Dec 22, 2008 7:18 pm US/Eastern
4 Charged With Manslaughter In Deutsche Fatal Fire
3 Construction Supervisors & Subcontractor Indicted On Manslaughter Charges In 2007 Deaths Of 2 Firefighters
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The Former Deutsche Bank Building at Ground Zero. The Fire Department of New York has issued a report that details a litany of problems at a fire here one year ago that killed two firefighters.
AP
Manslaughter charges were announced Monday 16 months after the Deutsche Bank fire that killed two New York City firefighters.
But as CBS 2 HD found out, critics of the indictments say only the so-called little guys are targeted.
Indicted Monday were three men involved in the demolition of the building -- Mitchell Alvo, Jeffrey Melofchik, and Salvatore DePaola.
"I mean the fact is everybody who could screw up did screw up here," Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. "I mean major mistakes were made."
But Morgenthau ended up going after just the just demolition subcontractor, John Galt Corp, and the three construction supervisors. They pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Killed in the fire were two firefighters, Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino, trapped by blocked stairwells in a building that had its hydrant standpipe severed during demolition. Morgenthau said going after the city for failing to inspect would have been fruitless because the city has sovereign immunity.
"If we tried to litigate with the city we would have never gotten changes we succeeded in getting," Morgenthau said.
The father of Firefighter Graffagnino was not satisfied.
"I feel it's a very tiny step," Joseph Graffagnino Sr. said. "The real justice is in going after those who make this happen, allowed this to happen -- the landlord and general contractor."
The head of firefighters union said FDNY brass dropped the ball.
"Firefighters had no way out," Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Stephen Cassidy said. "If the city had done what it was supposed to it would have never happened."
The city has agreed to dedicate a force of 25 inspectors who will survey work being done on buildings going up and buildings coming down.
The district attorney said Monday's indictments deal solely with the firefighters' deaths. Another grand jury is meeting to consider possible fraud charges in the Deutsche Bank building case.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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