Authors: Patrick Abbruzzi
He saw Frank walk in but, unlike most partners who sat with each othe
r
during roll call, Frank chose to sit with other cops in the rear of th
e
room. A few minutes later, Sergeant Murphy entered and began the roll call. Roll call wa
s
informal because it was also part of in-service training, which meant you could sit while it was in session.
“
Pape,
”
called out the Sergeant.
“Here.”
“Auriama,” said the Sergeant.
“Present,” replied Tony.
“Sector AB, meal at 10:00 A.M., ring 27. Give special attention to Von BriesenPark for auto stripping,
”
said Sergeant Murphy.
These instructions to the sector team meant they were to take their food break at 10:00 A.M. Telling them that their ring was 27 simply meant that they had to call th
e
switchboard every hour at 27 minutes after the hour. The ring would b
e
recorded into a log that was maintained by the TS operator and was regularly inspected by the desk officer. Murphy also directed the secto
r
to pay special attention to any hot spots that might be occurring in thei
r
sector.
“Brownell,” Murphy continued.
“Present.”
“
Audenino.”
“Here,” answered John.
“Sector Eddie, meal at 8:00 A.M., ring 45.
“Listen up guys. When you turn out
,
take a ride over to St. Vinnie’s Hospital. There’s a footman guarding
a
prisoner in room A-123. One of you needs to remain with the prisoner while th
e
other drives the footman back to the station. I’ll get a day tour footman to relieve yo
u
as soon as I can,” ordered the Sergeant.
John acknowledged the order and Murphy continued with the rol
l
call. When completed, the Sergeant ordered the troops to open ranks and prepare for inspection, although it was the desk officer who usually gave th
e
order to carry this out.
The inspection went well. Murphy walke
d
up and down the ranks and muttered some things about haircuts and un-shined shoes, but he didn’t write anyone up.
The moment John had been waiting for was upon him. He was assigned as the operator for the first four hours and Frank was to be the recorder. I
t
would be John’s responsibility to retrieve the keys from the operator of th
e
previous tour and gas up the car as well as make all the required entrie
s
into the gas log, while Frank made sure he had the necessary forms since he would be doing all writing of the actual reports during th
e
first four hours.
Usually the previous sector teams would be waiting outside the station house on their respective relieving points and they would not ente
r
the station house until properly relieved. John learned right away tha
t
nobody used the relieving points. Instead, teams just pulled up anywhere that wa
s
convenient. If you did a good job no one gave a fuck but if you screwe
d
up, the brass would shove one up your ass for not being on the relievin
g
point.
John walked outside and saw that sector Eddie, which used RMP 1095 as it
s
steady car, was directly in front and Officers Peterson and Molloy were getting their gear out of the vehicle.
Peterson and Molloy had been partners for five years and were good street cops. As steady partners assigned to sector Eddie they were responsible fo
r
all crimes in their area. That is why just prior to going in to sign out
,
steady teams shared information about crime trends as well as what was goin
g
on to the incoming team. Peterson knew John was newly assigned an
d
spoke first.
“Welcome aboard, John,” Peterson said.
“Thanks, Bob.”
“Listen,” Bob said. “They’re stealing cars like crazy out of the parking lot next t
o
212 Broad Street.
”
Frank had descended the stairs from the station house and was als
o
listening to the conversation. “Any clues as to who it might be?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s probably Jeffrey Roberts. He’s the kid who lives on Gordo
n
Street near Broad Street. We grabbed him last month for grand larceny auto. He just likes to drive and steals cars to do it,” Bob explained.
“I’ll keep an eye out for him,” answered Frank.
John was a little taken aback by Frank’s remark. Instead of saying, ‘We’ll keep an eye out for him’ he had said, ‘I’ll keep an eye out for him’. It was almost as if John didn’t exist in Frank’s eyes. John attributed this to the fact that Frank had never worked with him o
n
a steady basis and it would just take a while for Frank to think of hi
m
as a partner.
Both Frank and John placed their attaché cases into the back seat of their patrol car and positioned their batons on the floor, wedged between their seats and doors so they would be readily accessible if the
y
needed them in a hurry. As John adjusted his seat and rearview mirror, Frank made a notation o
f
the car’s mileage then picked up the phone from its cradle and calle
d
C
entral.
“120-Eddie requesting a radio check,” he said into the receiver.
“I read you loud and clear. Five by five,” answered Central.
“Ten-four,” responded Frank.
With that, he got comfortable in his seat and fell silent. John put the vehicle in gear and pulled away from the curb, proceeding along Richmond Terrace towards Bay Street.
Out of the blue, Frank suddenly spoke.
“It’s easier to get to Saint Vincent’s Hospital if you turn around an
d
go along the Terrace to Lafayette Street and then along Henderson Avenue. The faster we get there, the faster we can get relieved and head over t
o
the sector.”
“Okay,” said John, smart enough to keep his mouth shut and listen and learn.
Les
s
than five minutes later he pulled up to the emergency room entrance of the hospital and Frank got out of the car without another word. He entered the building through the emergenc
y
entrance and made his way up to room A-123 which was on the fourth floo
r
in the old wing of the hospital. A few minutes later a cop John ha
d
never seen before came down and got into the car and John drove him bac
k
to the precinct to end his shift. John was surprised when he saw how refreshed the cop looked.
“How was your tour? Did you get many scratches from the Sergeant?” aske
d
John.
It was customary for the patrol sergeant to visit anyone who was assigne
d
to a detail in the precinct and to sign his memo book attesting to the fact that he had made his visits. Patrol sergeants also called variou
s
sectors during the tour and gave them a scratch.
“Sergeant Conroy came up about 1:00 A.M. but that was it. He’s a real prince. I got about four good hours. I just handcuffed the guy to hi
s
bed. He wasn’t going anywhere,” the wide awake cop explained with a smile.
John figured the cop had about seventeen years on the job and knew th
e
ropes. John dropped him off in front of the station house and drove bac
k
to the hospital. When he arrived at the emergency room entrance, Fran
k
was already waiting outside. The day man had apparently driven his private car to the hospital and relieved Frank. Taking your private vehicle to post was a violation of the Rules and procedures but sometimes, if you got a desolate post or fixer, it became your only have
n
to sit or get warm. Most bosses knew it was common practice but only asked that the ca
r
be parked out of sight or off post so as not to cause an embarrassment.
When John pulled the RMP up to the hospital entrance, Frank got in and again did not say a word, so they headed out to Stapleton, which was their sector. He didn’t know wha
t
Frank wanted and he questioned himself about whether he should get coffee first o
r
check out the sector. John didn’t want to appear like a rookie so h
e
decided to just drive the sector until Frank said something, if anything at all. As he negotiated the turn ou
t
of the hospital’s parking lot and headed down Bard Avenue to the Terrace, John hoped they would get a radio run.
Richmond Terrace ran from the Saint George Ferry terminal westward along the north shore of the entire borough of Staten Island. It bordered th
e
body of water known as the Kill Van Kull which separated New York an
d
New Jersey. It was a very busy water route for tankers and carrier
s
bringing oil and cargo to Howland Hook, a drop off point for the entir
e
north eastern seaboard.
John felt good behind the wheel and was happy he had been chosen fo
r
this seat and especially this sector which was considered one of the busiest in the precinct. He drove carefully but just a little bit belo
w
the speed limit. A radio car was supposed to observe its surrounding
s
no matter where it was. After all, the shields that all cops wear sa
y
City of New York, not just sector Eddie of the 120
th
precinct. He als
o
liked the area around Saint Vincent’s Hospital, also known as Randall Manor.
Randall Manor was largely comprised of huge Victorian style homes with enormou
s
pieces of property. In the latter part of the 19
th
century and th
e
early part of the 20
th
century, Captains of whaling vessels lived in most of the homes.
Descendants of Cornelius Vanderbilt, a shipping magnate who was buried on Staten Island, originall
y
owned much of the property in the area. Cornelius had bee
n
entombed in Moravian Cemetery which was in the 122
nd
precinct an
d
adjoined the 120
th
.
The ride along the Terrace back to Stapleton took no more than te
n
minutes and, not surprisingly, Frank did not say a word the entire time. When John reached the intersection of Bay Street and Water Street, which was the star
t
of Sector Eddie’s boundary, Frank quickly and violently reached ove
r
to the vehicles shift lever on the steering column and threw the lever into drive.
“For Christ’s sake if you’re going to drive then drive the car in th
e
right fucking gear! You’ve been driving in second gear ever since yo
u
left the fucking hospital,” he screamed.
John felt like sliding under the seat right there.
“Maybe I’m not fit to be a sector car driver,” he thought dejectedly.
With that, a transmission from Central rang out over the car’s radio.
“120-David,” said the female dispatcher.
“120-David standing by,” Frankie Catalano’s voice answered over the radio.
“David, respond to 180
Parkhill Avenue, Apt. 6C, on shots fired,” the dispatcher directed.
“Ten-four,” responded Catalano, acknowledging the call.
“120-Eddie,” came the voice of the same dispatcher.
John’s partner Frank picked the phone out of its cradle and responded back.
“120-Eddie, standing by,” he answered, knowing full well that Central was going to direct them to back up sector David at the Parkhill apartment.
“Eddie, also respond with sector David to shots fired at 180
Parkhill Avenue, Apt. 6C,” directed the dispatcher.
“Eddie, ten-four,” Frank responded without a hint of emotion.
John felt the butterflies in his stomach rising up to his throat an
d
wanted to ask Frank if there was anything he should do. It was commo
n
practice for partners, whose very lives depended on each other, to spea
k
to each other while on route to a heavy job and formulate some plan o
f
action. However, after the debacle with the shift lever, John decided to keep his mouth shut.