Absent Friends

The war on the other side of the world was shown in grainy photos of blossoming explosions. A story on a Pentagon briefing quoted a spokesman telling reporters that the situation was too security-sensitive for him to tell reporters anything. At home, in the twisted, smoking ruins of Ground Zero, eight firefighters were pictured saluting a flag-draped stretcher that carried the remains of one of the three bodies recovered yesterday. No one knew where the anthrax was coming from, no one knew whether the air downtown was safe to breathe, and no one knew what they would find as they pulled the rubble pile apart shovel by shovel and ton by ton. No one knew.

In the Times the Harry Randall story was inside, in the Nation Challenged section with all the other September 11–related news. Reporter Dies in Suicide Plunge from Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Wrote Series of Articles About Hero Firefighter. Phil shook his head. Son of a bitch. He hadn't liked Randall, hadn't liked him at all, but, shit, couldn't a guy even die without the glow of Jimmy McCaffery's halo throwing him into shadow?

He scanned the Times story. He didn't know why he was reading it, and he didn't learn anything from it. The Post and the Daily News were pretty much the same, fewer words, more pictures.

The Tribune was different. They carried the story, with Randall's photo, on the front page, just below the fold. The headline was different, too, a clear shot across someone's bow. Whose? Good question. Phil propped the paper against the ketchup bottle and read every word.

From the New York Tribune, October 31, 2001

REPORTER DIES IN FALL FROM

VERRAZANO BRIDGE WROTE SERIES OF

ARTICLES ABOUT HERO FIREFIGHTER

Connection Suspected Between Death of Tribune's

Harry Randall and Organized Crime

Firefighter May Be Link

by Hugh Jesselson

Sources tell the New York Tribune that the October 30 death of Tribune reporter Harry Randall, previously listed as a suicide, may be related to organized crime elements based on Staten Island.

Harold Randall, a widely respected investigative journalist and three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, fell to his death from the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Randall's death is now being investigated for possible connection to a series of articles he was working on for the Tribune. Revolving around the life of FDNY Captain James McCaffery, who led Ladder Co. 62 and died in the September 11 collapse of the World Trade Center's north tower, this unfinished series, according to sources, might have traced a relationship between Capt. McCaffery and reputed organized crime figure Edward Spano. If this relationship exists, police sources say, “There would be some justification for reexamining the evidence in the death of Harry Randall.”

The first two articles in Randall's series focused on the heroism and legacy of Capt. McCaffery. In the third article, which appeared in the Tribune the day before his death, Randall began to probe the source of payments made over the past two decades to Sally Keegan, widow of Capt. McCaffery's childhood friend Mark Keegan. These payments were not, as claimed by both Capt. McCaffery and prominent New York defense attorney Phillip Constantine from the State of New York. Their true source has yet to be disclosed.

Keegan died at the age of 24 in prison, where he had been sentenced in connection with the shooting death of Jonathan “Jack” Molloy, 25. Phillip Constantine has admitted being the conduit through which the mysterious payments were made to the Keegan family, and has also admitted being acquainted with James McCaffery. He has refused further comment on the matter. The Tribune has learned that the State Ethics Commission has opened an investigation into Constantine's activities. Constantine has been investigated by the Ethics Commission on three previous occasions; none of these investigations resulted in disciplinary action.

Attention is focusing on Edward Spano, a Staten Island developer and reputed organized crime figure. Spano denies any connection between himself and Constantine, the late Mark Keegan, or McCaffery. However, Keegan, McCaffery, and Spano grew up together in Pleasant Hills on Staten Island, along with two other major figures in the case: Jack Molloy, the victim, and Marian Gallagher, who heads the More Art, New York! Foundation. In addition to being McCaffery's former fiancee, Gallagher is a member of the Downtown Redevelopment Advisory Council and is also executive director of the recently formed McCaffery Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization created in the wake of September 11.

The Fund, which has reportedly reached a half-million dollars in pledges and contributions, has as its mission support of FDNY outreach and recruiting efforts. As reported in Randall's October 29 article, Gallagher, under pressure from FDNY leadership, has temporarily suspended accepting contributions until the questions surrounding McCaffery are answered. Gallagher, who told the Tribune she has no doubt that the allegations about McCaffery would be quickly cleared up, is reported to have broken off her engagement to him soon after Mark Keegan's death in prison. She claims to know nothing about the payments to Sally Keegan.

Thomas Molloy, asked about a possible relationship between his brother and Edward Spano, said, “Back then, my father ran some shady businesses. Jack and I both thought that kind of life was exciting. But after Jack died, I saw things differently. I've spent my life trying to live down some of the things they did, Dad and Jack. Trying to prove a Molloy can be respectable.”

Police sources who study organized crime on Staten Island tell the Tribune that the criminal enterprises directed by Jack Molloy “faded away” after his death, and that those of his father, Michael Molloy—known as “Big Mike” or “Mike the Bear”—were disbanded. Thomas Molloy has no criminal record. For the past twenty years he has been involved in a variety of successful Staten Island business ventures, and he is a contributor to many charitable causes. “I'm just doing what I have to do,” he said. “My family and I live in this community. Like I said, it sort of makes up for Dad and Jack.”

About Spano's relationship with Jack Molloy, Thomas Molloy said, “Dad and Jack didn't have anything on the Spanos. If anyone had any kind of criminal empire in those days—though I think that's overdramatic—it was Aldo Spano. He passed it on to Eddie.” Asked whether his half-brother may have run afoul of Aldo or Edward Spano, Molloy admitted that was possible.

On the question of the payments made to Sally Keegan, Molloy refused to speculate. “Jimmy McCaffery was a good friend of mine when we were kids. Just because suing the state was his idea doesn't mean he knew anything about the lies that happened later. We were all taken in, it looks like.”

“This is the story Harry Randall was working on when he died,” Tribune investigative journalist Laura Stone told reporters. “Only this one, the McCaffery story. If his death wasn't suicide, it's logical to wonder what the connection is. Although he wasn't specific, Harry Randall had, in the past few days, expressed