How I Became a NYC Patrolman

I was a senior at Iona College and I was married and already had my first daughter, with my beloved wife Anita. One day I saw a large flier in the lunch room for the upcoming NYC Patrolman exam. Well, I took the exam and scored 100%. I used to pump gas and was a part time auto mechanic. I loved working on cars but I did not like getting my hands dirty, in those days you did wear gloves but washed your hands with gasoline and a strong soap. I didn’t want to go to Vietnam which was heating up as I had a kid already.

Note, upon graduation from my high school, Monsignor McClancy in Queens, I tried to enlist in the US Air Force as I wanted to be a fighter pilot. I failed the fighter physical and I gave up my desire. I now would give the Police Department a try. On October 25,1968 I was sworn in and assigned shield # 28179. It was a first issue as the City was expanding the police Department.

For the next 4 months I was assigned to the Police Academy. It was here that I learned police procedures, firearm training and police discipline. Probably one of the most important items was how to search a prisoner for hidden weapons and how to cuff two prisoners with one set of handcuffs. This would aid me in my first arrest in the 30th Precinct. More on that later.

It was in the academy that I met Carl. He was a fellow Rocky like Italian who could not run like Rocky. Actually me and another officer had to carry him during the final qualifying run. Upon graduation he arranged for our class to join him in Rao’s restaurant. As Carl was related to the owner, he said just buck up for the tip. At the end of the dinner, we said good byes and said what precincts we were assigned to. Out of a class of 1000, I was the only one assigned to the 30th Precinct in west Harlem, and as Robert Frost said in the road not taken, that made all the difference.

Note, I was a Patrolman, Ptl., the term Police Officer, PO, would come later as the department encouraged females to join the force.


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Capo

Soon after I made Sergeant, the precinct Commanding Officer took notice of my work ethic. He promoted me to the prestigious post of Anti crime Supervisor. In this capacity I would supervise two shifts of plainclothes officers who were assigned to address serious crimes; ie, Robbery, gun possession and burglary. Soon after I got this assignment I got a 10-2 (report to command) this was not usually good. What had I or one of my officers done? Well this was different as there was a contingent of Hasidic men talking to the boss. It seems that their mother had her purse snatched and some one had called her and said they had the purse. They thought this was a trap. Since I had grown the Anti crime beard, they wanted me to dress up black hat and long coat and recover the purse. Well we arranged for the exchange and everything went ok, as an elderly Puerto Rican family was the ones who had called. We got the purse and gave them a few bucks. All of a sudden, one of my Italian officers said, “Hey Capo, can we go now”. No sooner had he said that, the elderly mother, who was a Holocaust survivor snapped to attention and with her head bowed said, “German Nazi, where is he”. She was frozen as she had a flash back to Auschwitz, one of her sons told her, ”no mom he is the good Kapo, who takes care of the community. The name Capo stayed with me for the rest of my career.

In1986 I was transferred to the Brooklyn South Narcotics Division. About a year later one of my lieutenants in the 90th precinct was now a Deputy inspector and assigned to our unit. After about a month, he had a meeting and commented on our work performance. However, he then said he had a gripe in that he thought that the use of nicknames was unprofessional. Turning to me he said isn’t that right Sgt. Capo. Well all the bosses and investigators started to snicker and laugh. Again he looked at me and said what’s up, I respectfully said Sir, my name is Sgt. DeStefano not Sgt. Capo. He lowered his head and turned around and simply said carry on. He called me into his office and I had to explain how I became the Capo. He laughed and said all these years I thought you were Sgt Capo. 

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