www.qns.com APRIL 22, 2022 22RIDGEWOOD TIMES
Seeking justice for a good cop slain in Ridgewood
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
At about 8 p.m. on the night of Jan.
21, 1986, two undercover detectives
assigned to the NYPD Organized
Crime Control Bureau were hot on the
trail of a reputed mobster operating an
illegal gaming parlor in Ridgewood.
Detectives Anthony J. Venditti and
Karen Burke were staking out Federico
(aka Fritzy) Giovanelli as part of an ongoing
investigation into mob activities in
the area. It was part of the NYPD’s ongoing
war on organized crime, a routine
operation that the bureau’s detectives
use to gather important information on
mafia operations.
What happened that night, however,
was anything but routine — and ended
with a murder that shocked the entire
city.
The two detectives trailed Giovanelli
to a location in the area of Myrtle and St.
Nicholas avenues. Venditti then walked
into what was then Castillo’s Diner and
back out moments later.
Upon exiting the restaurant, he was
confronted by Giovanelli and two associates,
who shoved him against a
wall. Burke saw this, exited her vehicle
and went to his aid while letting out a
warning.
But seconds later, the suspects pulled
out guns and opened fire at the two detectives.
Venditti was hit four times — twice
in the head, and twice in the back — while
Burke was shot in the chest. The crew
then fled the scene.
Burke was critically injured but managed
to recover, but Venditti could not be
saved.
It was a tragic end to what former Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly described
in 2011 was “a stellar career in the Police
Department.” Venditti earned 17 departmental
commendations in just 14 years
on duty. In death, Venditti would earn
another distinction: the NYPD Medal of
Honor, the highest award given to an officer,
which was presented posthumously.
The people of Ridgewood wouldn’t
forget Venditti. They would rename the
intersection of Myrtle and St. Nicholas
avenues as Detective Anthony J. Venditti
Square, which would become one of the
neighborhood’s most notable points of
interest. The plaza was first opened in
1989, and then rededicated in 2011, 25
Illustration by Robert Pozarycki
years after the detective’s death. Many
of Venditti’s family members joined
Police Commissioner Kelly, numerous
high-ranking NYPD officials local elected
officials and other dignitaries in attending
the rededication ceremony.
As for Giovanelli and the suspects who
allegedly gunned down the detective that
fateful evening in 1986, police would
catch up to them quickly. Giovanelli,
along with Steven Maltese and Carmine
Gualtiere, were arrested shortly after the
shooting — but bringing justice to them
would not be easy.
The first trial against the three men
ended with a hung jury; in fact, one of
the jurors was later charged with and
convicted of perjury for lying when
questioned under oath that a member
of his family hadn’t been arrested or
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