Chapter Two

0:00Speaker 1:This series is based on the real events of 9-11. However, names, incidents, locations, and dialogue have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes. This series contains strong language and profanity, and scenes that some listeners could find disturbing.

0:14Speaker 2:Tracy, how are you holding up?

0:21Speaker 1:What's the latest from down there on the scene?

0:23Speaker 3:Well, Michael, lower Manhattan's a war zone. I mean, there's no other way to describe it right now. We can't begin to imagine how many people are dead or, unfortunately, dying, even as rescue teams have begun searching for survivors in the twisted metal and crushed concrete that less than an hour ago stood as among the most recognizable buildings in the world.

0:47Speaker 4:This is K-9 Unit 401.

0:49Speaker 5:We just found a woman pinned under the girder. She's not moving. Ma'am, miss, can you hear me?

1:00Speaker 4:Still no movement. Can you hear me?

1:05Speaker 5:She's dead, Mike.

1:09Speaker 6:No, wait, wait.

1:10Speaker 5:Help me.

1:15Speaker 4:Jesus Christ.

1:16Speaker 5:I'm calling in. Call in. We're here, ma'am. You hang in there.

1:19Speaker 6:We're coming to get you.

1:21Speaker 5:Tommy, help me with this.

1:24Speaker 3:Moments ago, Mayor Giuliani was on scene, his suit covered with dust, and he issued a statement of support and encouragement.

1:33Speaker 4:What's your name, honey? Take it easy. We don't got any mess, but we're gonna get you from out of this girder, alright? What's your name?

1:42Speaker 5:Carol.

1:43Speaker 4:I'm Tommy.

1:45Speaker 5:This is Mike.

1:45Speaker 7:You're gonna make it, Carol. We're all gonna get out of here, okay? Okay.

1:49Speaker 5:Okay. God, those girders are falling!

2:02Speaker 6:Tomorrow, New York is going to be here.

2:04Speaker 8:And we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before. An example to the rest of the country and the rest of the world.

2:16Speaker 9:I'm Frank Sturiano, formerly of the New York City Police Department. Think you know the whole story of 9-11?

2:23Speaker 7:You don't.

2:25Speaker 9:This is Underground Zero. This is my story of how we took on the mob.

2:34Speaker 5:Come on, what's this guy doing? I spent the night before 9-11 with Jan and my gumata. She ran the service department at a Cadillac dealership in Queens, which was convenient when my wife had to bring the car in. Marie never asked why she always got pumped to the head of the line. I think she thought it was just because I owned a piece of the dealership. An hour after the towers fell, I got the call. At noon, be at the Brewster Hunt and Fish Club on Richmond Avenue.

3:05Speaker 10:In Staten Island.

3:07Speaker 5:The club belonged to us, the Genovese family. And it wasn't for hunting and fishing. It's weird we go to grab a drink if things were good, have a sit-down if they weren't, and pay our tributes to the boss, Salvi Dip DiPietro. At noon exact, Dip brought the meeting to order. He did everything exact.

3:29Speaker 4:All right, thank you.

3:32Speaker 10:On behalf of the Genovese family, I want to welcome the Giminos, the Lucchesis, in the back over there, in the back, all the way to the back, the Columbo's.

3:41Speaker 4:Yeah, okay? We all know who we are, and we all know why we're here, so.

3:48Speaker 5:Dip was a Marine of Vietnam.

3:50Speaker 4:Let's get ready to do some business, man.

3:51Speaker 5:On a Bronze Star. If he loved anything as much as his family, it was his country. He spilled blood for both. Some of it his.

3:59Speaker 4:Look, it's a... It's a fucking outrage what these ragheads done to us. Okay?

4:06Speaker 10:If they weren't dead already, I'd get my fucking uniform out of Mort Ball's seven of their fucking hands and shit on their throats.

4:14Speaker 4:Okay? Now you know why I stand with that.

4:19Speaker 11:Okay, representatives of the NYPD, the NYFD.

4:23Speaker 9:As a lieutenant commander in the NYPD, I helped run the city's cleanup operation out of what had been a Burger King on Liberty Street, a few blocks away from the towers.

4:32Speaker 11:We are here to save lives. There's almost two million tons of rubble where the towers used to be. We're going to sift through every ounce of it, and we won't stop for however long it takes until every possibility of finding survivors has been exhausted.

4:55Speaker 4:Carol.

5:00Speaker 7:Can you hear me?

5:03Speaker 4:I'm here.

5:03Speaker 1:Mike!

5:12Speaker 5:I don't know.

5:13Speaker 7:Oh, Jesus.

5:17Speaker 5:The dog's dead.

5:19Speaker 10:The Trade Center's on Genovese territory. But we're going to divvy it up amongst us. Joe Bianchi's going to plant the Genovese flag. I know you all know Joey.

5:30Speaker 4:Come here. Go ahead. Tell them what you're.

5:33Speaker 7:Going to say.

5:35Speaker 5:Okay. Well, thanks, Tim. High-grade steel, copper, manganese. The city's got no way to cart it out of here. They don't have the equipment, the trucks. They got nothing. We do. The debris's supposed to go to Fresh Kills Landfill, the city-owned salvage yard on Staten Island. And some of it will. But most of it will go to the yards we control. And from there, we're going to sell it all over the world.

6:06Speaker 7:Wow.

6:09Speaker 11:We'll protect evidence that could tell us who the perpetrators were and how they managed to take control of the planes. That means finding the black boxes from both aircraft. And we'll preserve human remains so we can provide emotional closure to the victims and their families.

6:28Speaker 5:Now, once we get the material to our yards, we separate out what's valuable when it comes to body parts. In my opinion, hands mean more than heads. Hands have fingers. Fingers have rings. Gold, platinum, diamonds.

6:45Speaker 7:What's that?

6:51Speaker 6:What's that, Tommy?

6:53Speaker 5:I don't know. We're going to inundate city officials with fake time and material tickets. And these guys will have no choice but to do business with us because we're the only game in town. We got the city by the fucking ball. And the time to squeeze is now. Dip, anything else to say?

7:19Speaker 4:Use your head.

7:21Speaker 10:Don't be fucking greedy. We're in this together. The more we pull together, the more we make. Each family puts more money in their pockets.

7:30Speaker 7:This is dangerous work.

7:32Speaker 9:But nothing we do for as long as we live will be more important.

7:37Speaker 4:I wish you good luck.

7:39Speaker 5:Stay safe.

7:40Speaker 7:And God bless America.

7:47Speaker 5:After the meeting, I had a private sit-down with Dip. Every week, we had the club swept for NYPD and FBI bugs. But you can never be sure. Meeting in cars was safer. Okay. We got blueprints from the city planner's office. Tunnels below building four. Stargate Construction, late part of the foundation. Stargate?

8:12Speaker 4:That's Carmine Albano's outfit. What's in the tunnels?

8:16Speaker 5:Gold bars, silver ingots. My guy says it could be worth half a billion.

8:22Speaker 4:Okay, we gotta protect that.

8:23Speaker 5:Holy shit. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other families.

8:31Speaker 4:The other families? You know what? Fuck them. This is Genovese fucking turf, my friend. We get it all.

8:39Speaker 7:Yeah.

8:39Speaker 5:Well, we still may have to give a taste to our friends over at City Hall.

8:43Speaker 4:Well, that's an investment in future cooperation now, right? I don't want one.

8:48Speaker 10:Fucking cent going to them guinea hoods in Brooklyn or Queens.

8:56Speaker 2:Sounds like they're getting closer.

8:58Speaker 5:That's because they are. If this is it. Carol, we're going to get out of here.

9:13Speaker 7:Frank, what is it, Phil?

9:16Speaker 2:There are explosions going off under the North Tower. Looks like they're coming from vehicles and the parking structure. And the engineers are saying the structural integrity of Building 7 could be compromised.

9:25Speaker 7:What's his life expectancy?

9:26Speaker 2:Well, nobody knows, but this isn't helping.

9:30Speaker 7:How many vehicles are down there? As many as a thousand.

9:33Speaker 2:If you figure each of them has an average of five gallons of gas.

9:36Speaker 7:A thousand Molotov cocktails on wheels.

9:42Speaker 2:Frank, our rescue people are still hearing voices under the rubble, but those survivors are running out of time. I.

9:51Speaker 9:If I suspend rescue operations, we save the first responders.

9:56Speaker 7:But we'd have no one searching for victims. Yeah.

10:01Speaker 9:If the rescues continue in Building 7 Falls, we.

10:05Speaker 7:Could lose everyone.

10:06Speaker 4:That's pretty much it, Frank.

10:07Speaker 7:Responders and victims. How long would we have to stop work?

10:13Speaker 2:Long enough to douse those vehicles with retardant. So we're looking at probably between four and six hours, probably.

10:26Speaker 5:One of our salvage yards was in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Consolidated carting. We had trucks gassed up for what looked like a mile. What used to carry trash from damn near every restaurant and construction site in the city was going to carry off the debris from the towers. And the construction union VP, Eddie Bernstein, was on our path.

10:48Speaker 4:Pretty sight, ain't it, Joe?

10:51Speaker 5:Lots of cha-ching, Eddie. Dip expects you to take your usual piece of the no-bids?

10:58Speaker 6:This ain't a usual situation.

11:03Speaker 5:You're not thinking of taking advantage now, are you? Joe, how long you and me know each other? You won't be considering fucking us. Whatever. I ain't no reader of mine. Just tell your boys. They get greedy, it's going to reflect on you.

11:15Speaker 6:You know, it hurts you feel you got to say it.

11:22Speaker 5:It'll hurt worse if I gotta say it again. And one more thing, on all these trucks, I want American flags flying. As many as you can find.

11:30Speaker 6:For what?

11:31Speaker 5:Just see that they're fucking waving it. That's it.

11:41Speaker 8:So although there hasn't been an official announcement, we have learned that search and rescue operations at the World Trade Center site have been suspended.

11:52Speaker 2:For more on that, let's.

11:53Speaker 3:Go to Tracy Marquez on the scene.

11:55Speaker 7:Tracy?

11:56Speaker 3:Michael, apparently there are vehicles in the parking structure beneath a debris field known as the pile, and the gasoline in those vehicles has begun to explode because of the intense heat, causing a serious risk to possible survivors and first responders.

12:15Speaker 2:Carol, they're saying I have to go.

12:23Speaker 6:I don't want to leave you.

12:27Speaker 5:I just want.

12:31Speaker 7:I need a priest.

12:36Speaker 6:Even if I could find one, I.

12:37Speaker 2:I want the last rites. Don't let me die without them.

12:47Speaker 7:Let me see what I can do.

12:54Speaker 9:I knew Mickey Cronin had my back in dealing with the press. The best lesson I learned from him was, don't lie. Reporters can smell it like Pervolone.

13:04Speaker 7:And they'll make it a meal you'll choke on.

13:08Speaker 2:Frank, in deciding to.

13:10Speaker 7:It's Lieutenant Commander Sturiano.

13:12Speaker 1:Sorry, Lieutenant Commander Sturiano. In deciding to suspend search and rescue operations, did you consult Detective Cronin?

13:20Speaker 5:No, I didn't.

13:21Speaker 1:Why not?

13:22Speaker 6:Okay, let me take this one. Lieutenant Sturiano's in charge, but if he had consulted me, I would have concurred. He's doing the job right.

13:31Speaker 8:Lieutenant Sturiano, you were responsible for vetting companies that have applied for city contracts, but may have connections to organized crime. Many of them are construction and cartage companies.

13:42Speaker 7:Is there a question buried in there?

13:44Speaker 8:We hear that some of those same companies have been allowed by the city to carry away the Trade Center debris. Aren't you putting the Fox in charge of the henhouse? And are the city's resources so minimal that you can't.

13:54Speaker 6:Hold it right there. There are still people trapped under the rubble.

13:59Speaker 4:And we need every hand on deck to find them.

14:01Speaker 6:As far as Lieutenant Scoriano's judgment and morality are concerned, I can attest to both. And I can assure the people of New York, he is.

14:09Speaker 4:The fox in charge of this house.

14:17Speaker 7:Thanks, Mickey.

14:19Speaker 5:What did I do?

14:21Speaker 7:It's what you said to the reporters. You didn't have to, and I just... I picked the right godfather for Frank Jr.

14:30Speaker 5:I meant it.

14:31Speaker 7:On one hand.

14:33Speaker 6:On the other, it was unadulterated bullshit. But at least it was bullshit coming from me and not you.

14:38Speaker 7:Meaning what?

14:40Speaker 6:Those wise guys own the trucks, the Gambinos, the KZs.

14:42Speaker 9:They're not just wise guys, Mickey. One of them's Joe Bianchi. He's my brother-in-law.

14:47Speaker 6:No one could blame you for who your sister married. We both know if we're going to save anyone, we got to do what we got to do. As far as I'm concerned, one life's worth more than a hundred fucking no-bid contracts.

15:00Speaker 4:All right?

15:02Speaker 6:Now go home.

15:03Speaker 7:What?

15:04Speaker 6:Take a shower. Have Connie pack you a bag. You're going to be here a while. And they're ready to dry cleaners working from here to Long Island City.

15:34Speaker 5:As our trucks made their way to the Trade Center, you never saw so many American flags. There must have been 2,000 people lined up on the sidewalks, cheering like the Fourth of July. And I'm like, we're about to steal the city blind, and these dumb bastards think we're heroes. Good evening.

16:02Speaker 12:Today, our fellow citizens Our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat.

16:19Speaker 7:But they have failed.

16:22Speaker 12:America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining.

16:37Speaker 9:Like Mickey said, I went home and showered. Connie packed some shirts, socks, underwear, and my other two brown suits.

16:47Speaker 13:When do you think you'll come home again?

16:50Speaker 4:When I run out of shorts.

16:52Speaker 7:Looks horrible on TV.

16:55Speaker 13:What's going on down there?

16:58Speaker 9:TV doesn't begin to. Right before the towers went down, there were things I'll never... Get out of my mind.

17:11Speaker 13:You mean people jumping?

17:13Speaker 5:That what you mean? Is that what you mean?

17:17Speaker 7:I'm trying to spare you, Connie.

17:19Speaker 13:I don't want to be spared.

17:20Speaker 6:I want to be included.

17:22Speaker 13:If that's what you're going through, I want to be a part of it.

17:25Speaker 12:Otherwise.

17:25Speaker 7:Otherwise what?

17:31Speaker 13:I'll lose you to something I can't even see. In five years or ten years or twenty... I'll just be another cop's wife who doesn't have the slightest idea what her husband does or thinks. Or why he's left her for a newer model who doesn't want to be included.

17:49Speaker 5:We used to.

17:50Speaker 6:Talk all the time, Frank.

17:53Speaker 7:Saved by the bell.

17:55Speaker 13:And aren't you the lucky one?

17:56Speaker 7:I didn't mean it that way.

17:58Speaker 4:Didn't you?

18:03Speaker 3:Marie, sorry to just show up like this.

18:07Speaker 13:Oh, what kind of talk is that?

18:08Speaker 4:You know you're always welcome.

18:10Speaker 5:Thanks.

18:11Speaker 2:Come on in.

18:14Speaker 4:You want coffee?

18:16Speaker 3:I just went to Mass.

18:17Speaker 7:Been thinking about Frank all day. I tried calling, but I couldn't get through.

18:20Speaker 6:He all right?

18:22Speaker 5:Yeah.

18:24Speaker 7:He's here. I'm fine, sis.

18:27Speaker 5:Oh, thank God.

18:28Speaker 4:Come here.

18:29Speaker 5:Give me a hug.

18:29Speaker 4:Oh.

18:36Speaker 7:Remember Laura Ferraro?

18:37Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, I remember her.

18:38Speaker 5:From St.

18:39Speaker 7:Ignatius? Mm-hmm. She worked in the North Tower. Three kids. The oldest is five.

18:46Speaker 13:Oh, my God.

18:46Speaker 4:I know.

18:49Speaker 7:I got to get back down there.

18:51Speaker 4:Be careful, honey.

18:53Speaker 7:Call when you can, okay? What do they have you doing, Frank?

18:56Speaker 4:Don't.

18:57Speaker 5:Doing what?

18:58Speaker 7:You know I can't sing.

18:59Speaker 1:I'm worried is all.

19:02Speaker 13:Come on, I'm your sister, for God's sake.

19:03Speaker 5:Don't you trust me?

19:05Speaker 7:I trust you. I don't trust your husband.

19:07Speaker 12:Come on, can't we make an exception?

19:08Speaker 7:No.

19:09Speaker 13:Well, just this one time.

19:11Speaker 7:Especially this one time. I'll call you, Connie.

19:24Speaker 13:I love my brother.

19:25Speaker 7:Yeah, me too.

19:29Speaker 6:Just wish I knew him.

19:32Speaker 10:Yeah. Yeah.

19:42Speaker 5:I had at least a hundred grand out on the street at any given time. Come on. Jimmy Maripisi was in my book for seven grand a week. His day to pay was Tuesday. Christ almighty, Joe.

20:04Speaker 11:Your boys bring me down here like I'm some kind of fucking deadbeat.

20:08Speaker 5:It's Tuesday.

20:09Speaker 7:My nephew's missing at the trade center.

20:12Speaker 5:Fucking towers came down. We ain't heard nothing. It's still Tuesday. In fact, it's been three Tuesdays. You've been scarce, and I've been patient. You owe seven large. Principal and Vig. And if I don't get both by noon tomorrow, I'm gonna have to assume you're choosing something else. And once that choice gets made, there's no resetting it. No more chances. No conversations like this.

20:37Speaker 7:Fuck you.

20:38Speaker 6:Your principal and your Vig. Jimmy.

20:41Speaker 5:All right, until we find my nephew, you gotta wait.

20:43Speaker 6:There ain't a fucking thing you can do about it.

20:47Speaker 5:Jimmy, you made three mistakes. You borrowed my money, you didn't pay it back, and you disrespected me by using an excuse at the Trade Center.

20:58Speaker 4:Joe, it ain't like that.

20:59Speaker 5:And this nephew of yours, which I happen to know you don't have. Joey. Tell me you don't have the money. At least that I can believe. You hear the fucking machine out there? You know what it does? It grinds concrete into powder. Show him the machine.

21:22Speaker 7:Joey. For Christ's sake!

21:27Speaker 5:Say hello to your nephew. Joey, come on, I'm a father! Get him out of here. Joey, come on!

21:33Speaker 7:I'm a father, Joey, please!

21:35Speaker 13:Joey!

21:43Speaker 2:Go forth, Christian soul from this world, in the name of God, the Almighty Father who created you. In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God who suffered for you. In the name of the Holy Spirit who was poured.

21:58Speaker 5:Out upon you. I think she's gone, Father.

22:05Speaker 7:In case the soul hasn't left the body.

22:08Speaker 2:May your home be with God in Zion, with Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, with Joseph and all the angels and saints.

22:18Speaker 5:Thank you, Father.

22:20Speaker 2:I should tell you, I'm not ordained.

22:24Speaker 7:What?

22:26Speaker 2:There was no violation of dogma. As a layman, I can offer an apostolic pardon, but I believe she died in peace, which is how any of us should go. And you are to be thankful.

22:47Speaker 9:By the time I got back to the Trade Center, it was safe to search for survivors again.

22:52Speaker 7:Or so we thought.

22:54Speaker 9:As I walked through the rubble, I thought of how many people might be taking their last breaths under my feet.

23:01Speaker 7:That's when I saw him.

23:03Speaker 5:My brother-in-law.

23:05Speaker 7:Joe Bianchi.

23:07Speaker 5:Oh, I knew it was Frank. I could tell from his walk. Same walk as when we were kids. And when he walked down the aisle as my best man when I married his sister Marie. I figured you'd be here, Frank. How come? I found out you're running the cleanup.

23:23Speaker 9:And you're planting the Genovese flag.

23:27Speaker 5:So here we are, in the same boat. We both got jobs to do. The question is, which one of us wins?

23:36Speaker 7:That's not the question.

23:39Speaker 5:You tell me that. You were always smarter.

23:43Speaker 7:I wasn't smarter, Joe. I was just a little taller.

23:56Speaker 1:Underground Zero, 9-11 and the Mob is a production of Thoroughbred Studios, Goldhawk Productions, and iHeart Podcasts.