Detective Association President Paul DiGiacomo’s final job as head of the union was a labor of love.
He wanted to ensure that the bill, introduced in the name of Detective Brian Simonsen, who was killed during a robbery at a cell phone store in Queens in 2019, would be signed into law by Governor Hockal.
The bill would require phone companies to disable cell phones that have been reported stolen, so that criminals cannot sell them to pawn shops after a robbery like the one that killed Simonsen.
“If a phone is stolen, the cell phone company shuts it down within a certain period of time so that it has no value on the black market,” said DiGiacomo, who will retire as president at the end of this month at age 62. “Today, phones sell for between $400 and $1,000 on the black market.”
Supporters of the bill believe the measure will reduce burglaries, thefts and larcenies.
Simonsen was killed at a T-Mobile store in 2019 after a robber pointed what appeared to be a handgun at Simonsen, causing a police officer standing outside the corner store’s glass exterior to fire, hitting the officer.
DiGiacomo said the bill is on Hoeckle’s desk awaiting his signature.
“He didn’t have to go to work that day,” DiGiacomo said, noting that he had seen the married 42-year-old officer at a union meeting earlier, “but he went to work, practiced this robbery pattern and lost his life.”
DiGiacomo served as an NYPD officer and detective for 42 years and saw many friends and colleagues killed in shootouts during his time as a young officer with the Brooklyn South Task Force and the Brooklyn Crime Unit during the crack mafia epidemic of the 1980s.
“I remember [P.O.] “Keith Williams was shot and killed,” he said of the murder in 1989. “It was a huge loss for a lot of families at that time.”
DiGiacomo, whose father, Paul, was a police officer, became close friends with many of the widows of officers killed in the line of duty.
That led him to become a representative for the Police Benevolent Association and later the DEA.
Now, a file on his desk holds the names and phone numbers of every family member of an officer killed in the line of duty.
They are all posthumously promoted to detective and give their loved ones better treatment.
DiGiacomo arranged for detectives who died from COVID-19 to receive martyrs’ benefits.
“I called it the ‘invisible bullet,'” he said. “The ranks of detectives were the ones that were hit the hardest. We lost eight of our members in a matter of weeks.”
He also takes credit for the detectives’ deal.
Under his leadership, members received raises.
Now he’s concerned about a sharp increase in the number of guns ending up in the hands of criminals.
“Bail reform laws have made criminals more emboldened, more willing to carry guns like they did in the ’80s,” he said, leading to deaths like that of Officer Jonathan Diller earlier this year.
“It was another very sad day,” he said, recalling meeting Diller’s widow and new mother at the hospital. “It’s something that’s burned into my mind.”
He said leaving the ministry and the union was “bittersweet.”
“I’m going to miss it,” the father of two said, “It’s been a big part of my life for 42 years.”
