Lieutenant Keegan’s story was infamous throughout the department. His was a story taught in the Police Academy for nearly two decades since his assassination back in 1995. Keegan had been a highly decorated Lieutenant working in the department’s Joint Terrorist Task Force. He singlehandedly took down a terrorist cell that was bent on blowing up the federal courthouse in Brooklyn in retaliation for harsh sentences in the first World Trade Center bombing. The Islamic terrorists first assassinated the judge who presided over the case and then some months later detonated a car bomb, killing Keegan in front of his Long Island home. While the NYPD was never able to arrest Keegan’s killer, they did say he was killed by US forces in a drone strike in Pakistan in 2007.
Galvin decided he’d like to know more about Timothy Keegan and his father’s legend. Once he got to the six-seven, he’d be sure to introduce himself to Keegan. If there was anything Galvin could do to help the son of a hero cop killed in the line of duty, he would do it. Galvin glanced back down at the personnel orders and smiled before folding them twice and inserting them into the plastic pocket, inside of his uniform hat. He slid it behind Laurie Bando’s prayer card.
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Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank a long time friend of mine, David Joachim, who is the weekend Washington editor for the New York Times. Dave has answered and endless amount of questions and emails for me so that I may have a better understanding of the behind the scenes, day to day operations of a newspaper as well as the common jargon used in his profession. While everything that I wrote regarding the newspapers may not be one hundred percent accurate, the only reason that I was able to present an even close representation of the way the newspaper is operated is because of his valued guidance and insight. Thank you for your time and insight Dave.
I’d also like to thank all of those men and women around our great country that put on uniforms everyday to make us safe from the evil doers of the world. In particular I’d like to thank my brothers and sisters in blue with the NYPD. Please wear your vests and stay safe out there. Come home to your families every night and look forward to your retirement. Please also keep in mind all of the first responders who are still being diagnosed and tragically passing away from the attacks of September 11, 2001.
In Memoriam
While all of my characters are in fact made up, there were two minor characters in The Blue Executions that were based on people very dear to me that have passed on.
The first was the Emergency Service Lieutenant, Lt. Pelosi. Lieutenant Pelosi’s character was based off and in memory of Jimmy Pelosi. Jimmy was one of my cops in my Street Narcotics Enforcement team. Jimmy was a big strong man with a gentle smile. He was the type of cop that other cops aspired to be like. Jimmy had the rare combination of street smarts, the gift of gab (which made him great during interrogations), and the fortitude to see things got done. Those are some of the things that made Jimmy one of the best cops that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Jimmy not only had all of those attributes but he was the type of cop to push others aside to be the first one through a door, not knowing what would be on the other side. Jimmy was a true leader among his peers. It was for these reasons that I named the ESU Lieutenant after Jimmy. Jimmy sadly passed away in 2002 at the age of 36.
The next character was Police Commissioner Czartoryski. Commissioner Czartoryski was named for my very first radio car partner, Kevin Czartoryski. Kevin was a giant of a man at six foot six but his height pales in comparison to his personality and his heart. Anyone who knew Kevin would tell you that he was the life of any party. He was the type of person that would do anything for anybody; the type of person that you couldn’t find anybody who could possibly say anything bad about. Anyone whose life was touched by Kevin was a better person for having known him. When we were both rookies Kevin would tell me that his aspirations on the NYPD were to one day become the Police Commissioner. As his career progressed, Kevin took the investigative route rather than the promotional route. He achieved the rank of Detective First Grade, in my opinion, the most prestigious rank in the entire department. As my tribute to Kevin in The Blue Executions, I decided to fulfill his legacy by making him the Police Commissioner. Kevin died in 2010 at the age of 46 from 9/11 related cancer.
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