NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/misc/emergse/5875

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Date:         Tue, 12 Jan 1993 03:14:01 -0500
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From:         Daniel Burstein <[e-mail]>
Subject:      firefighters charged with arson
Lines: 147

(the community of Syosset is located on Long Island, about 30 miles East
of New York City)

from: Newsday, various editions in the NYC area

subject: Nassau County volunteer firefighters charged in setting
fires (no injuries, property damage only)

title: 5 Syosset (Long Island - NYC suburb) Charged in Arson Cases
by: by Carol Eisenberg, Thursday 01/07/1993

Five Syosset volunteer firefighters, including a dispatcher for the
fire district, were charged yesterday with arson in connection with 10
fires set in empty buildings, cars and even a school bus, in what a
colleague said may have been a case of "hero syndrome."

"I think it may be a case where personal glory was put ahead of
public service," said Assistant District Attorney Tim Calonita. "We're
not prosecuting firefighters. These guys stopped being firefighters the
day they set their first fire. We're prosecuting arsonists."

The five men, who have either resigned or been suspended, have an
average of about two years^ experience as firefighters. They pleaded not
guilty to felony arson charges yesterday and were released on bail
pending a Jan. 15 court appearance. If convicted, each faces a maximum
of five to 15 years on each count.

John Broderick, the attorney for defendant Robert Manfredonia, 20, of
43 Arbor Rd., Syosset, said of his client, "He's presumed to be innocent
and we'll see how the case develops." Lawyers for the four others either
had no comment or could not be reached.

Investigators declined to speculate about motive, except to say they
had virtually ruled out financial gain, including insurance payoffs.
"There's a million possible reasons, but we don't believe it was for
profit," said Sgt. Thomas Kinirons of the Nassau Arson and Bomb Squad,
which conducted a six-month investigation with the fire marshal's
office. "All I can tell you is these five people crossed over to the
other side. We have them either individually or together starting 10
fires."

Colleagues said suspicions were aroused by the type, times and
locations of the fires, and by who responded first.

"Who's going to pay them to burn an abandoned car or to set a
Dumpster on fire?" asked John R. Lewis, attorney for the Syosset Fire
District. "I'm not saying this was their motive. But wouldn't it be nice
to be the first to arrive at the scene and put out the fire and make a
reputation among your peers? It's the hero syndrome. They want to excel
in their jobs. How do you do that but by being there first?"

The fires, set between June and November in two vacant buildings,
an unoccupied mobile home, an empty school bus behind Walt Whitman
School on Woodbury Road and in six cars, caused no injuries. The
arrests, which included one lieutenant, left the department in shock.

"We've all taken a shot in the solar plexus because of this thing,"
said Lewis. "They worked with these guys. They lived with these guys.
They played with these guys. How could they turn around and jeopardize
our lives?"

Morale has suffered, too, out of concern that the alleged actions
of a few would tarnish the many, he said. "Because of a small group,
they're all getting hurt. But we still have 123 people who lay their
life on the line . . . "

Those arrested were:
  Lieut. Jonathan Laifer, 23, of 19 Seward Dr., Woodbury. Laifer, a
supervisor for an ambulette service in Islip, was charged with six
counts of arson.

 Jonathan Leviten, 20, of 220 Saddle Lane, Muttontown. Leviten, a
parking attendant in Huntington, was charged with eight counts.

 Louis Tanazzo, 19, of 11 Comet Rd., Syosset, a computer processor,
charged with two counts.

 Douglas Share, 20, of 42 Hicks Ave., Syosset, a dispatcher for the
Syosset Fire District, charged with one count.

 Manfredonia,  a dock worker, one count.

 Tanazzo and Laifer resigned from the department on Tuesday.

Manfredonia, Share and Leviten were suspended yesterday by Syosset Fire
Chief Dale Canes, pending a hearing.
---------------
title: Were 5 Firefighters Bored?
by: by Susan Forest Friday 01/08/1993

The five volunteer firefighters charged with arson in connection with
10 fires in Syosset and Woodbury were not motivated by the so-called
"hero syndrome," investigators speculated yesterday, but simply may have
been bored.

In statements that the five volunteer Syosset firefighters have given
to Nassau fire and police investigators, they admit to starting the
fires in abandoned buildings and motor vehicles from June to November
but offer little or no explanation. All five have either resigned as
volunteer firefighters or have been suspended.

"There was nothing to single out, no common reason from the five
defendants for starting those fires, other than the fact of raising
their level of activity," said one law-enforcement source. "They wanted
to put fires out."

But John R. Lewis, the Syosset Fire District's attorney, noted that
the department received 1,316 calls in 1992, although how many of those
calls involved fires was not available yesterday. "But how bored could
they be?" he said. "The motive is anyone's guess. It's all
speculation."

Lewis added that the more than 120 colleagues of the five men "are
extremely angry and hurt at them. The bottom line is it gave everyone in
the department a black eye, and it was a betrayal . . . "

The arrests came, Lewis said, after colleagues at the fire department
slowly became suspicious of the five men as early as September and
turned over their names and other information to the Nassau County Fire
Marshal's Office and the Arson-Bomb Squad of Nassau police. Sources
confirmed that tips from other firefighters led to the arrests. "The
department fully cooperated in this case," Lewis said.

Supervising Fire Marshal Investigator Stephen Wenk said the hero
syndrome  -  where someone starts a fire in order to become a hero by
rescuing people or alerting them to the blaze  -   has been ruled out,
as well as any motive involving profit or revenge. Wenk said the 10
fires were set in abandoned buildings and abandoned motor vehicles,
members of the public reported the fires and the five suspects drove
back to one of the three fire houses in the district and then went back
to the fire with their respective engine companies.

Assistant Chief Fire Marshal Tom Tilley said, "How are you a hero if
you put out a fire in an abandoned car? It just doesn't fit the program
. . . We still don't know if it evolved out of a prank. It's all
speculation right now."

The men, ranging in age from 19 to 23, were charged Wednesday with
various counts of felony arson and are free on bail pending a return to
court Friday. They had been volunteer firefighters in Syosset for an
average of two years.

Said Fire Marshal investigator Vincent J. McManus, "To have this many
people involved in such a prank is highly unusual." Det. Peter Pfeifer,
a police arson investigator, said the investigation is continuing into
other suspicious fires in the Syosset area. He declined to comment
further.