ACTIVELY RETIREDBy The Staff of Spring 3100

;,-;i;

is Chairman of the Security Committee,and also remains a board member. He isalso a past president of the PoliceReserve Association, as well as their cur-rent Chairman of the Board. For manyyears, retired Lt. Weiser also wrote anewspaper column at The Jewish Press.These dayS'; Louis Weiser can be foundat the headquarters of the Council ofJewish Organizations in Civil Service(CJOCS), where he serves as president.The CJOCS is a nonprofit organizationestablished to protect the rights and priv-ileges of civil servants and foster a betterunderstanding of their role amongst thepeople they serve.

Interspersed throughout his retirementare appointments to federal, state andcity government offices. In 1973, LouWeiser was appointed by then-NYPDPolice Commissioner Donald F. Cawleyas a consultant for the Department'srecruitment program. His was one ofmany voices that successfully lobbied forthe establishment of a special exam forSabbath Observers. On its heels followedan appointment by the late PresidentRichard M. Nixon, to the AssayCommission at the U.S. Mint inPhiladelphia, a group responsible forassuring the Mint's compliance to quali-ty standards. He was also appointed byformer Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to theCivil Service Screening Commission,and was later designated SpecialAssistant to New York State ComptrollerAlan G. Hevesi, acting as an advisor onretirement issues.One of the highlights of Louis Weiser'scareer is his involvement in the success-ful passing of legislation to get fullMedicare "Part B" reimbursement forcity uniformed retirees, in parity withstate and county employees, as well asincreases for retirees in Cost of LivingAdjustments (COLA). He keeps in touchwith many retiree associations and is onthe Board of Directors at several retireegroups: the Superior Officers Association(Retired), Retired Lieutenants Associa-tiOh and the Broward 10-13 Organization.

Retired Lt. Weiser has received his shareof accolades. In 1998, the Bnai ZionFoundation, one of the oldest Jewishhumanitarian organizations in America,presented him with the Dr. Harris J.Levine Award and in 1999, BrooklynCollege honored him with their Alumni

LIEUTENANT LOUIS WEISER

I n 1939, New York City was still reel-ing from the toughest economictimes in its history. Though this was

the tail-end of the Depression, thousandscontinued to pound the pavement insearch of employment. For Louis Weiserand others in his Brooklyn neighbor-hood, it was the lure of a steady job thatattracted them to the New York CityPolice Department."To be honest, it wasn't a job that I, oranyone I knew, had really consideredbefore," said Louis Weiser. "In my classthere were 206 men and women, manybelonging to the Jewish faith.Traditionally, the NYPD, hadn't attractedthat many Jewish applicants." Mter grad-uating in June 1941, the new recruitsworked six-day tours and faced a reducedsalary under the tight City budget, but itbeat the alternative.

Patrolman Weiser started his career °!1patrol at the 72 Precinct. Once supervi-sors learned of his command of theYiddish language, he was reassigned f{)the Detective Bureau's Brooklyn WestYouth Squad. Upon being promoted toDetective, he was transferred to the 61Detective Squad and remained at theprecinct after passing the exam forsergeant. As a lieutenant, Louis Weiserwas assigned to the 112 Precinct andlater to the Department of Investigation(DOl) where he placed his permanenttitle on hold to serve as AssistantCommissioner of DOl. Louis Weiserretired from the NYPD in 1965.

Prior to joining the Department, LouWeiser admits taking a passive role whenit came to advocacy, but that changedwhen the new recruit discovered theimportance of organizing and being rep-resented. This awakening became thecatalyst for his lifelong involvement andcommitment to several causes.Diving into the fraternal waters, hequickly joined the NYPD ShomrimSociety where throughout his career, heheld every office. He is their currentPublic Relations Chairman. Later in hiscareer, he became one of the founders oftwo organizations, the NationalConference of Shomrim Societies, creat-ed in 1958, where he served as presidentand currently acts as executive vice pres-ident, and the Jewish CommunityRelations Council of New York, where he

Ret. Lt. Louis Weiser circa1950s and present day.

Association Lifetime Achievement Award.In 2003, the Shomrim Society bestowedhim with the Asser Levy Award, a nameassociated with the inspiration of Jewishpolice officers to this day. Asser Levyfought government rules imposed onJews in New Amsterdam, that forbidthem to serve in the militia, and eventu-ally won the right to participate in the cit-izens' guards in November 1655."Asser Levy and I were in the same policeacademy class," said Lou Weiser causingan eruption of laughter throughout theaudience, at a ceremony commemoratingthe NYPD Shomrim Society's 80thAnniversary and 350 Years of Jews in LawEnforcement, held this year at OnePolice Plaza. Humor seems as much apart of him as his public-spirited nature.On a personal note, retired Lt. LouisWeiser has been married to his wife,Anita, his childhood sweetheart fromConey Island, for 61 years. They are theparents of two daughters, Roberta andRonnie and grandparents of Marc, anNYPD sergeant, Jason, Jeffrey andMarisa."Of course, what I've accomplishedsince starting with the NYPD and afterretiring, wouldn't be possible if not forthe support of my family whom I'm verygrateful for. I'm very fortunate to still beinvolved with all these great organiza-tions. It's truly been my life's work."

C.A.S.

-SEPT/DEC 2004SPRING 3100

DETECTIVE JOHN REILLYT; e history of the New York City Police Department is

written in the faces, names, and lives of the officerswho have served the people of the City of New York.

Their actions, both the extraordinary and the prosaic, haveshaped the institution and served as a paradigm for successivegenerations. Each has his or her own story, but all are woventogether in the aggregate fabric of New York City's aegis, theNYPD.

The Department carefully tends this history, but has amonopoly neither on interest in the subject, nor on its pro-curement. Retired Detective John T. M. Reilly not only con-tributed his own footnote to the Department's story, he is alsoone of its most ardent curators.

Born in 1929, in Manhattan, John Reilly spent the early yearsof his life in Chelsea. At the age of seven, he moved to GreatBritain with his family, and as World War II descended uponthe Isles, the Reilly family stalwartly faced the dangers of thewar. It was not until he turned eighteen that Reilly returnedto New York City, where he took a job in the engine room ofa department store, though he had his eye on a very differentkind of department. He took the police exam soon after hisarrival in New York, but the continuing conflict on the KoreanPeninsula exhorted him to heed the call to service by hiscountry, arid he enlisted in the Army.

Guard, where he served for a number of years in the 71stInfantry Regiment, later transferring to the US ArmyReserves from which he retired with over 30 years service andthe rank of Major.

He accepted appointment to the NYPD in May of 1955, andswore an oath to serve and protect New York with the samesense of dignity and courage that had colored his service tohis country. He started his career in Manhattan North, earn-ing his first hash mark on patrol in the 30 Precinct. In 1960,he was transferred to the Detective Division and began hiscareer as an investigator before he officially finished theCriminal Investigation Course.

"On the weekends they had us out looking for the secondMad Bomber. It was late in 1960 and this guy had detonateda bomb on an A train at 125th street, he had killed a 15-year-old girl and injured many others. They had us out as plants allover the city and we hadn't even finished the CIC," Reillyrecalled of his nascent detective career.

His first assignment was to Central Office Bureaus andSquads where he got his investigative feet wet working gam-bling enforcement. He was later assigned to the YouthBureau, but it was his subsequent transfer to the NarcoticsBureau that earned him his gold shield. Perhaps because thatis where he made grade, or because he spent the longest con-secutive span of his career there (seven and a half years,) orbecause it was while working in Narcotics that he met hiswife (a civilian chemist in the police lab), that he recalls hisday in Narcotics with the most fondness.

"It was a great place to work; it was the 60s and there was alot to do. I worked hard, did my job, had good bosses, and gotout what r put in."

Reilly was a dedicated detective and was rewarded for his dili-gent work with promotion to Second Grade in 1965 and thento First Grade in 1968. As a First Grade Detective, he workedin the 14th Detective Squad, the 1st Detective DistrictRobbery Squad, and 24th Precinct Investigations Unit.

"One of my last major cases in the Robbery Squad was a bigjob in Gramercy Park. A doctor had been ripped off; they gotabout a quarter of a million dollars in artwork, but the inci-dent sort of pushed the doctor around the bend and we hadto work the case without his help."

Reilly amusingly recounted the incident that had all the com-ponents of a media circus. There were a half a dozen robbersinvolved, some rare Picasso pieces were among the purloinedartwork, and the TV news covered the case with such alacritythat the perpetrators got rattled.

"I guess the oddest part of the whole case was that I recov-ered one of the Picasso's in a brown paper shopping bag, inthe dusty attic for unclaimed property at Grand CentralStation. It just looked like a child's scribble, but was one ofthe most valuable pieces."

Reilly's tenacity was the driving force behind his success inthe NYPD, and though he retired in 1974, it by no means sig-naled a waning in his career. Mter he left the Department, hecompleted his B.A. in Criminal Justice from John Jay Collegeand proceeded to teach at New Rochelle High School for twoyears. He then went on to earn his Master's degree and washired by the New York State Division of Criminal JusticeServices as a senior court researcher.

He was whisked off to basic training and then guided missileschool, in Fort Bliss Texas. Though he was not deployed over-seas, his assignment was of equal strategic importance andwould prove to be exceedingly more dangerous. While in ser-vice to the United States, Reilly was posted to the Yucca Flats,Nuclear Test Site in Nevada. For a second time in his younglife, he had to confront the specter of bomb blasts, but thistime it was from a position in a narrow trench a scant 4,000yards from the detonation point, and at the behest of his owngovernment. As he had in his formative years, John Reillyfaced the danger with fortitude and resolve, and continuedhis service honorably until he was discharged in 1955.

After his discharge from the Regular Army, Reilly was com-missioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the New York Army National

18

SPRING 3100 SEPT/DEC 2004

By the time he turned fifty, instead of slowing down andenjoying retired life, he broadened his horizons further stilland accepted a position with the Federal Government. Hewas appointed Chief of Security and Law Enforcement forthe New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,and worked in that capacity until he transferred to theDefense Logistics Agency as Chief of New York Regions officeof Command Security.

In 1994, over forty years after he embarked on a life of ser-vice, he retired. It was at this point in his life that John Reillywent from being a part of the NYPD story, to one of its chron-iclers. His love of the Department and his interest in its his-tory lead him to research 19th century station houses.Delving deeply into their background and unearthing a trea-sure trove of information about the buildings that hou~ed theearliest members of the Department, Reilly established afondness for the rich soil of the Department's past. He soonembarked upon a second and equally ambitious task when hetook on the challenge of researching the highest

Departmental awards and the evolution of, among others, theMedal of Honor. He has put together a manuscript entitledMedals of the Department, cataloging all of the data he hascompiled. In addition, Reilly has received accolades from thePolice Reserve Association and the Detectives EndowmentAssociation for the time and knowledge he has dedicated tothe extremely important task of researching line of dutydeaths of former members of service. He is one of a coterieof current and former members of the service who has dili-gently tried to bring honor to the scores of fallen officers whoheretofore have not been recognized for paying the ultimateprice in service to this city. Reilly is never without a project,and currently is utilizing the knowledge he had garneredin his research, to accurately place and date old NYPD

photographs.

When asked about the contributing factors to his profession-al success, in retrospect, he ingenuously remarked, "I guess Iwas a pretty good street cop." H.B.P.

DETECTIVE DAVE GOLDBERG

3 efore retiring in 1994, DetectiveDave Goldberg spent 26 yearsworking for the NYPD. Being a

police officer was just something healways wanted to do. In fact, worriedthat his career as a police officer mightbe postponed or interrupted by theVietnam War, he simply pushed up hisdraft instead, determined to put his twoyears in before his appointment.To some extent, those days and nightsspent halfway around the world preppedhim. And now, a quick look at his careerafter the war in the NYPD, whichincluded a hip injury that steered himinto an administrative capacity despitehis tireless efforts to get back on the..

Explorer Post 5202 proudly displays the 1 st Annual City to the SeaCommunity Service Award, and after leading all Explorer Posts with3329 hours of community service, were also treated to a tour ofthe submarine base and school at Groton, CT.Joining in the pre-

sentation are (back row, r-l) Assistant Chief Henry R. Cronin III,C.O. Transit Bureau, Ret. Det. Dave Gotdberg, PO Chico Carabello,TD 2 and Explorer Post 5202 Coordinator, and Lt. CommanderGreg Hicks of the United States Navy.

streets, makes it seem pretty obviousthat fate was grooming him for some-thing else.As frustrating as it was then, spendingthe bulk of his career on the NYPD's"injured reserve" list, working in variousliaison units and community affairshelp~d Dave hone the public speakingand organizational skills he would needlater on. A big part of that would comewhen Det. Goldberg saw a need for thecreation of a Military Service LiaisonUnit."With the Homeport on Staten Island, itbecame obvious we needed to help ser-vice personnel and their families sta-tioned in the area acclimate to living inNew York City. Suffice to say, after grow-ing up in small towns and coming acrossthe country, they needed an introductionto big city life."Ultimately, with the closure of theHomeport in the early nineties, Det.Goldberg realized it was the right time tomove on. Yet just one year into his retire-ment Dave was back in an ambassadori-al role with the military, volunteeringfor the United Service Organization(U.S.O.) where he helped coordinatevarious 'Welcome to New York" pro-grams that included tours, crime preven-tion and quality of life seminars.

In 2000, all his experiences would cometogether in his founding of the City tothe Sea Program. "For me, what I wasdoing before was just the thing to do, butI could also see how much better it couldbe if it was organized privately. My expe-rience with kids in community affairsallowed me to realize that if they couldjust see another uniform, they wouldrecognize it as a role model. All I had todo was treat them as individuals, with

Retired Detective Dave Goldberg's dedication to the MilitaryLiaison Un~ while worKing with the NYPD earned him an honoraryappointment to Senior Chief Petty Officer, a rare endowment bythe United States Navy, and sowed the seeds for his founding ofCity to the Sea, a Program for our City Youth.

the respect they were craving and tellthem 'You can do it!' "

Thanks to his NYPD contacts, the Cityto the Sea Program was able to launchwith a complement of DepartmentExplorer Troops and 1 social service;exactly 25 kids. Just four years later, hisvision has grown into over 35 organiza-tions and 65 facilities, among them are'YMCAs, PAL Groups, Boys and GirlsClubs, after school programs, communi-ty houses and a host of social servicesagencies; a roll call that now exceeds120,000 kids of various ages."Kids participating in the program getVIP tours of visiting ships, not justtourist stuff. They get their own admis-sion to naval vessels and a chance tospeak with the officers and enlisted men,otherwise what would be the point?"

19SPRING 3100 SEPT/DEC 2004

Tom Dades works the pads with a young prospect.

Among the luminaries in attendance

were family members of the slain detec-

tives, Police Commissioner Raymond W.

Kelly, retired PO Richard Frazier, who

once fought for the light heavyw~ight

title, professional champions Carlos

Ortiz and Emile Griffith, former

Brooklyn amateur sensations Pete and

Nikos Spanakos, retired NYPD Sgt. Pat

Russo, the statewide coordinator for PAL

boxing programs who was instrumental

in bringing Dades' dream to fruition, and

Jimmy Degaeta, a retired firefighter and

father of 16-year-old amateur sensation

Nicholas, who serves as one of the gym's

most steadfast volunteers. Several of the

gym's more than 80 registered members

engaged in bouts with rivals from other

PAL ce~ters, and the Park Hill fighters

emerged victorious in every one of them.

"I saw that as a good sign for the future,"

said Dades, who trains youngsters from

1700 to 2000 hours, Monday to Friday.

"I love being part of such a great endeav-

or. When I was growing up, I always

wished my neighborhood had a place like

this to go to. The gym is a safe haven

from the streets, a

place where kidshave a healthy alter-

native to the vio-

lence and tempta-tions they encounter

every day. Mter a

workout a lot of kids

thank me for mytime and patience.

The way I see it,

I should be thanking

them for allowingme to be part of

such a positive expe-

Retired Det. Thomas Dades (second from righi) celebrates the opening of the Park Hill Boxing Club rie~ce-for both of

with (standing, I-r): middieweight Jaidon Codrington, trainer Gary Stark Sr., and former champion us.

Emile Griffith. (Kneeling, H): professional boxers Luis Collazo and Paulie Malignaggi. RET. DET. ROBERT MLADINICH

DETECTIVE THOMAS DADESw; en Thomas Dades retired

from the NYPD as a first gradedetective in July 2004, he

was unsure if he could find the samelevel of satisfaction i~ civilian life that hedid as a longtime organized crime inves-tigator in the 68 Detective Squad and theIntelligence Division. For the last sevenyears of his police care~r, Dades and hispartner, retired Det. Mike Galletta, wereso effective in dismantling one majororganized crime family, their exploitswere chrpnicled in the book Mob Over,'Wiami by New York Daily News reporterMichelle McPhee. AlthQugh Dadesworked as an investigator for theBrooklyn District Attorney's office, hewas determined to also involve himselfin a charitable endeavor that was closeto his heart.

The 42-year-old Dades had a lifelongaffinity for boxing, and even participatedin about 35 amateur bouts, about a thirdof which were for the NYPD's FightingFinest team. What he lacked in skill, hemore than made up for with heart, andhad many trainers tell him they wishedthey could have started coaching him twodecades earlier.

After incurring serious knee and backinjuries, Dades gave up boxing in thesummer of 2003, but desperately wantedto stay immersed in the game he loved.After much lobbying, he and a fellowStaten Islander named Gary Stark Sr.,whose son Gary Jr., is a top professionalprospect, were hired by the PoliceAthletic League (PAL) to operate thenewly created Park Hill Boxing Club,located in the Park Hill housing develop-ments in Staten Island. The gym, whichopened amid much fanfare in early July,is dedicated to undercover DetectivesRodney Andrews and James Nemorin,both of whom were murdered by guntraffickers in March 2003.

Making a difference in the lives ofchildren, and seeing the possibilities oftheir own future in their faces is whatmakes the City to the Sea Program allworthwhile to David Goldberg. "Thisgives them an opportunity to learn andtake home a new idea of what is avail-able to them-by offering them thischance to talk to service personnelwho are not much older than they areit opens their eyes to better possibili-ties, points them in the right directionand positively puts them in awe oftheir own potential."

Despite all the unquantifiable successof the City to the Sea Program, DaveGoldberg still sees greater heights toachieve. "I am always looking for moreorganizations, especially with kids whowould never have a chance at theseopportunities. As the Program getslarger, it affords me more opportuni-ties to widen their horizons beyondcity streets. In the beginning I waslimited to arranging tours duringFleet Week, now we've already madefive trips to visit the submarine baseand school stationed at Groton,Connecticut. In the near future we'llbe looking to visit the Coast GuardAcademy, West Point, McGuire AirForce Base and the Naval Base atNorfolk, Virgina."Success has not put Dave in a positionto forget his roots. On June 9, City tothe Sea joined forces with the USNavy to present a Community ServiceAward to the NYPD's top ExplorerTroop, Post 5202 out of TransitDistrict 2. This Navy SanctionedAward comes along with its own tourof the Submarine base at Groton andwill henceforth be awarded annually;

"One thing I'm always trying to do iskeep the program moving forward, andsponsoring plaques and awards aregood ways to reach out to the kids. I'malso hoping to start up Pen Pal andMentoring programs, Adopt-a-Ship,arranging for guest speakers and ofcourse, as many tours as possible."

In an era when most people are con-tent to wait for their own ship to comein, Dave Goldberg has proven to beone of those rare individuals whowould rather devote his time to help-ing others find the dock. He does thisby introducing them to good role mod-els. And if you've met Dave Goldbergyou know the first one he introducesthem to, is himself.

Dave Goldberg lives in Brooklyn withhis wife Evella, to whom he has beenmarried for 27 years, he has threechildren: Daniel, Allan and Kim. T.S.

SEPT/DEC 2004SPRING 3100

~78 PRECINCT

78 Precinct retirees, (I-r): John Griffin, Harry Greenfield, Larry Braum,Brian Dunn, Bill Simonelli, John Young, Jerry Orlando and Bill Dory, got

'together recently for a trip to Vintage Wines in New Jersey, and encour-age anyone interested in getting in touch to visit their website:78oldtimers@groups.msn.com.

84 PRECINCT ..

Former members of the Department, who were all assigned to the 84 Precinct during the60s and 70s, recently reunited to reminisce about the time they spent at their formercommand. Back row, (I-r): Robert McMahon, Bill Buckley, Joseph Taranto, JamesMorgan, Patrick Mullee, AI Lazzarino, Ralph Romano, Patrick Devlin, Robert O'NeillRichard Booth, and Dennis Haug. Second row, (I-r): John Hoare, Chuck, Siriano, LloydHenry, Larry Klein, and Anthony Lombardo. Seated, (I-r): Mario Tesoriero, Kenny Reiman,Maria Bullaro, Jane Deacy, Irma King, and Carol Kranick-Wein~erger.

INAUGURAL POLICE TRAINEE 40TH ANNIVERSARY

In 1964, the NYPD instituted a new and forward-thinking programto help recruitment. Newly graduated high school seniors werehired and trained in all aspects of the job, save firearms. TheTrainees then worked full-time as administrative staff in the vari-ous commands until the age of 21, at which point they were sentback to the Police Academy for firearms training. Upon completionof this training they were sworn in and sent out on patrol. The pre-cursor to today's Cadet Program, it yielded some of theDepartment's highest ranking officials. On September 24, mem-bers of the inaugural class gathered to celebrate their 40threunion at The Pines in the Bronx.

~8~~