYPD's
Emergency Service Unit is Gary Grizzolia. Gary, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
How are you good? Mike? Thank you very much, happy
to be.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Here, Happy to have you and a lot of people
when as you saw when I put the promrad on
LinkedIn and when I put the promo out on Facebook,
I'm really excited that you were coming on. So there's
been many who've been looking forward to this show, and
I'm sure we'll see them pop up in the chat
throughout the So, before I get into everything involving your career,
two part question here A where did you grow up?
And B did you always know you, even if you
(05:08):
didn't necessarily know you want.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
To be a cop?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Did you always know you wanted to be involved in
civil service early on?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
I grew up out here on Long Island. Family came
from Manhattan Greenwich Village area. Then when I was young,
about four years old, they moved out to Long Island, Babylon,
you know, real nice area, suburban. Basically my whole life
out here. Dad was a civil servant New York City Sanitation.
(05:34):
He kind of had a tremendous influence on me with
my choice in Korea. Always advised me if I didn't
really know what I wanted to do, civil service was
always a good option. So I tried my college days.
I went through business and stuff like that, and then
wound up applying to a few of the jobs Fire Department,
(05:57):
Sanitation NYPD. The housing thing came up a little later
on than I would like to have had to come
on because I think I was originally accepted in eighty four,
went through all the investigation, but they didn't pick me up,
so it was no big deal. I kept taking the
tests and then I wound up getting on for the
(06:20):
last housing class, which to me, I was a little
older and I think a little wiser, and it probably
worked out for the best for me. In particular. Came
from a construction background for ten years prior to the
police department, so being appreciative of a job like that
an offer, I really jumped on it right away, you know,
(06:44):
physical labor and then getting into the police department. It
was two different worlds, so I kind of appreciated it.
At age thirty two, then I think a twenty two
year old would have not not being out in the
world as much in the working force.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yeah, absolutely, and that you took the question right out
of my mouth, and I was going to ask you,
of course, what did you do prior? And construction is
interesting And really I've had this conversation before with different
PD guests and FT.
Speaker 4 (07:09):
Guests as well.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
The guys that really were squared away coming on were
the guys like you that had a career prior that
the police Department of the fire Department wasn't their first job,
so they had a better understanding. And like you said,
and I love the terminology you used, a greater appreciation
and being thirty two as opposed to twenty two, the
headspace different doesn't make academy any easier, but at least
(07:31):
mentally you're a little bit more squared away and prepared
for as opposed to someone that's younger.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yes, I think life in general as a construction marker,
it was a laborer out here on the island for
those ten years and working in the conditions I did
the hours putting in you know, it was kind of
brutal at times, and then it was kind of like
after ten years. I was looking forward to a change anyway,
(07:59):
and when the apartment finally called me, I jumped right
on it. And again it was a great appreciation for
not only the lifestyle change and the work, but the
future ahead. I thought I had a great opportunity to
possibly move up, maybe in a leadership role or in
(08:22):
a role of you know, being a detective at some point.
And some of these opportunities that came up were a
lot presented to me in a better way than I
would have expected. And again, the appreciation for the work
and the people I worked with really helped me to
get through this transition from construction to the police department.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Talking with Greg Rizzolia, this is volume fifty of the
Eman Inside the NYPD's Emergency Service. You know it just
a quick acknowledgement to some more people who are tuning in.
I see in the chat show Castella, Paul Meyermbergers here
as well. Ed Waldron says looking good.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Gary.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
Steve Mansini, retired of the NYPD Ars and Explosions Squad
is watching as well.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Hello to you, Steve, and thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
And Steve Virato, also known as Pee Wee, is watching
as well, so we can see you guys. If you
have a question for our guests tonight, be sure to
submit it and I will highlight it accordingly. Getting on,
it was January thirtieth of ninety five, so the anniversary,
I said, the introduction just asked like correction on that
it's coming up at the end of the month, and
we got on. And as I mentioned, you weren't wearing
(09:23):
the housing patch by itself too long before the merger
came in May of ninety five. But even if the
patch changed from City of New York Housing Authority Police
Department the City of New York Police Department, the mission
is still the same, which is, in these projects you
want to make sure you do a good job from
ninety percent of the people who are living there, who
are good people percent that's not You're trying to take
(09:45):
care of them and make sure you get them off
the street and get them to where they belong, and
that's jail. But just nevertheless, tell me about that transition
from getting on, going through the merge and the changeover
and paperwork, and then ultimately going out to PSA nine
the academy.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
It was fairly easy. I was again, I guess I
had the time and the patients to study to get
through my exams. The physical portion of it wasn't a
real big deal. Finally graduating and getting into PSA nine.
There really wasn't much of a difference as far as
policing between Housing and NYPD. It was basically the same
(10:23):
and they had the community policing that was part of
the era of community policing, which was very effective if
you ask me. There was a lot of joint operations
with transit. There was a lot of little overtime posts
that we had in the projects. The people, like you said,
(10:44):
I would say ninety five percent of the people were
working class people just looking at Baca dollar, have the
kids go to school, have a nice life, and then
move on at some point. But the bottom line is
there were unfortunately some gang bangers and dealers that were
always around and you had to deal with that, and
that was pretty much the worst part of the job.
(11:05):
But it wasn't that difficult to deal with. You know,
they kind of knew we were there, We knew they
were there, and it didn't change much as far as
the transition from housing to MOYPD. Like I said, it
was community policing. You got used to your conditions and
what was it being addressed? You took care of it
(11:25):
and that was.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
It Allentanzio brings up something interesting in the chat. Your
sister was on the job.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Too, Yes, sir, Yes, yeah, agend he worked with her
at PSA four.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, my sister and I were supposed to come on
together in nineteen eighty four. We both took the tests
and we both passed, and we were both being investigated.
But I think it's possible female coming on to the job.
Of course, she got right on. It was no big deal,
(11:56):
but it would have been nice if I would have
came on with her. But yeah, she was housed original housing,
old school housing, and she got to meet a lot
of older guys, you know, like John Latanzio, another guy,
Owen McCaffrey, a lieutenant that we had, and a lot
of other names that I could easily go through, but
get Yeah, my sister wound up on the job and
(12:18):
she retired in two thousand and four as a second
grade detective.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Oh nice, twenty and out hopefully, and maybe she wants
to come on the show sometime. We'd love to hear
her story as well, you know, So tell me about
PSA nine, because some of these PSAs there's pockets where
you know, sometimes it's just high crime across the board,
but sometimes there's pockets.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
To where overall crime is good.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
But you got you know, at least it's down to
a good level, I should say, but you got certain
areas that kind of keep you busy. What was PSA's
nine's makeup? How busy were you guys?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
PSA nine was the entire borough. So it was up
north you had story of houses, Queenbridge, Ravenswood, and then
as you came south, you came to the forties projects,
you had Latimer houses, Bland houses up into one O nine.
Then you came down again, like I said to h
(13:10):
the one o three, you had South Jamaica houses, you
had Baisley houses, and that was all kinds of little
stuff going on, like little like kind of older senior
residents with housing that were little pockets that really you
never really went to. But it also went down to
the rockaways, so we had redfern houses, you had the
(13:33):
beach houses. You know, there was a couple other locations
there too that Now, as far as crime and it's percentages,
most of the stuff on the north I was Gonna.
I would say it was probably the one fourteen in
the uh in the Astoria houses in some Queensbridge. They
were the higher crime rates that we had to deal
(13:55):
with a lot of real heavy stuff. As you came
down it got a little less and a little less
when you got around Pomanac houses where we turned out
of where I turned out of because there was a
couple of satellites. Ravens would there was a satellite headquarters there,
and then we had Pomanac and then we had down
in the Rockaways. You know, it's it kind of like
(14:19):
the Rockaways were a couple of houses. Redfern wasn't that great.
There was a lot of stuff going on there, you know,
you dealt with it. Yeah, Like I said, the overtime Post,
they would address certain issues robberies, burglaries, you know, assaults,
you know, domestic violence, things like that. But there was
a lot of decent places like Pomanac was pretty quiet.
(14:43):
You had very few that were very very quite Forest Hills.
Forest Hills was another part of the PSA nine that
was very very quiet, more senior citizen type stuff. But
again we had a few homicides here and there that
in my time, but For the most part, it was
all general you know, domestic issues, you know, robberies, burglaries,
(15:07):
just dispute stuff. It wasn't It was nothing really out
of the ordinary, except for the homicides. Of course, when
you get to that stuff. The drug dealing that you know,
that was that was a tough one to always have
to handle. You know, uh, you would need guys, you
would need to really make a tremendous amount of collars
(15:29):
with visual and you know, going to court with stuff
like that was very difficult. So there was a lot
of gray area when you were trying to make collars
on drug dealing. So a lot of times they would
see us the purps, they'd take off, leave their product
and we wind up having found narcotics and we'd vouch
at them. So it was much easier in that aspect
(15:49):
at times to deal with that side of crime for us. Anyway,
we didn't have a whole lot of manpower in housing,
so you know, it was very rare. You had like
a two and post. It was mostly your single you know,
you had to call for a ride when you had
a collar. When the transition happened to one hundred percent
(16:09):
arrest being brought into the precincts. It was even harder
for us in the beginning because now the precincts would
request our sergeants to come from housing and being low manpower,
they're all over the burrow at the time, so it
was difficult. It was a little difficult at times to
(16:32):
handle and process things. But as time went on, you
found your way, you found your niche, and you got
through it. You know, as far as the pockets it
was in and out. It wasn't crazy as a lot
of people would think. Like we said earlier, a lot
more people were hard working just looking to make some money,
(16:54):
live a good life and then move on. This all
it wasn't as bad as everybody thought it was in
the beginning when it first started.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
No, it's never You don't really understand it unless you're there,
and that's where you can really as and as is
the case with a lot of things in life, the
truth that you know, I'm sure you've heard the expression,
the truth is.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Somewhere in the middle. Yes, were there bad spots? Yes?
Was it all bad?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
As you just finished saying, no, And you understood that
because you were in it every day, you know, and
the people that understand it the most are those that
live there, are those like yourself that we're patrolling there.
And I truly believe and this is no knock on
other beats that cops have throughout the city, but the
most interesting beat for a New York City cop is
probably the housing one, because think about it, most cops
(17:39):
are turning out of a precinct, or if you're in
a specialized unit like emergency, you're turning out of a squad.
You're turning out of a truck of course attached to
a precinct, but still the point stands. In housing, you're
turning out of a designated area within that project, So
you really are embedded in the community, which is something
that a lot of people were asking for then are
still asking for now. There was a different understanding of
(18:01):
that beat because you're not just turning out and then
going in a sector car and heading down there. You're
there from the moment you begin your patrol the moment
it's to your end of the tour. And I feel
like that you don't find that anywhere else, and that's
what makes that be particularly interesting and makes for a
different bond than most cops have with the community.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, that's true, one hundred percent true. We really did have.
If you were on a single post and you were
in let's say Latimer houses up in a one on nine,
it was like four or five buildings, So when you
turned out, you were there, that's your your command, that's
that's your post. It's not like I had. I was
in a sector car and I had like fifteen or
(18:43):
twenty square blocks plus you know, other commercial areas and
stuff that you would get called to. You were right there,
right in the middle of their community, so you really
got to know a lot of the people A in
management and B just the regular folks that were living
there every day, you know, walking around going to and
(19:04):
from school, or the kids with school, and then people
buying whatever, going to the grocery store or you know,
key food and all that stuff. You'd see them every
day coming in and out through the through the project,
and it would be a little confidence for them that
there was always a cop around and somebody that if
you did really take community policing seriously, you'd get to
(19:26):
know a lot of people and you'd find out a
little bit of the stuff going on around and they
were always happy to see you because it kind of
deterred a lot of the bad stuff that could have
potentially been coming around. You know, a lot of the
younger guys the bang is, the gang bangs, and the
dealers would be like, ah, he's around them, out of you.
They'd go disappear and go someplace else. And it was
(19:48):
kind of effective. It was very effective, and the people
really loved having you there.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
The vertical patrols made a big difference too, because those
stairwells is where most of the incidents, not all of them.
A lot of the incidents would happen or maybe you
find somebody loitering that doesn't look right, maybe it doesn't
really it is not seen around there often. You know,
he's not a residentor she's not a resident. What are
they doing? Could just be visiting? Somebody could be getting
ready to set up a drug deal, Could you get
ready to set up a robbery of some sort, you
(20:15):
don't know. Those vertical patrols made sure a lot of
the time that didn't happen.
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Right, we were able to uh, we had these you know,
the trespass that can you know, it was an easy one,
an easy collar. If you found somebody just arbitrarily going
into one of the buildings that they didn't live there.
You know, again, it's all about training and visually watching somebody.
You can tell what they're up to, if they're up
(20:41):
to something good, bad, or and different, or if they're
just going to visit. It's like and it depends on
the individual and how you know, you get that hair
on the back of your neck that stands up and
you're like, hey, I got to go check this guy out.
You know. It was always a kind of way that
you could deal with people that were trespassing. It was always, uh,
(21:04):
some sort of how would I say, like a drinking
in public, like a you know, they're drinking a beer.
That was an easy one. You could always grab somebody
who is maybe under something, had something other than just
relaxing or hanging out or going to visit somebody. There
(21:26):
was always a way to grab somebody if you needed to.
But for the most part, UH, the community policing thing.
You knew who lived in those buildings. You knew who
was coming and who was going. If that was your
post for a good amount of time, you got to
know everybody. So a quality of life issue. If you
(21:47):
knew somebody was kind of like if he you could
use one of those quality of life issues to grab something,
you know, I mean grabbing somebody on the side and say, hey,
you belong here. No, okay, that could be a trespassed
minute there in the building. We had all the little
tricks and you know, things you could do to watch
(22:07):
and to keep an eye on what's going on. You know,
for the most part, everything was pretty pretty legit, you
know what I'm saying. It wasn't too bad. There's a
lot of the little gangbagging kids, and the drug deal
is once a blue moon. They would slip up and
they'd show up, you know, and you'd grab a hold
of one of those guys and that's about it. And
the people were happy about it.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, you want to live in peace, you know, yes,
you want to be able to come and go as
you please without having to have those worries in the
back of your head. And that's the importance of you know,
broken windows policing, as was being done back then. Derek's
story says he always says, hey, the projects were full
of civil service in the late sixties into the seventies,
looking good, Gary from the big guy as you called me, Derek.
(22:52):
Transit Rescue guy.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, Derek was one of my He was my first
partner in nine truck when I transferred from six to nine.
One one of the best, and that that's something that
I learned the way back, even in housing, when you
had the opportunity to work with a senior man, just
listen and learn that was the best thing to do.
And he was one of the best.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Absolutely good man, Derek. Hopefully I can get him on
the show soon as well. Randy Miller mentions it was
a pleasure to back up Gary and PSA nine when
Lieutenant was Citra back when he was police officer of
Citra and I were Sector E in the one on nine.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
In fact, now that you say that, going back to
to what do you call it? Who'd you mentioned earlier
in regards to no no anyway disregard for the moment, Yes,
Michael Citra and Randy Miller were wonderful. They would because
(23:48):
I was on a single foot post. Whenever I was
up in PSA nine in Latimer Houses, those guys would
show up, hands down, no problem on the money, always
had my if there was anything really you know, crazy
going on. Great guys, and then we all wound up
working together in any issue.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yep, Randy's another former emergency guy and another guy would
I would love to get on at some point, you know,
before I get to your time in the academy those
six months he spent as an instructor. Just a couple
of notes briefly on your time in PSA nine. Every
police officer has those close calls. So this is the
two part question. One what are the calls that stand
now either from the standpoint that wow, that was close,
(24:31):
or wow, that was just a really good job. And
two early on, rather be a boss or seeing guy,
who would you credit with helping you learn the job.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
As far as the academy transitioning over to that I
in housing, there was I have to say I had
a decent go in housing. I didn't really run into
too many terrible situations where I needed like a tremendous
backup or I was getting into fights and by myself
(25:03):
calling thirteens or anything like that. I think a lot
of the gentlemen that I worked with in housing in
PSA nine, again senior men, taught me how to walk
around those projects, taught me how to pick things out
that would possibly a suspicious situation or just taught me
(25:27):
how to present myself through those conditions in some of
the hotter houses like Astoria Queensbridge. These guys, always the
senior guys, knew how to get through a safe tour
and also handle the jobs that came their way. So
(25:48):
as far as people have an impression on me, again,
I was older, so I was able to really understand
where a lot of these guys were going. I think personally,
I think they taught me a tremendous amount of not
They gave me a tremendous amount of knowledge to get
(26:10):
through that job and then to get on and go
into the academy. I thought that possibly being in a
leadership role might have helped me being an older guy,
being I was able to handle myself for the most
part through my regular patrol dealing with people with the community.
(26:30):
I think I had a good a good approach with
a lot of the folks that lived in the projects,
and I thought maybe with some the way I got
along with most of my senior people in the police department,
I thought maybe I would have a good go at
being a sergeant. So it kind of led me to
(26:51):
the idea maybe I should try and to get a
promotional job, a promotional exam, and get a you know,
into rank and become a sergeant. But unfortunately for me,
the being inside there at the academy really wasn't what
I wanted to do. And I reflected back on a
couple of jobs and housing with South Jamaica where I
(27:14):
needed e issue. We had a PURP job. A guy
destroyed his wife, not I mean destroyed, meaning he physically
beat her, and the the PURP fled and he fled
into an abandoned building up and around like South Road,
(27:35):
and I believe it was one O sixth Street. We
wound up calling the issue to do a PURP search,
and with that, I was very interested in how they
handled the search, and I wound up going into one
of these buildings with them, and I'm chatting away prior
(27:56):
to going in, and I just sat back and listened
and I watched, and I watched how they conducted themselves
and conducted the job, and that kind of put another
idea in my head, maybe I'd like to go to
a unit like this. So with that, it was a
little conflicting as I was still going through my regular patrol.
(28:19):
But when I once I got like four and a
half years. Four years on, I started, let me see
if I can apply. So I started filling out a
couple of the applications, one for the academy, one free issue,
and I just waited and saw what happened, and I
wound up. Academy came first, so I took it, and
then I went into UH again. I went into the
ISU mode. When they called me, I said it's time,
(28:42):
I gotta go, but you know, I wanted to really
get into that unit, especially meeting some of those guys
and then knowing I'll go back to Owen McCaffrey. He
was in Housing Rescue that wound up going into Emergency Service,
so that kind of prompted me to want to go
into ISSU. Listening to some of the things that those
(29:04):
guys do E issue. It kind of fit my personality
a little bit better than being in the academy or
being a boss.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
Your STS was five months now it's nine, so it's
almost a full calendar year that someone is in the
Emergency Service Academy learning the ins and outs. Of course,
through the STS a lot of it not just the
tactical side of policing, but also given the fact that
a lot of the jobs are rescue jobs. The EMS
portion two training for in regards to being EMTs. You
got some people who are already EMTs or even paramedics
(29:35):
going into the unit, which is a big plus two.
So there's that component. When you look back at those
five months, I'm sure it was for as hard as
it may have been. When you have that retrospective, which
I'm sure you've had a lot of since then, it
had to have been some of the best times of
your career as well.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yes, the training. When I finally got cold for ESU,
I was rather excited. Of course, I wasn't sure if
I would get in it or not, but it did.
So when I did the interviews to get there, they
explained the training and the training sounded extremely intense. With
the disciplines. They had multiple disciplines, of course, because the
(30:14):
issue wears many hats, so I was a little bit, well,
I don't know, this might be a little more than
I expected, but as my personality is, I'm not going
to let it beat me, let me do it. I
really want to do this. And the disciplines one after
the other. As you got to know all the instructors
(30:35):
such as like guys like Randy Miller, Franco Barbario Ye, Yes,
and a few of the other guys. They were always
very positive. If you had a positive attitude and you
put the effort in, they would back you. And it
really showed how the blue how we always backed each
(30:57):
other always. It followed right through from housing right up
into the police academy into the issue. So going through
those disciplines and then coming out and getting through it
all and coming out it was like such a tremendous
accomplishment for me. And like I said, they were just
(31:18):
wonderful people that I met right straight through and through.
And then the tradition of the issue was even more
that much. It was that much more to be a
part of, more exciting, much a bigger family, let's say.
And you know, it was really a great situation to
(31:39):
be able to accomplish. It was a great situation to
get through and to accomplish that training and walk out
of there knowing that I did it, you know what
I mean. It was really cool.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
Yeah, It's a very uplifting feeling because it allows you
to push bast whatever mental boundaries want is put up
and realize, well, I can do a lot more than
I thought I was capable of. You know, it wasn't easy.
You know, I'm sure there were struggles here and there,
but I got here. I pushed through it. And now
while I here, I am. But now begins to second
learning because you learned what you learned in STS, and
(32:10):
that's certainly valuable. Now you got to go to one
of the ten squads throughout the city that has their
own way of doing things based on the demographic of
their area. In six trucks case, I believe six truck
is out of the sixth eighth precinct. Yes, and they've
got their own demographic of how they do things in
their own levels of emergencies based on the common calls
that come in. So go in a six truck. Tell
me who were your senior guys when you got there?
(32:32):
Just the first month or so of trying to learn
how they did things.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
When I first got there, the first guy I had
met was Carl Dwenzel, Really great guy.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
Ye love them.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I wound up being assigned to the first squad lay tours,
which was unusual, but they needed guys on a lay
tours for some reason. There was a lot of shortage
on the Laate tours throughout the squads. So I was
fortunate enough to get placed on a LA tour and
meet Carl, meet Edward, Eddie Bugdanowitz who's been retired for
(33:07):
quite some time now. Uh uh uh, Johnny o'liva, Mike Keenan,
Pete Smith one of the sergeants. Uh, there was there
was quite a few guys there that Billy Yotting Uh
really really great guys. Uh Johnny Valenti Uh, I mean Wellen,
(33:31):
Pete Wellen, great guy. So I got to meet a
bunch of these guys at six Trucks, so their their
demographics were mostly Staten Island type mentality, Brooklyn type mentality. Uh.
That area was real nice to work in, real real nice,
especially if you like to eat.
Speaker 5 (33:49):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
Bay Ridge is incredible. But for me, the unfortunate part
was we got out in July and then September hit
rather quickly. So being there and I'm going to say
christened by fire with all those disciplines that I learned,
I didn't have much time to really get to study
(34:13):
the surroundings in six Truck because nine to eleven hit
and we were there, So we spent that day plus
seven plus months afterwards doing rescue. You know, we'll rescue recovery,
doing the recovery effort. So it was it took quite
(34:35):
some time before I was able to really enjoy the
demographics of Bay Ridge, let's put it that way. But
that group of guys broke me in. Christened by Fire,
as I said, they broke me in. A lot of
the guys there were real good. We got into some
(34:55):
training while we were there for the short short duration
before nine to eleven, so I got to learn some things.
We got to do vehicle extrications, We got to really
get involved in a lot of the stuff and the
training that we went through in STS. But it wasn't
enough as far as that time. That time period was
(35:17):
too short. It was like you would get a job
here and there, an extrication, you would get a rescue
on the Brooklyn Bridge, a jumper, you know. So we
had like a few little things that really tied into
all the STS disciplines that we learned. But nine to
eleven came and that was a whole different story. So
it kind of it kind of stole a lot of
(35:40):
the training that we did until we got down there.
When we got down there, it was basically just recovery
to a lot of the stuff we did. I didn't
get to work on until after the fact, until I
got out of there, and you know, once they let
us get back to a regular patrol and then over
to nine truck is really when I started really getting
(36:01):
into a lot of the disciplines like overall, always having
something that we learned that we were able to utilize
during a job, because basically, like I said, nine to
eleven was one thing in essence, it was this one
type of training you were doing recovery work. It was
different from what we did in STS. So it was
(36:22):
a whole nother type of discipline that we really didn't
have at STS. If you get what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Absolutely well, and we'll continue on that in the moment
we're talking with Gary Rizzolia, retired in YPD Emergency Service
Detective did fifteen of his twenty one years in Esue's
The Guest to Night for volume fifty of them inside
the NYPD's Emergency Service. Here, Jomi Leige, I see your question.
I'm gonna get to a little bit later. I could
probably include that the rapid fire, but I didn't forget
I know, I see it there Frank Sullivan says, Gary,
(36:52):
you broke me in love you, and he also mentions
mister U and it missed you guys best group of
men I've ever met.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
So he sends his.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Regards, thank you the great guy and.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
Retired in NYPD inspector who hopefully again on the show
pretty soon. Robbin and Polatano wants to know if you
ever went up to the top of the Arizona. No
way I could do that. Heights not for me.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
He says, yes, absolutely, boss I, I definitely went up
there with the guys. It's not as bad as you
think it is. You're actually kissing the face of God
when you're up there. It's an incredible view. The heights
don't bother me that much. It take a little time
to get used to, but they that's why they break
(37:32):
us in on the Brooklyn Bridge. You could actually fit
that underneath the Arizona. But it's interesting when you're tied
in and you have all the proper equipment, your Roco gear,
and you know it's it's nothing to be afraid of.
It's it's really an immense feeling to be up there.
It's really cool.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Absolutely, and really I was getting back to that time
and emergency for you. I've heard a lot about the
class after Night eleven, the guys that came out in
November of two thousand and one, and some of the
classes they came out in two thousand and two. But
I feel like your class is interesting because it was
the last class in what I call the era of
innocence right before. But you know, it's it had to
(38:14):
have been tough because you come out in July. Of course,
nobody could have seen this coming, even with the experience
in nineteen ninety three, no one could have seen a
disaster to that level coming. And the unit's hard hit
because here's these fourteen guys that I'm sure you were
just starting to get to know that respond down there,
perform heroically, pay an awful price, and make the ultimate sacrifice,
(38:35):
and lose their.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Lives that day.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
So, just from a mental standpoint, and then, of course,
as you mentioned, being down there for the recovery efforts, mentally,
how did you stay centered? You had great guys around you,
but even then in those off hours where you had
time to catch your breath, what helped you stay centered?
Speaker 3 (38:51):
I got to be honest with you. My wife and kids,
they you know, they were always the heart of my existence.
So the bottom line is they they kept me settled
against the guys, definitely, the way they handled things, the
way the senior men were able to handle that whole situation.
(39:11):
And then dealing with your family a to be a
cop as difficult enough as it is, especially being married.
You're always leaving the house and your wife's worried about
what's going to happen. God forbid something goes on. You
always have that in the back of your mind. But
basically getting through all of that was definitely had a
(39:33):
lot to do with the guys. It had a lot
to do with me as a person. I don't know why,
but for some reason, some of the incidents that you
see as a cop, a lot of people are either
going to get totally emotionally immersed in it or you
kind of put up that block and you say, this
(39:56):
is a job. I have to have to work this job.
I can't get too emotionally involved. I have to keep
my head in order to get through this, to fix
it in essence, you know what I'm saying. It's like
you can't put too much of your own emotion into
anything when it comes to that because it can ruin you.
(40:19):
It can ruin especially with little kids, with people getting shot,
the vehicle extrications that we were involved with. You got it.
It's a task, it's a job, and that's how you
have to look at it. That's what got me through personally,
to get through all of these incidents. It was always
a job, a task. I'll think about it later on,
(40:40):
you know, whether I did or I didn't. That's how
you got good guys behind you. You talk about it
after the incident. During the incident, you talk about the
situation you're involved in, and then afterwards. We always had
a little huddle. How could we fix this? Is there
anything we did wrong? Is how did everything go? You know?
We always talked about everything, so it kind of like
(41:01):
took a lot of the pressure and alleviated any kind
of ill feelings or worried feelings you had, or any
upsetment or just you continued on as if it was
a job. It was successful and that's how you got
through all the stuff.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
That's a good way to look at it, and ultimately
it does help and keeping someone sane, for lack of
a better way to word it, because some of the
things you're seeing you know, most human beings go through
a lifetime of never having a seat, So it's important
to have that perspective and put up that barrier. Not
that you don't care, not that it doesn't resonate to
a degree, but if you're mentally en shambles, you're not
going to be able to help that person. They're already panicking,
(41:39):
or they're loved ones, they're already panicking. You can't make
it worse by panicking along with them. To the back
half of two thousand and one threw everything out of
whack for the NYPD, really all emergency agencies in the
city for obvious reasons, not just the attacks of nine
to eleven and the losses suffered there of personnel on
the line of duty, but also a couple months later,
Flight five eighty seven, which was another major emergency for
(42:01):
the city. Two thousand and two is kind of a
transitional year. As we talked about off there, a lot
of good people are retiring because of the overtime, having
time and just being mentally shot from what they had
to deal with. I feel like two thousand and three
is the first year where everything kind of came back
to center and normalcy sort of began again, and that's
around the time you leave for nine Truck. Now, this
(42:23):
is a great chance having you on tonight to do
a spotlight really on nine truck. I haven't and shame
on me for that. Talk to quite a few ten
truck guys and God bless them, nothing but love for him.
But nine deserves a lot of love as well. So
get in there. Tell me about the makeup of that area,
the common emergencies, and as you talked about alluded to earlier,
finally getting the chance to do normal ESU training after
(42:44):
a whole year and a half of the unnormal.
Speaker 3 (42:46):
Right. So nine truck was also it was a combination
of It was always busy. It was busy. The area
we covered, most of those precincts were pretty busy. One thirteen,
one oh one, the one hundred, uh one hundred. There
was some sections there that were nice. The one O
(43:07):
six is always nice. The one O seven, of course,
was really nice. The one uh, it's just the one
on the one on nine was that that was housing.
Uh that was ten Trucks area, Old Steve stephan Akis's area. Uh. Yeah,
we we had a combination. It was it was a
very busy area because we had the Belt Parkway, we
(43:31):
had the Van Wick uh as far as we and
we had part of the l Ie and Grand Central.
So as far as vehicle extrications, we were getting in
fifty threes. We would get car uh you know, calls
for car accidents like crazy. So that portion of my
training really kicked in and you really got good at it. Unfortunately, uh,
(43:54):
you know, unfortunately for the drivers and all that, but
we were able to talk about rescues and stuff. That's
where kind of like the rescue mode always kicked in.
You always wanted to extricate these people and get them
to ems, get them to the hospital. So for the
most part, ninety nine percent of those was successful do
an extrocation. So that that portion of the demographics of
(44:16):
that area was a lot of highway a lot of
highway incidents, very rare. You wouldn't high rise rescues not
much because we didn't really have any bridges. We had
the Cross Bay Bridge going into the Rockaways and you
might have a little high rise down there that you
would have to maybe have a jumper or something, but
(44:36):
that was extremely rare. That was like truck one's kind
of you know, forte scuba. We we did have some
scuba incidents, you know, some rescues down by the beach,
by the rockaways. We had let's see what else. It
(44:57):
was mostly a lot of puk jobs, a lot of
tactical work. We did a lot of warrants, a lot
of tactical issues down there. But that was really pretty
much city wide. But in our area we did do
have we did have a lot of tactical you know,
it was that was like the meat and potatoes in
that area, doing warrants for the squads and everything like that.
(45:22):
I would say that was most of it in that,
you know, in our area in nine truck A lot
of emotionally disturbed here and there, some disputes that we
wound up become at times became tactical jobs, barricades, things
like that. But the guys there amazing, they said, Derek story,
(45:46):
great guy. Senior man. Showed me the ropes how that
area worked. And I felt comfortable there even more because
I was a b SA nine guy. I knew the
area for the most part because we had the whole burrows,
so it wasn't too hard to navigate through there. And
of course it was a lot closer for me to
get back and forth from the house.
Speaker 6 (46:06):
So yeah, that's another aspect of the commute too, especially
the reasons we don't need to get into the commute
now just kind of heck of a lot harder for
those in New York.
Speaker 1 (46:17):
So yeah, you know, convenience is key in that as well.
I mean, service is service regardless, but if you can
make it a little bit more convenient travel wise, all the
more reason to do so. So the guys who live
out on the island, nine trucks ideal to get to
so is ten for lots of other reasons too, you know.
And you mentioned the tactical jobs. No tactical job is
the same. I remember Tommy Rowe was saying this in
(46:37):
an episode of Cops when him and Glenn Klein had
an MBA where you know, you can improve, you can
train for these things, but no two are alike. When
it comes down to it, sometimes you got to improvise.
It's the same thing with tactical jobs. It may be
a domestic here, maybe a homicide suspect there. But as
far as approach went in nine truck and really across
the board, forsue, tell me about how you guys would
approach them and some of the ones, if any that stand.
Speaker 3 (46:59):
Out there was you know, it depended on what the
job was, It depended on what we were going after.
We always tried dynamic entry was always a positive. You know.
The kind of methodical stuff was very rare. We use
that in nine truck, but dynamic entries were always pretty
(47:21):
positive for us. We came through nice. We had a
stack of guys. I think one of the most interesting
things was, Yeah, I was on the bunker and we
did a job in a commercial building and we were
going after an individual with a firearm threatened somebody to
(47:42):
some respect. And this was like after a I believe
it chase is something with the highway and wounded up.
They kind of isolated this guy to the building, so
the emergency exceptions were all considered and all that. We
wound up taking the or and I'm on the lead
bunker and there's a guy standing at the top of
(48:05):
the stairs with a three fifty seven pointed right at me,
but with my big mouth, my big Italian mouth. I
think that kind of helped because at the volume I
used and the tone I had, he dropped it and
ran to the back of the apartment. So that tactic
that we used, that dynamic entry a scared him be
(48:30):
me with the way I addressed it, and then with
all these guys behind me, you know, on a stack
like that, he had no chance. Bottom line is, we
grabbed him in the back of the apartment, you know,
without incident, and the boss goes, hey, dude, did you
realize I'm like, yeah, I saw, I saw the guy.
He pointed it right at me. But there was no
(48:53):
reason at that point for me to do anything further
because as soon as I opened my mouth, he dropped it.
So successful job without having to shoot, no shots fired.
So it was a successful job. And then when you
come in like that with all those guys, bottom line is,
we asked them at the end, why didn't he goes,
(49:14):
I thought somebody was coming to rob me, So it
was it was kind of funny on one hand, but
on the other hand, he goes, you guys scared the
hell out of me, And it was success, is the
bottom line. It was a successful job. We got the guy,
we recovered a firearm, and that was that. That's just
one small incident, you know, But most of those jobs,
(49:37):
when you did it dynamic entry, we would go at
off times where they wouldn't expect us to show up.
So a lot of a lot of success, you know.
It was always the way you handle yourselves when you
go through these doors. You know, it depends on fortifications,
it depends on how you know, what time you show up.
(49:58):
It always depended on and the guys that you were with.
And for the most part, we had success in nine
truck when we did it, because we did it so often,
we never really had any tremendous issues.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
You know. And as the wild Card game gets set,
as we hear that music in the background between the
Steelers and the Ravens, I am rooting the record reflect
I am rooting for Baltimore Ravens in that game.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
I'm sorry about that.
Speaker 1 (50:25):
Chargers Texas tomorrow at four point thirty, Go Chargers. So
that being say, we do sports too. On the mike,
the newmean populat Ago. This is volume fifty of the
Men Inside the NYPD's Emergency Service, and our guess is
retired NYPT Emergency Service detective characters. Only then you remember
with entries like that, I had this conversation with Franco Berreduccia,
had this conversation with Anita Rosato as well a while
(50:47):
ago in separate episodes.
Speaker 4 (50:49):
Is it's an away game.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Basically speaking, in sports, it's a way game because the
person that you are doing this entry on, unless it's
a barricades home invasion type right, nine times out of
ten day lived, they know that place better than you do. Yes,
So they know all the elements they can use against
you if they choose to be violent, to hurt you
and hurt those that are on the job with you.
So that's that's why, you know, it's interesting that you
(51:12):
mention that, because sometimes it's not even just in the tactics,
it's in the tone. I can make sure that that
person stay safe even though they're trying to hurt you,
and you guys stay safe as well, and you can overcome,
for lack of a better way to word, a situation
that quite literally is hostile territory.
Speaker 3 (51:28):
Yes, yes, well you know when you made it perfectly
clear who you are, and they even if they even
have a split second to see what's coming at them,
anybody with a reasonable sense is going to drop and
just hey, i'm good, I'm out, I'm out. They don't
want to deal. It's only one person, you know what
I'm saying, they don't have too much of a there's
(51:50):
no percentage that they're going to come out of this
on the better side. So the smartest thing to do
is make yourself known, let them know who you are.
Don't play any games. Just get in there, do what
you gotta do, and be done with it, and we
all go home safe. There's nobody's going to worry about
anything because again, if you do something unfortunately, what I'm saying,
(52:14):
if there was a shot fired, the amount of stuff
you'd have to go through paperwork, the the amount of
incidents that you the paperwork you'd have to fill out
is incredible. It's not something that you're really looking forward
to do. So a lot of that stuff with you know,
we were hot dogs where this and that. No, you know,
(52:38):
you're just doing the job. You're just doing the job.
And it's we're all go through these things wondering hopefully
or hopefully that we're all going to go home without incident.
And that's what you want. You want to get these
jobs done without incident.
Speaker 4 (52:52):
Right, that's the key.
Speaker 1 (52:54):
I mean, especially when you were in nine truck or
when you got to nine truck, it's not too long
after that shootout went too when Joe Garrel almost got killed.
So I mean, that's the scenario that you don't want
not to those guys did anything wrong that day and
EDP came out with a shotgun and let loose. There's
unfortunately not much you can do about that, but that's
always the last case scenario. You may go in armed
(53:15):
to the teeth, doesn't mean you want to use it.
You're not cowboys your.
Speaker 3 (53:18):
Cops, right, absolutely, And that's the way you have to
look at those things. You know, you go in because
we're going home. We know we want to go home,
and we definitely don't want to deal with having to
take somebody. That's not something that you go in there
with any intent at all. You just go in there,
you're protected. Hopefully the other guy on the other side
(53:41):
is going to heed the warning and then just give
up and be done. So yeah, it's it's a win
win if it all works out in that perspective, right, and.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Even if it has to get violent, preferably, even though
you prefer they don't get violent. You're having a fistfight
with the guy and that's okay. You overhe with numbers
and you take them in. If he wants to have
an episode of Monday Night Raw, Fine, let him as
long as you could put him in cuffs at the
end of it and you take him in, you know.
And that's that's another part of the numbers game and
the approach game too.
Speaker 4 (54:11):
Moving on from the.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
Tactical side, there's the rescue side as well, and there's
plenty of that in the su It's not that's why
they don't call it SWAT afterwards. As a matter of fact,
I should say it's a service unit. Sometimes those service
that you guys perform involved a lot of rescues. So
you mentioned the bridges earlier, a lot of pin jobs,
a lot of MBAs and as a result, some good
rescues that you can make in addition to maybe water
(54:33):
rescues as well. What are the rescues that stick out
the most is man that turned out That was bad
when it got dispatched over the air, but it turned
out real well.
Speaker 3 (54:42):
We had backed up seven truck. We were in an
Adam car, my partner and I Bobby jaeger Urea who yeah,
who transferred down from two truck thanks to Big ed
Woldron he got the Eddie came Eddie talked Bobby and
to come and thank god because Bobby and I wind
the park together. And Bobby's big into pin jobs. And
(55:05):
again that's another thing when you get into Issue, there's
always everybody's got the specialty that they like to do
the most, and Bobby was big into the pin jobs.
So we had backed up seven truck. I can't remember
exactly what street it was on, but a car load
of young folks got wrapped around a telephone pole on
(55:25):
a corner and we're going through. We're going through the
streets of Brooklyn to get to this job. We get there,
they got FD is there already. So there was always
that kind of competition between FD and and ISSUE, which
always was. It always worked out because we always wind
(55:46):
up helping each other one way or the other. Yes, exactly.
So FD was on one side of the car and
we were on the side against the pole. So this
two or three people in the back seat, two people
in the front, the driver was pinned like big time
(56:07):
between the telephone pole and the steering wheel in the
car and of course the driver's door in between. We
wound up Bobby and I quickly, you know, talking with
the FD guys. Hey, what do you need this that
the other? You need a cutter, you need a spreader.
You guys take care of that side, will take care
of the side. So we had our tools. This guy
(56:28):
was so pinned into the car it was crazy. So
the bottom line was we used the spreaders. Spread We
used the spreaders to push the car away from the
telephone pole, which gave us a greater access to that
door to be able to pull that driver's door off,
get it on its hinge, cut it out, and pull
this guy out. We had to spread the dash well.
(56:50):
FD was working on a passenger and the people in
the back we were working on the driver. We got
this guy out, which was it was at first it
was pretty harry. You know, you have all these guys
working on this car and then here we come and
we kind of like, get this. This whole situation squared
(57:10):
away with this one guy. He was the worst out
of all them. So to get him out after seeing
the way he was pinned in that car, that was
a great rescue for us, you know. And we didn't
interfere with FD. They were doing that thing. We did
our thing. Ian Mess showed up. We got everybody out
and it was like for Bobby and I. It was
(57:33):
a tremendous success. Of course, there was a bunch of
other ones. Of course I could probably go through, but
for the most part, a lot of them. You know,
once you get these guys or these these folks out
of the car of ladies, kids, men, you feel good
about it because now they have a chance. You know,
some of them are really bad, some of them aren't
(57:53):
so bad. But your training comes in and you know
the points on the car. You know, you know immediately
what to do, how to handle it and get it
out so it's smooth. And the guy like Bobby Yeger,
he showed me a lot of little tricks with the
spreaders and the cutters and things like that, and working
together we were able. As time went on, you just fluid.
(58:14):
You just become very fluid.
Speaker 1 (58:17):
Absolutely, Bobby's great. I met him a couple of times.
FB and the chat. I'm gonna take a wild guess
and assume that's Franko Berraducci. I'm not sure. If it's not,
then let me know who you are. Just get Jaeger
on the show. I asked Bobby, I wanted Bobby to
come on the show. Bobby respectfully declined, which is fine.
He can't get everybody, but if he ever changes his mind,
he would be a good guy to have on the show.
(58:37):
Work with a lot of great guys in two trucks.
Speaker 4 (58:39):
He got there.
Speaker 1 (58:40):
He I think Bobby Yeger was in the same STS
class as Brian McDonald because they both graduated November of
two thousand. So yeah, boy, Bobby I think was in
the U. Yeah, two thousand until he retired in twenty fourteen. Oh, Barbario,
it's Franco barbarias w F is all right, good to
see you, lieutenant. Hopefully get you on the show soon
(59:01):
as well. But yeah, Bobby would be a good one
to have, as would you. Hopefully I can get oh good, yeah,
so we still we still got to work on that,
so moving along. You know, there are the details too,
because that's the beauty of a unit like ESU citywide
units sometimes citywide job citywide events. You get the marathon,
you get dignitaries coming in. It's stressful, I mean, you
get you know, if any of the sports teams are
(59:22):
in the playoffs, you get a lot of that too.
Even though it's a lot that goes into the planning,
the details can be quite enjoyable for a variety of reasons.
So as far as those were concerned, which details that
you love working, I.
Speaker 3 (59:36):
Like doing all of them. I mean, because there was
a break from regular patrol, we got to be out
mostly in Manhattan. Whenever there was details was always Manhattan
or you know Presidential, you know the when those guys
came in and we helped out with moti caids during
the UN and things like that, that was pretty cool.
That was a lot of fun. We would wind up
be the being over at JFK when they landed, or
(59:59):
we'd be on the motive kid from there from JFK
into Manhattan to wherever they were going. Uh, you know,
guys like Kadie Walls are in, Chris Fisher, Vinie Papsadaro.
You know, we all try to at some point work
together on some of those details and motiicades, and you know,
we always had a good time, good group of guys
(01:00:19):
and most of the guys in Night Truck we had
a blast working with each other. So from didn't matter
what squad you were in, everybody there was a lot
of It was a nice cohesive group of guys. So
those details the UN, the US open the Bowl games.
(01:00:39):
I mean, I mean, how could you beat being paid
on overtime to go watch a Yankee game or a
Med game. I mean, come on, you can't knock that
for a second. But you know, again, a lot of
these details, you really at times you got to be
with guys and other squads and you'd spend eight maybe
ten hours, twelve hours, and you'd being all these other
(01:01:00):
guys and you just you don't getting to know each
other even more, you know, spending time with each other
and just doing a lot of stuff that you normally
wouldn't do because you're in different squads. So I would
say the ball games are probably the best for me.
I really enjoy them. You know, being on the third
baseline or the first baseline and you're watching the game
(01:01:22):
and here's the players, you know, fifty feet away from you,
and you're like, you hear the guy breathing, for God's sake,
it's pretty cool. The un was always a lot of
fun too, because you know, it's just where these guys
you're going through Manhattan. You're able to navigate through the
city like with this caravan, you know of federal people
(01:01:43):
and us. So it was a lot of fun. You
felt important, you felt like you were doing something really good,
you know what I mean, an off line from what
you normally would be doing.
Speaker 1 (01:01:55):
It's a refreshing change of pace for a variety of reasons,
A lot of reasons, of course you just mentioned it.
Alory springs to mind from Steve Lenos, who I had
on form my Bomb Squad mini series a little while
go himself and former e Man Housing Rescue and later
on Truck four in the Bronx where it's game. It's
right after Game two of the nineteen ninety six World
Series and the Yankees go down to Greg Maddox just
(01:02:15):
has a typical I'm Greg Maddox and you're just gonna
have to deal with that performance and just dominates the
Yankees and they win the game for nothing. George Timer
comes out of an elevator and he's pissed because he
hated to lose, as we all know, and he looks
around at the circle of e cops. He's like, can
any of you hit? Can any of you pitch? You know,
(01:02:36):
so an experience like that, you could have been out
of patrol earlier. Now the owner of the Yankees is
asking you if you can have to the Yankees win
the World Series. So it's the beauty of it. Yeah,
it's the beauty of it.
Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
It's interesting. Yeah, you get to see, you get to
be around some of the elite people that you would
normally you'd never see, you know, as every day Joe,
you're not going to see these guys. But you know,
being being in this unit, you got to be a
lot closer to more important people than the regular patrol
(01:03:08):
cop would be, you know. And even then a lot
of those guys they would get involved, especially work in Manhattan.
Those guys are involved in everything Midtown South. You know,
it was interesting to be an issue and have that
availability and almost like an elite status you can go
wherever you want kind of thing. And that's pretty much
how we walked around. You know, we were the guys.
(01:03:30):
We were there, like they say, the cops need help,
they call us. And when we were out doing all
this stuff, we were not only there for the elites,
but we were there for the patrol, you know, whatever
they needed, no matter where it was. And then some
of those situations, yeah, you had some issues where we
would have to jump into action being on one of
(01:03:52):
these details to help them out.
Speaker 4 (01:03:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:03:55):
So oftentimes, you know, the people that you run into,
the notable dignitaries or soelebrities, you're not starstruck by them,
they're starstruck by you, which I always found it interesting
as well.
Speaker 3 (01:04:04):
Yes, yes, that's true, very true. They don't understand, you know,
they live a different life. They have a different mentality,
so they're not really ay, they're not really associating too
much with everyday life like us. You know hard you know,
working people, working class. These guys are in a different league.
(01:04:25):
So when they don't understand sometimes how you could put
yourself out to help people the way you do right,
to get involved, they don't understand. And again it's the
same thing, like there's real life and being a cop.
You have one foot on the ugly side of the world,
and then you have one foot in a normal life.
(01:04:47):
And to put these two together and walk that straight
line and keep it all together, I think that becomes
part of their like I can't believe you can do that?
How can you do that? How could you live these
two lives and still be a normal person or somewhat
of a normal person. You know, they don't even understand
half the stuff that's going on, right so when they
(01:05:09):
look at you, they're like, how do you live? How
do you do this? How do you deal with all this?
Just because they don't have to think about any of that,
you know.
Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
Right, The beat goes on for them.
Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
He goes on for you guys too, just in a much, much,
much different sense, which I'm sure when those past cross
makes for those unique interactions. Another great story that springs
to mind as well. I joke with pizzag ready a
lot that I hate him, which I don't, but I
hate him for this reason. On LinkedIn, if you go on,
if you ever go on his LinkedIn profile, I think
his background photo, not his profile, but the background cover
(01:05:43):
is him as a counter sniper in the facade of
the New Yankee Stadium during the two thousand and nine
World Series. You can see Mark dashera in the batter's
box in the background. I'm like, you jerk, you know
now again, I'm happy for you that you have that detail.
I would literally become a cop. You get the ESU
for that detail alone, you know, And he got to
(01:06:05):
be there for free and he got paid for it. Yes, Seet,
I hate you. I don't, of course, I love you
very much, but I hate.
Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
You for that.
Speaker 4 (01:06:11):
Now, one thing I did.
Speaker 1 (01:06:13):
Want to get to as far as an event that
was outside the norm, I don't know if you were
responding to this. Hurricane Irene comes around in twenty eleven.
It didn't devastate to the degree that Hurricane Sandy did.
Irene did cause damage, but Sandy dwarfed it.
Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
And Queen's was.
Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Among of the five boroughs, the one that I would
say was really the hardest hit. Yeah, being in nine
truck during that time, I'll ask you were the night
the storm touched down.
Speaker 4 (01:06:41):
Were you working that night?
Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
I was supposed to work that night, but unfortunately I
live in on the south side of Long Island and
I got flooded in myself, so I was unable to
get out to get there. But I did get there
the next day. Of course, everything was over on my
next tour and it was devastating to see what the
(01:07:05):
rockaways looked like. It was terrible. So yeah, I unfortunately, Uh,
when it came down to it, it was I didn't
have an option to get out of my home because
I live. I live on the water out here, so
it's my position was when I got up after sleeping
(01:07:27):
my normal time, so I can get to work. I
had about seven feet over high tide here, so those
guys are were at a lot lower sea level. They
were closer to the sea level on that beach area
in the Rockaways than I am here where I live.
So I couldn't even get out. So it was terrible
that I had that situation, and it kind of bothered me.
(01:07:50):
I couldn't be there for the guys, but I had
no There was no option for me, right, you know,
we were flooded in in essence, and and it was
it was bad. It was bad here. So I when
I got there to my post a second day after
day after it was terrible. What the Rockaways look like. Yeah,
(01:08:10):
it was really bad.
Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
And you still have to patrol too. There's still the
aftermath where so many people need assistance. And a lot
was done during that time. And it was great to
see how the city and really the whole East Coast
that was impacted by it. We didn't get out unscathed
in Connecticut either. Jerseys certainly did not get out unscathed.
Came together, so as far as you know, patrolling the
Rockaways and just assisting people that you know, we talked about,
(01:08:34):
talked about earlier how the precinct has a close relationship
with this community. More times often than not, the same
is true to an extent with ESU squads. Tell me
about just assisting in the community after an event like that.
Speaker 3 (01:08:45):
Yeah, we we had gone down. That was part of
our post. We had to do directed patrols down there.
Of course, because there was power situation, power outages. I
know a lot of people had generator issues that they
you know, they were trying to keep their homes somewhat
powered up while they were if they were even livable.
(01:09:06):
But we did go down and we we presence. Presence
was huge because of all the looting that was going on.
You know, it was going on all over the place.
There was just droves of people coming in just to
see what they could scavenge up. So basically, our directed
patrols down in the Rockaways were basically all presence, making
(01:09:29):
sure that everything was clear, everything was under control, there
was no buffoonery going on, let's say, you know, so
we would drive down there through through the beach areas
and Breezy Point. Oh my god, it was. It was
a horror show. It looked, it looked terrible. It was.
It was terrible. It was. People's whole lives were out
(01:09:50):
right in front of those little beach houses and the homes.
The houses were destroyed, well, the interior, the everything was gone.
They had to get rid of. Everything was like piles
and piles of stuff. So through the day and through
the night, you would people were down there trying to
collectively see what they could could muster up, you know,
the courage to go into these homes and try and
(01:10:11):
grab some of their possessions. So we would just be
there and have you know, fast support if they needed
any kind of help, that's what we would do. We're
trying to help them out with anything we could.
Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
That's the way that it had to be during that time.
And it's hard to believe that a dozen years has
passed now since that storm. November of twenty twelve is
when it touched down. And again a bad back to
back year is just because of the devastation of Irene,
which was its own power storm at its time, but
with what Sandy caused. I mean, there are certain communities
in the Rockaways and Jersey that are just now getting
(01:10:44):
back to normal. Yeah, and we're talking a decade plus
since that storm touchdown, So I did want to ask
you about that. I wanted to go back to to
the aspect of patrol under normal circumstances. That's another thing
that differentiates SU from other specialized students in the NYPD.
That normal, they're on call, and we understand that, we
don't grudge them for it. For example, the bomb squad.
The bomb squad does a patrol. They wait for the
(01:11:06):
call to come in. Yes, ESU is not that way. Well,
you do wait to an extent for these calls to
come in. You're in the rap and you're still functioning
as a patrol cop to an extent because if you
see a robbery in front of you, or somebody comes
up and says, hey, I think I just saw somebody
get hit by a car down there, you don't say, hey, wait,
let us sect your car handle it first. No, you
go and you handle that. So tell me about what
(01:11:27):
you most enjoyed about patrolling and on occasion, as I'm
sure happened plenty of times, running into a job before
it even got called over the year.
Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Well, yeah, I'll I'll give you a good story for that.
But yeah, just being around in the RP was it
was different because you know, you're listening to all these
different precincts and you're monitoring, you're listening, you're seeing if
anything comes up. Of course, SOD is going to notify
you right away if there's a request or what have you,
or they'd notify you of an incident that's ongoing or
(01:11:56):
just happened. The bottom line is you with your partner,
and that's the That's the nice thing about the NYP,
really nice is that you're with somebody else, so you're
always having some conversation. It's not like you're out in
Long Island or upstate and you're by yourself in the car.
You're with the buddy. You're with your partner, so you
get to chat about regular life and things like that.
(01:12:17):
You want to go and grab something to eat, a
cup of coffee, whatever it is, and you're listening and
you're doing your stuff and just taking in the sights
and then you know, driving around your neighborhood, getting to
know your area. One night in particular, when I was
in six truck, it was right after nine to eleven
(01:12:40):
before I transferred over, because I stayed with those guys
for a couple of years before I left to go
to nine. I stayed in Brooklyn till two thousand and three.
So one in particular night, Anthony Lacy, who's now a sergeant,
a great guy. Him and ant and I were driving
(01:13:01):
down Third Avenue or fourth third or fourth Avenue around
ninety first Street, and we happened to see it was crowded.
It was it was like the following summer. Maybe I'm
going to try it. I'm going to say it was
probably two thousand and two, that summer of two thousand
and two, after everything started to really, as you said earlier,
go back to normal, it was just the beginning. Anyway,
(01:13:24):
the Third Avenue was packed, loaded with people. There was
this red Ferrari on the side of the road heading
heading in the direction of the Arizona Bridge, but he
was parked, so I happened to look at the car.
Anthony was looking at the car. About a minute later,
this Ferrari blows by us. I mean, I don't even
(01:13:48):
know how fast this car was going, but the rip
kind of shook like from the wind. Now this road
is jam packed. It's in the middle of the summer.
It's about two o'clock in the morning, maybe one o'clock.
At maybe one o'clock one thirty in the morning, and
the next thing, you know, ten blocks ahead, twelve blocks ahead,
you see the tail lights of this Ferrari like shake,
(01:14:12):
you know what I mean, Like back and forth. So like,
what the hell happened there? We proceed to go in
that direction. Here's the Ferrari smashed up into a stoop
on one O three one hundred and third or one
hundred and first hundred first Street. I look to my
(01:14:32):
right because I'm the recorder that night, and there's this
kid running and it's the kid that was driving the car.
He's running down the road. So Anthony backs up and
again you're there to assist, regardless, you're there to you
see something, you gotta handle it. We pull up and
the kid stops running. He's got a gash on his forehead.
(01:14:53):
He's in panic mode, and we're like, what the hell,
what's going on? What happened? I crashed the car? So
he starts talking. Two seconds later, a gentleman taps me
on the shoulder and goes, officer, I think you may
want to come over to third or fourth Avenue where
that after the merge. It was after that merge with
third and fourth split. So he says uh, I think
(01:15:15):
he hit somebody. So I'm like, oh, oh boy, So
Anthony deals with this guy. So now it's a possible
arrest situation. I walk over and there's an unfortunate DA.
So now a situation like that, it escalated into a
(01:15:36):
big crime scene. Now, so again going back to what
you say, and you're just cruising around doing your thing,
and the next thing you know, you're involved in a
whole big you know, now you're in a crime scene
an MVA and now you've got to call everybody in
to handle it. So it was a big deal. It was.
It was pretty pretty wild how that whole thing went
down within seconds.
Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
Yeah, and it goes from zero to a hundred. It's
so often if you're a cop anywhere, were especially in
a place like New York City, where I can remember
a story John Bushing was telling me a while ago
when he was on the show from his time in
transit rescue, where people just start having a fistfight right
in front of the rap I was like, hello, do
you not see the truck with the big police sign
on it?
Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
You know?
Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
So, but stuff like that is commonplace. You know, you
could just be on a conventional patrol It could be
that quiet, slow day that all of a sudden it's
not quiet, it's not slow, And it doesn't have to
be a major isident, just something like that, where an
NBA out of.
Speaker 4 (01:16:32):
Nowhere, some kid who I mean it was that Ferrari Stone?
Was it his car?
Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
No?
Speaker 3 (01:16:37):
It actually turned out excuse me for one second, there
you go, it turned out to be his uncle's car.
And yeah, the uncle was out of town or something,
and the kid took the car. He was unauthorized to
use the vehicle. It turned into a whole big, of course,
criminal case. And you know, uh, at the end of
(01:16:59):
the day, a few years later, he wound up doing
some time for that. Yeah, of course, and the family
was so appreciative. They wanted they wanted to meet us
and everything. But we were like, because we found we
found the guy who unfortunately got into the saxony and
their son is no longer with them. Uh, you know,
(01:17:21):
the kid was da was unfortunate, But thankfully we were there.
You know, there was no wondering or anything, or no
time going by. Wouldy had to look for somebody? It happened.
Sometimes you could say you were I was in the
wrong place at the wrong time, But no, we were
in the right place at the wrong time for that guy.
So thankfully we were there to at least get this
(01:17:42):
settled and squared away and put to bed for the family.
Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
Rightioure right, which a lot of families, sometimes unfortunate with
investigations like this, don't get because somebody that the person
that commitsd the crime just disappears into the night. Even
now with cameras, it still happens on occasion, of course,
someone disappears and never really is that justice not the
case here? I always like asking this to guys that
get more time on the job itself, especially in specialized
(01:18:07):
units like this twenty eleven, twenty twelve, twenty thirteen. You
look up one day, it's like, oh man, I've been
here over a decade now, you know, And you're not
that new guy anymore. Now you're the veteran guy, or
one of the veteran guys that the new guys that
are coming into the unit and gals alike as well,
are looking to you for mentorship or looking to you
for advice. And now it's the time to give back,
(01:18:27):
and now it's the time to pay it forward the
same way guys did for you back in two thousand
and one, two thousand and two, two thousand and three.
So just tell me about mentorship from that standpoint, and
when you look back, who were the cops before you
answer the question that you mentored that you really saw blossom.
Speaker 3 (01:18:42):
Uh, there was a few guys. There was a few
guys that, Yeah, they The issue is a traditional unit was.
I don't know about how it is now, but I
believe it's still the same. Tradition was huge. So traditionally
you were the senior guy. You were the guy to
(01:19:02):
go to. You try to any issues within the truck,
any issues on jobs, the senior guy would always try
and handle it before you had to involve a supervisor.
Supervisors entrusted us with handling the incidental, let's say, little
family issues, you know what I'm saying. Like, if there
(01:19:26):
was any little spats going on amongst the guys, the
senior guy always tried to jump in there and straighten
stuff out, you know, arguing about little things and that
and stuff like that. You know, just try and resolve
it as a group before you went to mommy and daddy,
let's say that kind of thing. So as a senior guy,
(01:19:48):
a lot of the younger dudes did respect the tradition
of being senior, where you had some you had a
few here and there that were like, hey, I don't
need any of that. They had a different mentality. So
it was just a matter of being senior. You always
try to mold them a little bit in it. You
had to understand their personalities and you always tried to
(01:20:10):
get them to come around to understand the traditions of
the unit. And most of the times it worked, and
then you know, if you were able, if you had
a good talk and a good reputation with the guys.
Senior man is a tough spot to be in because
you always put to the questions, you know, what about overtime,
(01:20:33):
how does this work? Why are we doing it this way?
How come you know he gets how come he's getting
overtime before me? And a lot of legitimate questions, all legit,
you know. But as a senior guy, you try to
you try to like take it in stride and you
work it out with the guys. This is why this,
this is what. You always have an answer and you
(01:20:54):
always you have to as a senior person, you have
to have be some sort of level head. You have
to have a level head, you have to have of
a good rapport and you hopefully try to square a
lot of stuff away. I felt that I'm not so
much that I earned it. I mean, I was an
(01:21:14):
older guy, so it was a lot of these younger
dudes would come up to We had a good reputation
with each other, good rapport, so I always felt like
comfortable with them come to me. I think they felt
comfortable coming to me with things, you know what I mean,
going to them to try and help straighten things out.
They kind of appreciated it. As far as I don't,
(01:21:38):
I think they were all pretty much equal. I don't
think anybody really stuck out more than the other because
these guys were all go getters. They were all happy
to be there. They all wanted to be any issue.
So I don't think there was like anybody that rose
to any occasion that they already haven't weren't there. They
(01:21:59):
were already there, they were already in the unit they
all felt. I think everybody was equal for the most part.
You know, I don't think anybody had any issues where
they they came from, like being confused or questionable to
all of a sudden they came to the top with
a realization, Hey, I'm in the issue. This is the
(01:22:19):
way it is. They all came there knowing that. You know,
there's a certain way, in a certain attitude you had
to have to be in that unit. But you know
it was good being a senior guy for a short
time until I retired.
Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
I'll get to that in a moment, but to your point,
you know they saw it. The reason why they know
how it is because they saw it. If they called
the U when they were on patrol and needing it
for something. You know, if they were in a precinct
that was attached to an SU truck. If you work
in the six s eight, if you worked in the
seven to five, or use another example, if you're down
in the Manhattan you work in the thirteenth, you see it.
You see how they carry themselves, and you see the
(01:22:56):
tradition that in private goes into that unit. Because I'll
never forget what Bill Kennedy told me a while ago.
There's two patches. One obviously police emergency squad. You have
to represent that well at all times. But the other
patch that you're always representing no matter what police department,
City of New York right, and regardless of someone not
quite yet understanding how ESU is because they're new to
(01:23:17):
the unit and they have to learn that as they go,
and senior guys and gals will teach them that they're
representing the NYPD first and foremost, and they always want
to make sure they represent that with the utmost professionalism
in a plumb So.
Speaker 4 (01:23:28):
I really love how you put that.
Speaker 1 (01:23:30):
Now, as you mentioned getting to twenty sixteen, you didn't
quite do twenty and out. You did twenty one and
then you left. You know, some guys, assuming that they
don't get hurt, had the luxury to pick and choose
because as many guys have told me, Hi to Carl Duenzo,
by the way, he's in the Chech census regards.
Speaker 4 (01:23:47):
And Kenny Bowen retired sergeant out.
Speaker 3 (01:23:49):
Of the Henny Bowen, good man, very good man.
Speaker 1 (01:23:53):
Of both of those guys have been on the show
previously a lot of the old timers Smith D and
PD have told me, you just know when it's time
time to go, You have that aha moment. Yeah, maybe
I should go down to the pension section. So for
you leaving in twenty sixteen, what was that aha moment
where you said, all right, time to go.
Speaker 3 (01:24:09):
Well, I did fifteen years of my career on midnights
and in the issue, so being fifty two years old,
the sleep deprivation, I started getting into this this rhythm
that I was having difficulty sleeping. I started just not
(01:24:31):
feeling right. You know, it just wasn't right anymore. I
needed to get my head back into working out, doing
some sort of physical activity outside of the job. You know.
It just felt like I fell into a rut with myself,
like it was I wasn't sleeping right anymore. That was
the key thing that really started being a problem, because
(01:24:54):
now on my RDOS, I wasn't sleeping the way a
normal guy used to. Like. When I first got into midnights,
it was basically, hey, I would do my midnights, come home,
go to sleep, or before that, it was do my midnights,
come home and get the handoff with the kids. So
(01:25:15):
once the kids went to school, I would come home
and go to sleep, and then when I get up,
I get up enough to get the kids off the
bus stop and then come have dinner with everybody, and
then trying maybe grabbing a nap or two in between
a nap before I went into the city to do
to midnight. But the bottom line is, towards the end,
it started to become an issue with the sleeping and
(01:25:35):
I just wasn't feeling right. I wasn't feeling good about
myself physically. So it was a time to either leave
the midnights and go to a scoot chart or maybe
even consider Floyd Benefield and go work with the guys
down there. But the bottom line was, after after everything
was said and done, I just decided it would be
(01:25:57):
a good time for me to go because I I
had plenty of time in the unit. I enjoyed being there.
Things started changing, you know, with the administration, the political
side of our job.
Speaker 2 (01:26:10):
And.
Speaker 3 (01:26:11):
You know, we were pretty aggressive guys, you know, as
far as getting our job done in that respect, Like
we weren't afraid of doing our job. We protected our bosses,
we had. We were able to take care of a
job without having any issues on our own. And we
(01:26:32):
always coveted that thought process of you take care of
your sergeant, who takes care of the tenant and so
forth and so on. So we always tried to do
things traditionally in a proper manner. And when things started
to change a little bit, and I wasn't feeling that great,
like I said, not physically. I'm okay, it's not nothing
(01:26:52):
like that. Medically fine, It's just that that sleep deprivation
started to get to me while I was at the job.
Needed I needed to change and I just figured, you
know what, after talking with my wife and going through
my physicals and everything, I just thought it was time
to go. It was a good time for me to go.
And I was reluctant at first, but after I did it,
(01:27:15):
I was glad I did.
Speaker 4 (01:27:17):
Yeah, you picked.
Speaker 1 (01:27:18):
I think you picked a good time, not just from
the standpoint of things that have happened in the year since,
but you were still performing at a good enough level tour.
I hate to keep name dropping, but as you say
these things, the stories of previous guests and remarks of
previous guests come back to mind. Paul Pericone when he
was talking about, you know, when he retired out of
the bomb Squad a few years ago, saying, I didn't
(01:27:38):
want to be that guy that you know people look
at him and say, Okay, why is he still here?
Why can't he just put in his papers already? And
you know, you weren't that guy. You weren't that guy
or gal that was hanging on too long? And people
could just say, and this is the case not just
in first responder agencies, but really in a lot of
jobs across the border, Okay, this person's only showing up
to just keep collecting a paycheck. Their heart's not in
(01:27:59):
the job anymore. You were still in it, you know,
you were just taking care of your health, and there's
nothing respect for that.
Speaker 3 (01:28:04):
Right. Yeah, it was, like I said, I enjoyed the job.
I really did. I think the NYPD was an amazing,
amazing journey for me. Everybody, for the most part that
I've came in contact with, wonderful people. The boss is
a great issue. The housing bosses were fantastics when I
got to issue. Like I said, these bosses were amazing guys.
(01:28:27):
You know, I can name so many of them. It's
not you, it's just too many of them. But everybody
that I came in contact, Pete Thulman, you know, uh,
we just we had a great time. The boss is great.
The senior guys like like Stephan okas great guys. I mean,
if you ever had an issue, you were he was
(01:28:48):
in tent trucks. So what you call that guy anytime,
he'd be on the phone with you helping me out. Absolutely,
you know Murphy and Tim Murphy and seven Truck Senior,
seen your dude, Danny Mulane. I mean, all these eyes
just and then the guys I work with in my truck,
you know, yeah, just amazing people, all of them. All
the bosses that I ever came in contact with. Wonderful,
(01:29:10):
wonderful people. But in that respect, it's like you almost
feel bad leaving because you have such a great situation
with all these really awesome people, great guys, great stories,
people that you look up to. And then you know, like,
like I said, it's just finally it got to me
with the potential health issues and the sleep and then
(01:29:33):
thankfully I don't have any, but it's like it was time.
It was a good time to go.
Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
You know, one thing I will ask you before the
rapid fire is in retirement, you've become this big famous
actor now you know, you're Starr in the Hollywood Walker
famous coming up soon made some guest appearances here and
there were traying familiar roles.
Speaker 4 (01:29:53):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 3 (01:29:55):
Yeah, so that goes back to Mike Keenan and six
Truck who became a tech advisor on Third Watch way
back in the day, and you know, he started this
whole thing with the ESU guys. So it progressed as
time went on, and I would always liked to have
gotten involved with it, but I had kids, young kids,
(01:30:15):
so it was all a matter of doing my midnights,
getting home to the family. But once I retired, Anthony
Masa God rest his soul. He had taken over a lot,
as well as a guy Nick marchisona Nikki Siena. These
guys are all involved in this now picking up where
(01:30:35):
Anthony left off. And Anthony called me up one day
after I retired and he goes, hey, you're looking to
do some work. I mean, I need guys. So it's like, okay.
I tried it out and it was great and wound
up getting involved with doing all these police shows because
they look for authenticity when they're doing their productions. So
(01:30:56):
it's great being around as a retired guy now being
around all these active guys and retired guys that you
haven't seen in a while. So it's like the good
old boy Club got back together for you know, a
couple of days a month and we get to you know,
talk and you know, talk about the job, talk about
and you with the guys that you know are just
(01:31:17):
like you, you know, so it kind of got it
kind of got really interesting there for a while before
COVID hit and we were doing a lot of work
with each other, and then I wound up getting involved
with Vinnie Pap Sadaro and Ed Woldron over at Northwell,
Scott Strauss, Joe Clark old Timer's. You know, it was
(01:31:37):
really a lot of fun getting into the doing the
TV shows and then doing that too as well. But
the TV shows are fun. They have a lot of
respect for us guys, more than I ever thought. A
lot of these actors and a lot of production companies
happened to really appreciate legit police office is coming on
(01:32:00):
to the job and letting them know, what what what
is it that we really do? How do we do it?
They try to portray it as much as they can
to your experience, but of course there's a lot of
drama that gets thrown into it. So but but they
they do appreciate us, and that's what makes it even
interesting more or it makes it better to work there
and do stuff for these guys because they really truly
(01:32:22):
want to know what is it like? So it's kind
of like you're still you're helping those guys out to
be a success with their productions and everything. And of course, yeah,
we all get involved with SAG and after them. You know,
we're all background actors. We know nothing more than that.
Speaker 1 (01:32:38):
That's all you're leading, man, Soon enough that the roles
coming in the right before you know it. You know
it will be your hour upon the stage. And of
course right on Q speaking of hours upon the stage
is in the chat. As I knew he would be.
Look at you too, he says, you doing Steve O.
Speaker 4 (01:33:00):
Good to see.
Speaker 1 (01:33:00):
Steve had, of course the ripe old age of one
hundred and five. Still going strong.
Speaker 3 (01:33:06):
He looks good for one hundred and five, he does.
Speaker 1 (01:33:08):
Yeah, still going strong in ten truck. He'll never leave.
You'll have to pry him out of there.
Speaker 3 (01:33:13):
There is a life after the NYPD, my friend.
Speaker 1 (01:33:17):
No, No, yeah, of course, well listen, he's he's got
the instructor gigs going on the side to consulting around
the country.
Speaker 4 (01:33:22):
Steph gets around.
Speaker 3 (01:33:23):
You know.
Speaker 4 (01:33:24):
Yes, I want to be Steph when I grow up.
So good to see.
Speaker 3 (01:33:27):
Yeah, he's a very smart man, very very smart man.
Speaker 1 (01:33:30):
He's an Islander fan. But we forgive him. Okay, you know,
kind of lose his points for that, but good to
see if my friend will have to catch up soon.
Speaker 4 (01:33:39):
So now I'll get into the rabbid fire.
Speaker 1 (01:33:41):
It's been a great conversation with you the hour and
a half, flowing by five hit run questions from me,
five hit and run answers from you, uh, and you
can say pass if you want. So, I'm gonna one
of the questions that was in the chat earlier from
Joe Maliga. It's a running joke between him and I.
You've probably seen him before in previous episode. Anytime I
have an fd ORPD guy on, he wants me to
ask him if they haven't been over to baby. So,
between es U and working in the p s A
(01:34:03):
as a housing cop, do you ever deliver a kid?
Speaker 3 (01:34:06):
Negative? Negative?
Speaker 2 (01:34:07):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (01:34:08):
All right, all right, so we lose a point there, Joe,
Sorry about that, my friend.
Speaker 2 (01:34:12):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:34:13):
Another point the other question I should say, the rapid fire.
Besides six truck where you started in a nine truck,
where you spent the bulk of your years in the
s U favorite trucks in the city to fly to
when you had to.
Speaker 3 (01:34:23):
Oh wow, I'm gonna say eight truck, two truck, harl baby, yeah,
eight truck and two truck I think, but one truck
too was a lot of fun. Uh. Seven truck, you
know what, five truck got I can go sit now.
They were all good. But my favorite, my favorite truck
I'm gonna say was two truck.
Speaker 1 (01:34:45):
Yeah, yeah, listen, two trucks good.
Speaker 4 (01:34:47):
I love two trucks. There's a lot of good guys
working down there.
Speaker 3 (01:34:50):
Ten truck was great too. They were all you know what,
they were all great. Three truck, four truck, wonderful guys.
Especially on the late to it we had a whole
different way of doing things, so it was it was
really nice. They're all nice, but two truck I think
was my favorite.
Speaker 4 (01:35:05):
And before I move on.
Speaker 1 (01:35:06):
To the other question, the rabbit fire, I'm sure they
still do it. Franco says, you just named them all because,
like you said, they're all good. Franko, Yeah, But that
being said, I mean, the beauty of flying a different trucks, uh,
is that you get it. It's it's really good for
camaraderie a but also you get a good sense of
the different jobs. They respond to because the demographics and
as a result, it makes you more well rounded as
(01:35:28):
an emergency service cop. But the camaraderie, man, was that
good because even if it wasn't your side truck, everybody
knew everybody and that was great for relationships and that
was really great for the unit.
Speaker 3 (01:35:38):
Yes, yes, because you got to you got to see
guys on on the tour changes, you know, before you left. Yeah,
you would see the tour two guys from the other
trucks on tor schages, the guys you half the time
you would never see unless you were on a detail.
So you got you got to spend time with those
guys and the bosses. You got to know everybody, so,
you know, and then especially on a lay tour, its
(01:35:59):
much smaller personnel that were on duty all the time,
so it was a lot easier to really to you know,
to mingle with the guys.
Speaker 4 (01:36:10):
Absolutely, Yeah, especially like you said, on the midnights.
Speaker 1 (01:36:13):
It's a lot different than a day two or not
that you can't have fun in an eight to four
or four to twelve, which is different because midnight, unless
it's a big job, you don't really see too many
of the bosses so much.
Speaker 4 (01:36:21):
Not they're bad. Allow of good bosses.
Speaker 3 (01:36:23):
Out there in sure, all great, great.
Speaker 1 (01:36:25):
But it's more a little bit more tight knit just
because of the time slot on what you're working. So
that covers the first two questions of the rapid fire
number three, either on life or on the job. Best
advice anyone ever gave you.
Speaker 3 (01:36:39):
Nice and easy, that's my that's my motto. I've been
going by that long time ago. A guy in housing
told me nice and easy. Don't he said, don't do
too much, don't do too little, stay in the middle,
because you know you're always going to get your work done.
But just in other words, he was saying, don't be
a hero, like don't don't be that guy that wants
(01:37:03):
to be out in the front all the time, and
and don't be the guy that does nothing. Be reasonable,
be you know, you don't want to outdo anybody. It's
not a contest. So there was always those couple of
guys that were always doing way much more and standing
out and where did it get them? Really hard half
the time, didn't get them anywhere. Half the time, it
(01:37:24):
got them hurt in essence, So nice and easy was
always my motto. After an old time housing guy told
me that, and it worked five throughout my entire career,
you know. And and if you screw up, tell the truth.
Let let don't blame anybody else. Don't point fingers. Accept it.
(01:37:45):
You did it. If you screw it up, If you didn't,
no problem. But ninety of the time you fess up
to anything. It could be the smallest thing. You wrote
the wrong entry in the command log or something like that. Yeah, yeah,
it was me, so ry boss, So I screwed up.
It's all. It's like, don't don't play games, just straight.
Speaker 1 (01:38:06):
Yeah, it's part of being a stand up perst love
that advice number four. If not for the police department,
let's say that never happened. What career could you have
seen yourself pursuing and really enjoying?
Speaker 3 (01:38:16):
Hmm. I probably would have stayed in construction and pursued
a business, a concrete business. I like them Italian I
like concrete masonry work. I would have I would have
stayed in that type of field, and I would have
probably gotten myself more immersed in my own business and
(01:38:38):
and really pushed something like that. I think I would
have enjoyed that.
Speaker 1 (01:38:43):
All right, sounds good and it's important work. Hey, listen,
you need a lot of those guys, especially with New
York City. New York City never stops in terms of
what's being built. Mark Twain one said, New York City'd
be a real nice place if they ever finish it so, and.
Speaker 4 (01:38:54):
They never will. They never will, they never will.
Speaker 1 (01:38:57):
Now, the fifth and final question, if you grab some
freshot assts, much like you were in the summer of
two thousand and one, what advice would you give a
brand spanking new emergency service cop.
Speaker 3 (01:39:09):
I would tell them tradition. Tradition is key in this unit.
Tradition is respecting your bosses. Of course, right up the line,
respect the guys you work with. Keep your eyes open,
keep your ears open, and try not to create any issues.
(01:39:29):
Just listen and learn, watch and learn, and your time
will come where you can really super voice your opinion.
But the bottom line is again nice and easy. Just
get through it. And observation skills a key in that unit.
And listening to the senior men who have been there already,
(01:39:50):
who know what's going on. Yeah, don't forget. If you
come into that unit you're fresh, you don't know what's
going on really until you're actually in there. You may
have gone through all the training, but there's inner working.
Is the way the unit operates. Just listen and learn
and you'll be fine. And and don't don't argue with anybody.
Just go to the propaguy. Uh, stay in line. That's it.
(01:40:15):
Just stay in line, listen and learn, and you'll be fine.
Speaker 4 (01:40:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:40:19):
Good advice, straightforward advice, and will definitely help anybody in
the long run. I really appreciate this stick around. We'll
talk off there. You did a great job before I
say goodbye to the audience. And thanks to everybody to
turn in tonight. Any shoutouts that you want to give
the floor.
Speaker 4 (01:40:31):
It's yours.
Speaker 3 (01:40:33):
Uh now, I just listen. Missed, I missed the unit.
I missed the guys. I just hope everybody in these
trying times and they stay safe and focused and get
home to their families. It's one of the best units
in the world. We are the NYPD Emergency Service Unit.
I was proud to be part of it, very proud
(01:40:54):
to be part of it, to be associated with all
the individuals that I worked with. They were probably the classiest,
coolest people I've ever met in my life. They really
really straight up guys and I'll tell you I would
go to the mat for anyone in them. Even today,
they called me and they needed me, I'd be there
for them, wonderful people. It was the best time of
(01:41:16):
my life being in the NYPD was the issue.
Speaker 4 (01:41:19):
It's a heck of a unit, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:41:21):
And like I said at the top of the show,
I've been blessed to really know a lot of the
guys past and president of the unit who've been very
good to me. It's a beautiful family to be a
part of. And shout out to the guys past who
were getting it done like yourself. A shout out to
the guys they are still getting it done on the
front lines and emergency. And in that line, I wanted
to give a shout out before I say good bye
to the audience to Frankle Salas So Bob SAVORI posted
this earlier today. Today's the anniversary, and I didn't want
(01:41:43):
to let the show pass without forgetting this a Franklin
Sala succumbing to his injury. So, for those of you
that don't know the story, January fifth and nineteen eighty seven,
down the street from one truck structure, fire occurs and
before the ft and Lily arrived.
Speaker 4 (01:41:58):
ESU.
Speaker 1 (01:41:58):
Guys that were working in one truck that tour slapped
out Scott packs went in there and helped several people
escape the building that were trapped by the flames. Frank
was in a stairwell with a Scott pack on and
a flashover occurred and he was caught in that flashover
and suffered significant burns to his body that melted his
equipment off, and unfortunately he was seriously injured at that blaze.
(01:42:20):
He hung on for five days and on January tenth
of nineteen eighty seven, died of those injuries at the
way too young age of thirty three. So it's been
thirty eight years today since he died, but he's not forgotten,
and a big shot up to him for what he
did that day, and the rest of the guys that
were spotted with him, and for those that knew Frank,
like Bob who posted that thinking about you guys today,
and once again, thank you very much to frankle Sala
(01:42:42):
for what he courageously did on January fifth of nineteen
eighty seven to save those residents. And again thanks to
everybody who tuned in the night rather you were watching
on YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn, especially all the retired Yes
you guys I saw pop up in the chat. John
VALENTI give me a call. I'm still waiting for you
to call me. Franko Barbert we'll talk, Frank Sullivan will talk,
(01:43:02):
and Inspector of Polatano we'll have to talk as well.
I know I want to get you on as well.
Just a brief note to the audience, this will probably
be the last show for a while. We'll be on
an extended hiatus up until probably May or June. As
you guys know, I'm waiting to start any day now
the Fire Academy down here in New Haven. So while
that's going on, naturally not going to have much time
or really any time to do the show. So while
(01:43:25):
I wait for that call to come in, take a break,
get myself ready, and I just want to say thank
you to you guys.
Speaker 4 (01:43:30):
Looking forward to starting the Academy.
Speaker 1 (01:43:31):
It'll be life changing and hopefully, you know, once I
settle into my new job and my schedule is set
in stone, I'll come back and get continue doing the
show and continue having great conversations like this one. So
thank you very much everyone for those of you listening
on the audio side tonight's outro song for the Final Time,
Until we See in the Summertime from their classic nineteen
ninety two album The End of Silence. One of my
(01:43:53):
favorite bands, The Rollins Band, comes your way with You
Didn't Need in the Meantime on behalf of a retired
NYPD Emergency Service Detective Gary Grizzolia. This has been volume
fifty of the Men inside the NYPD's Emergency Service Unit,
and on behalf of myself and producer Victor. Have a
great night, have a great weekend. Uh be safe. We'll
see you in the summertime. And as the men like
to say, anytime, maybe take care.
Speaker 4 (01:44:48):
You're turning in and you burn me out. You're put
me in and you're lucked me out. You'll run jump me.
That's my batch.
Speaker 3 (01:44:57):
You didn't see that out point.
Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
You look to me and I saw right through you.
Speaker 5 (01:45:04):
You looked away when I smoked right to him.
Speaker 3 (01:45:12):
You're in me.
Speaker 5 (01:45:15):
To do that to me.
Speaker 4 (01:45:19):
When I'm truss you did you don't feel it?
Speaker 7 (01:45:23):
Did you ever feel anything at all?
Speaker 4 (01:45:26):
Do you ever lie awake at name?
Speaker 3 (01:45:29):
Do you ever think of me?
Speaker 5 (01:45:32):
I've got my arms up around myself.
Speaker 4 (01:45:35):
You've got to rock around someone else.
Speaker 3 (01:45:38):
I lie to myself.
Speaker 7 (01:45:41):
I tell myself.
Speaker 5 (01:45:44):
I'm knocked down, down down, I'm not down. So mada
(01:46:19):
so ba.
Speaker 3 (01:46:21):
My badda.
Speaker 4 (01:46:38):
I didn't want it, but I got it anyway. I
didn't want it, and I tried to get aways.
Speaker 5 (01:46:44):
I checked the nias out, the suits given the inside.
Speaker 3 (01:46:50):
We're not drink not your suit.
Speaker 5 (01:46:54):
I chant liar, liar, you didn't mean.
Speaker 3 (01:47:05):
They don't that's her name. How about my brain trying
to remember everything I said to you? How about my
brain trying to dismember.
Speaker 2 (01:47:18):
Every tho like chaster.
Speaker 5 (01:47:21):
I'm sorry because I still feel this inside.
Speaker 7 (01:47:27):
The talk about my face, lack of start, it's.
Speaker 3 (01:47:31):
Stopping by chad hi, I chair.
Speaker 5 (01:47:38):
I chid i.
Speaker 3 (01:48:10):
So so.
Speaker 7 (01:48:27):
The stop watching did nothing to saddle stop watching after
walk away, walk away, Bong go way.
Speaker 5 (01:49:07):
Back go way.
Speaker 7 (01:49:12):
Go wah come by long gowhere long nowhere long go
where walkway