I am beyond sick of Manny Grossman so let's shift our attention to The Untold Truth of The Son of Sam by Paul Agostino. For background information on Paul and an overview of his memoir, please refer to the Amazon link posted.
Full disclosure: I have had a cordial relationship with the author, Mr. Agostino, for the past several months. I have no personal animus towards Paul. This will not be a simple hit piece that can easily be written off as penned by just another hater/Terry Head.
We will drill down on the material because I feel his book warrants the attention but there will be no personal attacks on Paul.
And honestly, I found the book to be absolutely spellbinding but not for the reasons that were surely intended.
Okay, enough jibber-jabber, let's jump in.
Paul’s memoir reads like it was designed to clear the names of the Carr family (those saints), various members of Maury's "22 Disciples" and the Yonkers PD.
However, what stood out to me the most is that we’ve basically been handed a strong reason to believe the City of Yonkers conducted a major cover-up in the aftermath of David's arrest. We’re told they acted admirably, but one could easily beg to differ.
On pages 66 and 67, we learn that, "all Yonkers files on the Son of Sam case were ruined in a flood, stolen, or turned over to the NYPD." Fast-forward to page 188 where Paul is handed a Son of Sam file that he refers to as the "turning point" in his investigation. The report came by way of Paul's good friend Police Chief Monaco, which was handed to Monaco by one of his detectives.
Authored by Yonkers Detectives Anthony Cerasi and Joe Surlack, this undated report reads like a timeline of the "official story" of David Berkowitz and the role he played in the Son of Sam attacks. They begin with David's birth and adoption and carry the reader through to September 1, 1977. What makes this day noteworthy is stated as follows:
"On September 1, 1977, Yonkers Police Department advised their Corporation Council that no material is to be released to any agency because of the pending lawsuits against the city."
Paul tells us that the report is "unofficial" and by the conclusion I understand why, but there we have it - no cooperation due to pending lawsuits.
After sending copies of the Surlak/Cerasi report to a Son of Sam survivor, Paul noted, "no one in the history of the case had ever gotten Yokners law enforcement to cooperate with information."
That's unfortunate. And that is not a feather in the cap of the City of Yonkers.
Over the years, how many people have been stonewalled and denied "ruined or stolen" files, yet suddenly files fall into the lap of a sympathetic City of Yonkers employee?
As for the report itself, I'm really not sure why Paul finds it so noteworthy. It's the official story. It even leaves out anything about the Neto's being harassed before Berkowitz moved to Yonkers. It is sold to us as very important, it has somehow validated Paul's investigation, but I think it's a red herring.
On April 7, 2022, Paul is handed more. These are touted as "the lost Son of Sam files" from the Yonkers PD files. A whopping 71 pages that consists of:
*Photos from the inside of David's apartment
*A transcript of Wheat Carr's entire phone conversation with NYC Detective James Justus
*David Berkowitz's arrest records
*An inventory of items seized
*17 handwritten letters by David Berkowitz
That's it? Yonkers PD was afraid to share any of this prior? Makes you wonder what else might be "lost or stolen". Or simply hidden.
NEXT UP: I haven't decided, lol. But there's plenty more where this came from.
Comments and questions always welcome.
@Nathan
ReplyDeleteI'd like some clarification why Paul Agostino failed to include that Tocco Grady owned the Unicorn Bar in Yonkers. I can't find this piece of information anywhere in his book. Correct me if I'm missing it.
I feel like the Unicorn bar is highly relevant, because I was personally told about this bar by one of Paul Agostinos' friends during the spring of 2023 and was told by this person that the Unicorn Bar was tied to cult involvement and drug trafficking. This person did not tell me who the owner was but instead claimed he was looking into who owned the property. This was well before I had access to Maury Terry's documents and others. I mention this because this person I spoke with about the Unicorn actively badgered me to question someone in particular about the Unicorn Bar, but I didn't do it for numerous reasons. . .bad vibes. Well documented.
There is also no clarification why Tocco was handing out drugs to people for free in the book. This is often done for a reason, specifically when human trafficking is involved. People don't just hand out drugs for free, you know?
This chapter alone, I walked away feeling very unsatisfied and annoyed, especially with new information I've been provided recently that ties in Tocco Grady to a minimum of one to two other associates through police reports. I'm still actively working on it and can't share at this point.
Coke was super-expensive in the 70’s. Handing it out like Santa didn’t make any sense to me either.
DeleteBtw, more than once, as I read, I couldn’t help but ask, who told Paul it was a good idea to say this or say that. We’ll be getting into that stuff later because like I said- “spellbinding”.
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