4 JULY 21 - JULY 27, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Lookout in 1978 Bay Ridge cop
slaying granted freedom prior
to upcoming street renaming
BY MEAGHAN MCGOLDRICK
MMCGOLDRICKBROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
Less than one month a er the
mayor signed into law a bill
that would rename a busy
Bay Ridge street corner in memory
of the 68th Precinct oficer who
died protecting it, Patrolman David
Guttenberg's killer’s accomplice was
released from parole.
Pablo “Paul” Costello, 61, who was
paroled in 2014, was released from
parole without any supervision on
Friday, July 7 – just two days a er
NYPD O cer Miosotis Familia was
shot in the head while sitting in a
marked police truck in the Bronx.
“The timing is terrible,” said 68th
Precinct Auxiliary O cer Christian
Durante who, with full support from
the fallen o cer’s family, spearheaded
the movement to memorialize
Guttenberg earlier this year. “It’s a
travesty of justice. He shouldn’t have
been released in the fi rst place, and
to release parole supervision in the
same week that Detective Familia
was murdered for wearing the same
uniform as Patrolman David Guttenberg
is an outrage.”
On December 29, 1978, Costello
acted as a lookout outside the Dyker
Auto Supply Shop while his accomplice
Luis Angel Torres held up two
employees at gunpoint. Guttenberg’s
end of watch came minutes later
when, with the intention of avoiding
giving a ticket to a double-parked car
during the holidays, he entered the
auto parts store – then located near
the corner of Seventh Avenue and
86th Street – to fi nd the car’s owner,
and was instead shot three times in
the chest and heart.
Despite rescue efforts by both
passersby and fi rst responders – including
the late Larry Morrish who,
according to State Senator Marty
Golden, attempted to resuscitate the
fallen o cer – Guttenberg died just a
couple of blocks away from the crime
scene, at the old Victory Memorial
Hospital, in the arms of his wife,
Barbara.
Guttenberg was just 49 years old
– 19 of those spent serving the New
York City Police Department – and
le behind four children. He was one
year from retirement at the time of
his slaying.
In 1980, a judge sentenced both
Costello and Torres to life in prison
which, at that time meant at least a
lifetime of state supervision, even if
paroled. Torres died in confi nement
in 1996. Subsequently, in 2008, the
law was changed to allow discretionary
li ing of parole even for convicts
serving a maximum life term.
Now, three years a er his release
from prison,
Torres’ partner
in-crime
is a free man,
despite pleas to
the state Department
of Corrections and Community
Supervision from Guttenberg’s
daughter Helaine Guttenberg-Ginsberg,
who was just 18 when her father
was murdered.
“It’s a shame that he got parole,
especially a er the death of O cer
Familia,” said Golden, a former NYPD
o cer who served his city at the
time of the shooting. The local pol
recalled Familia’s funeral earlier this
week, noting that the same family
members that stood up on stage at
the service crying their hearts out
are now “probably by themselves,
going through something very, very
terrible.
“And that’s what this man did to
Guttenberg’s family when he helped
take his life,” he went on. “He le that
family the same way that this family
has been le – without a parent. It’s
unbelievable that they would allow
this criminal back into the community
where he took a life that meant
so much to so many people.”
“I strongly condemn the decision
by the state Department of Corrections
and Community Supervision
to release Costello, the getaway
driver in the Oficer Guttenberg
murder, from parole supervision,"
said Councilmember Vincent Gentile.
"I have always been steadfast on
law and order issues, and a robust
supporter of our NYPD,
and this is certainly an
instance where I feel
very strongly that the
wrong decision was
made.”
Under the shadow of
the parole board's decision
and with heavy
hearts – and a freshly
minted signature from
the mayor —Bay Ridge
is pushing forward
with its forthcoming
tribute to its hero in
blue.
Later this year, the
northwest corner of
Seventh Avenue and 86th Street
will be co-named “Patrolman David
Guttenberg Way” at a ceremony that,
Durante says, will include relatives
of Guttenberg’s from across the
country.
“The greatest gi we can give someone
when they leave us is remembering
them,” said Durante. “This street
renaming is not the end of the story
of Patrolman David Guttenberg, but
rather the continuation of his legacy.”
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/ le photos
The Guttenberg funeral; inset, Patrolman
David Guttenberg.