NYC in the 70s & 80s, car bombs, horses and MOH with NYPD PO (ret) Carmine Romeo

Stephen J: (00:11)
Welcome to behind the tin, a podcast that introduces you to the HTH men and women who are the tin while protecting our community and hearing about the extraordinary things they're doing while the, their badges in the locker. I'm Steven J the good Lieutenant along with Justin, the civilian producer,

Justin: (00:25)
I am happy to be with you today,

Stephen J: (00:27)
Sir, today's episode is sponsored by those guys. print.com. Those guys for all your custom apparel needs. Visit those guys. print.com. Today's also sponsored by gear high investigations, pride investigators at your Beck and call. You

Justin: (00:42)
Can reach Scott at PI gear, hire.net that's PI gear, hire.net.

Stephen J: (00:51)
Today's cocktail over conversation is sponsored by Carl K of Hyde park. Thank you for buying us around for Justin, myself and our guest car mine, Carl K of Hyde park bought the round of nod hill brewery, India pale a geo buddy. It was absolutely

Justin: (01:07)
Delicious and it made me not thirsty while we recorded this

Stephen J: (01:09)
Podcast, which is a good thing. Absolutely spectacular pale ale. I appreciate you, Carl. K, thank you so much. And our guest today, Carl mine, Romeo, Carl mine is an N Y P D office, uh, medal of honor winner guy who has been there and done that and taken tragedy and made an organization that is, is really something. Yeah,

Justin: (01:33)
Not to mention that he has got quite the background when I did a Google search to him,

Stephen J: (01:38)
The incidents that he was involved in and the awards he's received are nothing short than heroic. Yeah, he is the real deal. So I'm so excited to talk to him. So excited to hear about his charity and what he's done, uh, without further ado, let's, let's bring karma in. So welcome Mr. Carmine Romeo. We are so happy to have

Carmine: (02:05)
You. Well, thank you. I feel very honored that,

Stephen J: (02:08)
Uh, you invited me a man of your distinction, uh, a person that has taken, I would say, uh, an incident and made it into a life's passion, if that's fair enough to say so before we get into that aspect of your life and what you've done, why don't you tell people a little bit about you, your start the N Y P D and, and your kind of your career with, with what happened? Well, I was

Carmine: (02:30)
Born in Brooklyn, uh, and my neighborhood was primarily Italian and my father always wanted to be a policeman, but he, when he tried, uh, he was a year too old. And then when they dropped the age, he was a inch too short . So, uh, I fulfilled that for him and I became a New York city police officer. I went to the academy in 1970 and I was, uh, appointed in 1971.

Stephen J: (02:59)
So 1970. Yeah, the hiring process I'm guessing is a little bit different then than it is now. Totally. What was the process like then?

Carmine: (03:07)
So you really, really, I mean, I'm not gonna say you had to be squeaky clean, but I can tell you, you had anything in your background that was even remotely troublesome. You were gone. There were just the competition. So many people wanted to get on the job for whatever their reasons were. My reasons were to, you know, maybe I could do something, you know, for the people, my neighborhood, you know, my community, Brooklyn, you know, this was a great way to do it because I really wasn't one go to school. I, I didn't, you know, I went, I didn't stay all day, but I did go . So this, this was, uh, a great opportunity for me to not, uh, to just not fall by the wayside because of a lack of interest in a higher education. But I can, what I learned in the streets, my, my father owned the butcher shop at his brothers on court street in Baltic. And I was 10, 11 years old walking on the streets. And I had to tell you, you want an education try doing that. So I learned a lot about the streets and a lot about people. Uh, the ethnic variety of that location downtown Brooklyn was completely different from what I was used to. And I learned a lot about different colleges and people and, uh, how they feel and what bothers them. And it stayed with me my whole time, uh, in the New York city police department. So

Stephen J: (04:33)
You said, you know, back then 19 70, 71, if you had anything egregious in your background, you were eliminated. What was the process? Was there a test to be taken?

Carmine: (04:41)
Well, you have to take a test. Okay. Of course. And, uh, but just, God must have had his hand on my shoulder. I passed it. And I remember being, I was, uh, just getting outta high school before I, I enlisted in the military and thank you for your service. Oh, thank you. And I get a call from a detective by old names, Tracy. Oh boy. So I'm detective Tracy. I'm was his first name Dick. Yeah. Yeah, sure. You son him in the, uh, sticks a precinct. He to come down and talk to me. Okay, fine. And when I sat down, I'm doing your investigation coming a police officer, the next city police department. I said, okay, thank you. And he pulled out my high school record. He says, uh, I see you're on the Dean's list. I'm sending myself. You got, you got, but that wasn't the Dean's list he was talking about. He was talking about going to the Dean's office a lot of times. I, yeah, so it was a different kind of Dean's list, but I made it. And, uh, well, you know what happened here? What happened there? And I explained it to 'em. It was nothing that occurred. Just not a crime. I just, uh, got in late and left early. And they, they were really, really, they had everything.

Stephen J: (05:55)
So there was no waiver to be signed that you can talk to everyone you want, they had already done that when they called you.

Carmine: (05:59)
Oh no, no, no. That was done. They, it was, it was

Stephen J: (06:03)
Baked the, my Romeo, this is your life. That's exactly

Carmine: (06:06)
What it was. And by the way, do you know this, this teacher, you know, and then at the end of it, he says, you know, I gotta take it to be honest with you, everybody. Well, the teachers we spoke to had nothing but nice things to say about you. So we're going to, uh, we're gonna give you the, the, okay. Then in 69, I enlisted in the hundred sixth infantry. I went to Fort PO Louisiana.

Stephen J: (06:27)
little different than Brooklyn.

Carmine: (06:29)
Let me explain some to, there are not a lot of people named coal mine in Louisiana,

Stephen J: (06:34)
Not a lot of Italian joints. I'm gonna guess. No

Carmine: (06:37)
Know. And I got off the, the, the, uh, the plane I got on the bus got off the bus and there was this 18 foot Sergeant screaming at me. I begging stuff. And we got out to another bus and we went to, uh, the blitz at the Fort Polk, beautiful place. It was, it was real like the spool of America when I got there and you got off the bus yelling and screaming, I kept, I said, how's this guy's problem. You know, I can hear him. And the first thing they said to me was, uh, we don't have any big ties here for you. I telling myself, oh, this ain't gonna go, well, I, I

Stephen J: (07:19)
Know it. Well, he's at feet tall, you know, it's not well already. Yeah.

Carmine: (07:22)
You know, when they don't have any big ZD and they can't pronounce that, right. I'm saying to myself who, but I made, made it through basic, made it through way. It came back home. And I went into the 106 infantry and I stayed there 13 years. Wow. I reserved again. Thank you. And it was the best time of my life. When you, the military, you're thrown into barracks with people throughout the United States, you know, and the only common thread you have is you don't wanna be there. And, but you are there. And I got, I always said to myself, you know, don't be blaming nobody. You, you been listed. And I, I was glad that I did. I was, uh, I had a Bre rank of first Sergeant. I was 23, 24 years old of a headquarters company. And, uh, I never regretted it one day because it helped me in the police department too. And it's a shame that they no longer have that when they did away with the mandatory draft was the beginning

Stephen J: (08:17)
Of the end. There is something to be said for that selflessness that people were forced into. But I think many people in that aspect received so much back, oh, absolutely. Opened up their eyes to places and people they'd never, ever would've experienced otherwise. Well, and I wish there was some kind of national community service. Military is not for everybody. Absolutely. We could agree on that. Well, right. Absolutely police. Work's not for everybody. No, but there is gotta be some kind of service that everyone could do for a year or two to really give back and to open their eyes about other people, other cultures, other areas of this country. And I really think that's something that everyone should think about doing.

Carmine: (08:58)
I don't think there's anything wrong with people going through some sort of a basic training. Okay. Then when you get that going to the national God, you're serving your community, your home, and you can serve your community, you know, two weeks a year, you go to a summit camp, but it's military and you learn upgrades. I mean, if I had to go back there today, I wouldn't know what the hell they're talking about. I mean, everything's just so different. Right. But you learn, you know, you learn respect, self-respect discipline and it's all out the window. And I'll tell you right now, we had nobody stepping and on the flag and burning it. No,

Stephen J: (09:33)
No different times. Yeah. Different times. For sure. So you, you come outta basic, you you've served your military. Uh, you went into the national guard, right? Right. And in 19 70, 71, you you're part of the New York city police department. Yes. Where were you assigned to, to start with your,

Carmine: (09:46)
I went to the 77 precinct on Atlantic and Chen connect city. It was an, a house. It was, was it a rude awakening? Cause I came from bay Ridge Benson Hurst where the area was better as far as, uh, you know, housing and, and that sort of thing. But you started to now inter act with, uh, different cultures, different people. You see what their life was like, what they have to go up and, and live with. And you know, you got a lot of guys that'll say, yeah. You know, uh, it's I say, you're not gonna remember son. I learned this, that at one o'clock in the morning, if you're in the street, getting your kicked and all of a sudden the calorie is on their way to help you. It's because somebody picked up the phone that's right. To help you. Somebody cared. Somebody gave a somebody cared. That's why you're not getting your

Stephen J: (10:43)
Kicked. Yeah. I, I think it is a rude awakening for a lot of police officers and even firefighters EMTs too, when they're from a middle class of the middle class and they get brought into the society of lower class or a, you know, just low economics economically. Correct. Oh my goodness. Like it's, it's really eye opening. You don't know that that exists if you weren't exposed to it. Right. Um, and sometimes it's not people's fault. Sometimes it's just where they are circumstances, circumstances. Right. And it is eye opening. I mean, I never forget going into the inner city for the first time as a police officer, as a deputy sheriff and seeing certain things. And you're just like, I can't believe people live like this. I can't believe that people don't clean. I can't believe there's no food in the fridge, you know, cuz I don't wanna say I took it for granted to a degree, but that's what I was used to. I was used to having a bed with a box spring. Right. You know, on, on a, on a, what do you call platform? Right. Um, you know, most of the kids in the inner cities where I was going at the time with a lot of crime, they were lucky if there was a mattress on the floor, they were not gonna

Carmine: (11:57)
Have you, they were lucky if there sheets on that mattress. Absolutely. And

Stephen J: (12:01)
We forget about, it's not obviously not the kids fault. No, but it is, I, it really is eye opening.

Carmine: (12:06)
And what helped pav it for me was when I was working at my, my father's store and delivering packages and going with all these different neighborhoods and homes and houses and uh, and just seeing it, it, you know, the way people live, sometimes it's, that's the only way that they can live. Right. For whatever the reason and they're making the best of it. Right.

Justin: (12:28)
What, what was the general vibe in the city in the seventies? I, I know we've, we've talked a lot with the ask guests in the eighties and nineties, nineties, but what was, uh, if, if you had to compare, you know, New York city, seventies to, to New York city, eighties, uh, how did that, what did

Carmine: (12:43)
That look? Well, look at New York city, seventies, all you gotta do is wake up in the morning. You're there. That's what's going on. Uh, the difference is, and uh, I, I can tell you that the only thing that saved us was that we did not have an administration who tied our hands, not to say that you can go out and do what you want beat people or, or, or take advantage of people. I'm not talking about that. When I'm talking about that, if you had to go out and make an arrest, you made an arrest. There was nobody. I pour water on us. Yeah. You had to support. Believe me, I'm telling you, weren't gonna walk the street. Somebody dumped a, uh, a big case of water on you and then left about it. And the cop just walked away that did not happen at all. And the people who lived like in the projects who were victims day in and day out by the muts, they loved it. When they saw you loved it. When they saw you,

Justin: (13:42)
You know, they were so seventies, New York city had a, there was a lot of respect for law enforcement at that time. There

Carmine: (13:48)
Was, uh,

Justin: (13:48)
For, for the non-criminals.

Carmine: (13:51)
Yeah. Well, and, and most like, I, I stayed little, uh, little time in uniform. Uh, I went to the, uh, the robbery squad that I was in the burglary squad that I was in the anti crime, which had done a long time. And you could just see the, the, the flavor of things there. If you, if you made a good collar and something went wrong, you know, they didn't automatically say, oh, it's the cop's fault. I, they would listen, what happened? This is what happened. Bring in a witness. And if the cop was wrong, he was wrong. That there's no two ways about it. Or we didn't have body cameras or, or, or phones or anything like that. Right. But, uh, today it it's it's, you, you cannot effectively do your job. If you are told old that if you touch him and he complains, he Sue you and take your house.

Carmine: (14:42)
How do you effectively patrol and safeguard the safety of children and people? How do you do that? When they tell you, if you get sued, we don't want to know, let them take your house. Did you see the shootings that are going on? Oh, it's wild, New York city city. They see Chicago. Chicago. Yeah. Chicago. I, I mean, LA, I mean, who's kidding who and forget about politics. We're talking about lives a six year old little girl got shot and killed the other day. What are we talking about? It's great. It's when we brought somebody in, in the seventies and we charged a misdemeanor or felony, he stayed, he wasn't given a, you know, we'll see you come back after you commit the next crime. This no bail. It, no sense is what it is. All they did was empower the criminals and they know it and they're not stupid. And they're taking advantage of it. And who pays for it? The people that get up at four or five o'clock in the morning, they make breakfast to their kids. So they can go to work and send their kids to school. Those are the people that pay

Stephen J: (15:48)
For it. So you, in the seventies, you mentioned a bunch of units you work for, right? Scott, Robby squad. Um anti-crime yes. You stayed in anti-crime most of your career.

Carmine: (15:57)
I stayed in anti-crime until, uh, they said, what, you know, where do you want to go?

Stephen J: (16:05)
Well, that's a nice question. That

Carmine: (16:06)
That's great. You

Stephen J: (16:07)
Kidding me? How, how

Carmine: (16:08)
Does that happen? Well, it's call at that time collars. It was college, the dollars collars, collars, collars. We didn't, you know? Yeah. But we didn't look at it that way. We liked what we did. And if you want to stay in what you're doing, you gotta produce mm-hmm okay. That a good mean you go out and flick somebody, but course the, the collars were there and, you know, you were, uh, working in, uh, you'll see where the metal water thing fits in later with, with street guys that were also good cops, you know, and you raced to a gun, uh, run or a golf bit of a robbery or somebody could shot. And it was, it was just a different time. Everybody worked together with you were in the bag or you were, you were playing clothes, but that was, uh, you really, really got to know the streets when you can park in an unmarked, shut the lights off and watch. Oh yeah. That's

Stephen J: (17:07)
I think we've heard that from a bunch of guys and watching. I can certainly say that, that people watching is just it's eye opening to just sit there and observe, and what you learn from their mannerisms and from their routines is amazing. So your anti-crime

Carmine: (17:21)
Anti-crime they said how'd I go to CCB? Oh boy. I said, oh good.

Stephen J: (17:26)
That's just cuz your Carine

Carmine: (17:28)
Romeo of the, of course, you know, the a E I O U unit, you know? So

Stephen J: (17:32)
I don't know. I Justin, the civilian producer. Yeah. I know. Doesn't know what we're talking about here. So organized you lay that out for layman's

Carmine: (17:39)
State organized crime control bureau. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. I figure, I'd say a lot of my family there, but in any event, the, uh, the idea of it was you, they were gonna send me up to, uh, Manhattan, north narcotics. Okay. But, but prior to that I had hit what I felt was that the best thing I ever did, I went to mounted. I went to the mounted unit. He got mounted,

Stephen J: (18:03)
Justin. I was, and in New York city police department, that means ride a horse.

Carmine: (18:07)
Right. Gotcha. Not that time. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You got Justin, a civilian producer, sorry. It's not the 2020 mounted. So I just finished with remount. I get called in and sergeant's off. I said the hell did I do I'm in the arena? I can't get no trouble in here. Just pack your. You trans the where? Go to CC big in the next class, going to one police Plaza. You're sitting in an, uh, in an auditorium about maybe two or 300 cops and who just got out of bell helicopter school who just finished the Harbor unit school. I just got outta mounted school. Okay. Starting Monday, Europe on 25th. And uh, the Bronx Yankee stadium chasing people around Yankee stadium getting shot at. Okay. But I had such, I had fallen in love with the mounted units so much. And I'm saying to myself, I don't care about the shield.

Carmine: (19:07)
You know, I, I lo if this is where I'm so supposed to be fine, but I MIS mounted. Right? So , I went to the chief and I said, uh, Suza, I'd like to transfer out. You would've thought I just told him that I killed his entire family. He got up, shut the door, sits me down. I'm gonna be talking about says, well, I, you know, like to go back to mounted. Cause is that right? Yes, sir. It is says you, how many people would give their right arm? They'd be sitting in that chair that you are to have the opportunity to stay organized crime with trophy, like said, I, I realized that and I was fortunate and I want to thank everybody for ever, even considering me and in doing this. But if the opportunity ever arises, instead of the shield, I like to go back to mounted.

Stephen J: (19:57)
And when you're saying the shield, you're talking about

Carmine: (19:59)
The detective shield. Right. Right. So he says, it's that right? Yeah. Well, you have gone. I'm gone where you're back to mounted. yeah. Oh man. I'm said to myself, wow, let me, let me look. Oh, geez. Or what did I do? I'm standing by, so me get the hell outta here. Get my boots. They go right back. About two months late. We are on a big demonstration in Manhattan. Now I hated working New York in Manhattan. Hated it. Leave me in Brooklyn. Leave me in Coney island. That's where I'm from. I know everybody. Uh, the Coney island vendors. I love the Ms. Santiago. I would get there in the afternoon with my horse. And she was a Barker in the wax museum. But I mean, one of the nicest women you ever want to meet, we're talking

Stephen J: (20:43)
Real deal. Boardwalk time, Coney island Nathan's hot dogs is yep. Is

Carmine: (20:47)
Roaring soon as she see. And that's where we park the horses right outside of Nathans. See that as soon as she's seen me and my partner, she'd stop, come down, walk over the horse with Anette cookies and a little short, little shot of Anette. Wow. For the horse. Yeah. Well, I, you know, truthful. I don't, I don't drink. I never did. And even as a kid, I said, Mr. Danielle, get out to you, but I don't drink. And my partner says, well, I do. And he'd get a little shot of his Anette and me and the horse would eat the cookies. And that was it. That's wild. Then she'd go back and uh, she'd bring people in to see, uh, you know, wax figures to Elvis who last week was Lizzie bought in. And the week before that was the me air, heart. And, uh, . I mean, it was a wild time, wild time. So we get, there's a big demonstration and they fly us out of Brooklyn to Manhattan. Must have like maybe 30 horse. And there's a big mob gather. And, uh, it wasn't a 10, 13, it was an 85 foot width. You know, cops are surrounded

Stephen J: (21:55)
All hands on deck. Yeah. All

Carmine: (21:57)
Spot. We're not hurt. So we go in there and you now, now you're 16 feet tall. You're on the horse. And

Stephen J: (22:03)
Almost as tall as Sergeant you had in

Carmine: (22:06)
Bootcamp, just buy, could probably just pet him on his shoulders. so, as, as we're walking down the street, we're going in a column and I could see over that, there's a cop in the middle of a bunch of protestors and they yelling there screaming at him. Hmm. So we go over and we go,

Stephen J: (22:28)
So wearing a white shirt.

Carmine: (22:30)
Oh, it gets better. Oh boy. So we go in there, they won't break it up. So we go in with the horses and believe me, when I tell you, you move. When a horse is coming at you, I can imagine. And we move. And this guy, I said to him, put your hand on my stir. Don't let go cover your head. I'll get you outta here. And we did. I got him outta there. Who do you think it was? I'll give Justin

Stephen J: (22:55)
The civilian producer the first guess I have no idea. Come on. You paid attention. It's the chief. Oh, come on.

Carmine: (23:04)
Well, well, well, well, wow. Hey, thank you. I was gonna, I said, can you imagine if I was still in OCC B

Stephen J: (23:14)
Now, is this the second time you're gonna get offered wherever you want to go. I mean, Maverick right now,

Carmine: (23:19)
He's looking, where do you wanna go? Like you son of a.

Stephen J: (23:23)
Justin loves self gun by the way.

Carmine: (23:28)
Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah. To myself, the car bomb. I 86

Stephen J: (23:32)
Read. So let's get into that because I know mount's been your passion. It's still your passion. We can get into that too. But there there's an incident that really defines your career in New York city police department.

Carmine: (23:42)
Yeah. Right? Oh yeah, absolutely.

Stephen J: (23:44)
So let, let's talk about that, cuz it really not only find your career, but

Carmine: (23:49)
Transcends into what you're doing now. So I'm on patrol and I'm in my neighborhood and Bensonhurst and a guy goes through the light and I stop him and I'm talking to him and about two seconds later and right, right down the block for me, this car comes off the street, about six feet in the air. Blew it up. So the guy is saying to himself, God, I guess you gotta go over there. Right? I thought I got you information. I'll mail it to you. So wow. He drove the R and P down and this car now was engulfed in flames. So made a U-turn and I boxed the car with the radio car. Cause if it blew, you'd have nothing but frying metal and glass all over it already knocked a couple of people on their from across the street. So I get out of the car.

Carmine: (24:40)
I go over the car in flames. One guy is on the sidewalk. He had no but the other guy is still in the car, dragged him out, burned and people. Okay. Well you wanted us to give you a hand. Yeah, absolutely. So we gotta put him in this van and get into victim Memorial hospital. And we did, we picked two of him up, put him in the back of the van and brought him to the hospital from that moment on your life now becomes double the microscope with the feds and the New York city police department. Because when I got there, I, they, I, they already beat me there. You know, the people that were on the streets have already beat me there. Right. And, uh, I opened up the, and we brought this guy out here. I called, I had the dispatch, see, we were on different frequency.

Carmine: (25:32)
We were on we're on a precinct frequency. We were on a special operations frequency. So nobody knew what was go. What was going on precinct didn't know to call Bob blew up only because I put it over our frequency. Then it dispatched over to six two, but it was by then, we were on our way to victim Memorial hospital. So when we got there and brought out the stretches and one guy, they put on the stretch, they tied it up. So we didn't lose any more plot. Cause the foot was gone. The other gentle brought him out and they put him on, on the stretcher and brought him in to do what they could. But there was, there was no way he was gonna make, I was from there. I had an apartment there. I was living there at the time, two blocks away. So everybody knew I was, you know, nobody's playing hole. You know, who's this guy, they know who I was. Right. Cause I lived there when they started doing the investigation in the street, uh, they said, well, you know, call, I did this and come, I did that.

Carmine: (26:26)
And I guess alarms went off. What do you mean call mine? I'm done with the priest in the hospital. And you know, he was a human being, regardless of what his profession was. He was still the human being. And it was my job to save his life. I was able to save one, but I wasn't able to save him. And I didn't give a what he did. That's for somebody else, you know, taken up with God or you've taken up with the courts. But my job is to save your life. But at that time there was just so much going on that, and I don't blame them, but it seemed to be a familiarity with these, the people and who I was and by the first name and I mean, they, uh, how do you know these people? Why did they call you combine?

Carmine: (27:12)
I said, what? You know, that's my name? What do you want them to call me? Well, how'd, you know, to be there. I said, I didn't know to be there. I was giving the sums out two blocks away. And they really microscope everything that I did that day. I go back and my cover with blood. My hair is burned. It's inspector brings me in and he goes over. The whole thing says, we spoke to people on the street, did a fabulous job. You save a lot of lies, goes the car did blow. And uh, you very, very proud of yourself with the department did, after that was, was real. And uh, I, I never spoke about it, but I'm never gonna forget it either. I didn't look at these people of who they were if they did. And that annoyed the outta me. You know, if you're going to say what I did was in any way, and I never looked at it as being hero. But if you are coming off with that, that it is well, then it is. But don't say it's not now because of who it was.

Stephen J: (28:14)
Well, I'm gonna stop real quick and just say that this is really talking about the times today because with the defund of police and all of that talk and, and rah to fund the police and you know, the police are bad. Let me tell you never once in my career, I ventured, I guess obviously never once in your career, do we ask who's the victim? Who's the suspect? Who's the offender. Yeah, it was. Who can we help? Who needs us? And I've said before, man, the people that are in the uniform, whether it's police, fire, EMS, military, we are there to serve and protect and help people regardless of who you are. We are not God. We are not your priest. We are not your judge. We are not your jury. We are there simply to help you. And you're not gonna take the time to go, Ooh, who's who's her right now. Ooh. He's not a great lover. Oh, that's, I'm not

Carmine: (29:08)
Gonna do anything. I know exactly who you are. And I

Stephen J: (29:10)
Did, but that's not what we do. No, that's not what you did. No, it's instinctual. It's what we do. We go and we help and imagine how scary the world would be. If it became a pick and choose scenario, forget about it. Not to get all Italian right mind, but forget about it. Oh, forget about it. Right. It would be a different world. And I'll, and I'll tell you, man, I can speak on behalf of most men and women in law enforcement that are good, good people. We don't care. We're just there to help you call us. And we're coming. Look, I worked

Carmine: (29:41)
With guys that weren't so good and they got Cod and nobody gave a rights. We're happy. We were happy. Goodbye. You know, don't

Stephen J: (29:49)
Let the, but in that vein, it's such a small, oh, it's minute, minute, such a small number. Those people that exist, you know, people have really wanted to get rid of crime. Society would go after the criminals and not worry about the cops cuz it's the criminals they're already identified. And I'll tell you about the

Carmine: (30:08)
Criminals. Okay. So obviously we're on the other side of the fence, but, and I don't know how, how to phrase this or, or maybe hit the right note on it for what they were for what they are. Okay. The club was on the corner where I lived at an apartment and I would come out of the house in the morning, go off to the grocery stuff. And when they seen me they would tip their hat. Not as a sign, they're gonna buy me. But as a, just as a sign of respect, because they knew what I did had nothing to do with who they were. So, you know, you can say what you want about them. They did have a certain degree of honor. It's the code? What came today? It was the code.

Stephen J: (31:02)
They knew who you were. You knew who they were. You're gonna do your thing. Absolutely. And they're gonna do theirs. Absolutely. Right. And, and, and I've dealt with those people in my, my career and they were nothing but respectful to me. I've dealt with them. Absolutely. Yeah. And, and I'll tell you, you want a cup of coffee. They're wives. When I'm in the house doing a warrant arrest warrant, you want a cup of coffee. You wanna sit down. They weren't gonna come after me. They know I had nothing to do with them being arrested or messing with them. They knew what they did was illegal. And if the time of her came, where they got caught, they're ready to pay the Piper. And that's how they acted. But it was all with respect. Totally different level. Quite honestly. Yeah. Very, very, very interesting. We're

Carmine: (31:46)
At the hospital. A guy comes over to me and goes, Hey, uh, KA, can I talk to, you said, yeah, what's up says you gimme ticket two weeks ago. I said, well, idiot, you see I'm on a corner. You go through a red light. I mean, what, what are you for real? What do you think it was gonna do? Yeah. But you know, I got, or nothing. You see me there, there are people in the street and you blow a light. Yeah. But, uh, and everybody's listening. Well, what can it do for me? Uh, I said, you know what, gimme the ticket back with a check for the fine. And I'll send it in for you.

Stephen J: (32:23)
I, there you go. Plea guilty. And I'm, I'll pay the postage.

Carmine: (32:27)
Everybody's telling me, you shut me. You jerk As long, as long as you didn't flake them, as long as you are up and up. That's right. Got problem with them. None. Just be honest,

Stephen J: (32:41)
That's it right. Be who you are. Yeah. And, and I think they respect the integrity.

Carmine: (32:45)
They do. I really do. And they were really appreciative of the fact that I didn't judge who they were like, I did try to save their lives.

Stephen J: (32:55)
So this incident happens. Yeah. Um, you deal the internal investigation of what goes on and, and what becomes of it.

Carmine: (33:03)
So what was supposed to come out of it never materialized because of the subject matter. But that that's another thing. So I stayed in mounted and um, you know, like run to some cops that just manged it's

Stephen J: (33:20)
I think you're talking to one of them. Yeah. I'm telling

Carmine: (33:21)
You, I must have been born with one, you know, because I just ran at the stuff right. At this stuff and stuff.

Stephen J: (33:27)
I think it's like the second or third time that same phrase has been, I'm just gonna say buy a guest. Like I said, I think you're talking to one car mine right now, but I know exactly what you're saying.

Carmine: (33:39)
And it got you time where, uh, and I started reflect on shootings. I was involved in, started thinking about guys that I worked with that had gone. And, uh, you started say to yourself, you know, you, you're gonna be 40 years old now, 41 years old now. And the climb and the police department is changing. You know? And perhaps, maybe the way you, you know, conduct yourself in law enforcement investigations, maybe that's not gonna be the way it should be. And during this time I get a phone call from, uh, uh, Gar Resta. So sheriff in Rockland county, and I said, come listen, uh, you know, a about time you call the quit. Why don't you come work with me? Gimme six months with the mounted unit that was 31 years ago. And I'm still there. And God rests is soul. But, uh, I had the mounted unit and it was great. Then 10 years ago, I gotta be honest with you. I hit another home, run a sheriff, an and said, why don't you come work with us? And before he can change his mind, it was

Stephen J: (34:47)
Reason taking advantage of

Carmine: (34:49)
Opportunity present. There you go. There I am.

Stephen J: (34:52)
So, so what's next nine Columbia green county. Yeah. Just move up to Hudson's

Carmine: (34:57)
Your New York going up to Canada next. See if I can

Stephen J: (35:02)
Well, you served Y P D with respect and honor, they did bestow a huge award

Carmine: (35:08)
To you. Yes. So I was, uh, in the, um, E Y P D uh, Legion of honor. And, uh, it's a beautiful medal. And I got presented that I wound up with totally of around 52 or 53 awards, accommodations, uh, except merits. And then, uh, when I got to Rockman county, I went from the Legion of Juan to New York city and something happened and, uh, rockn county gave me the marijuana, which was the first time anybody ever got that. And I was very honored to get that. So my career I've been very, very lucky, very lucky. You know, I've, I've gone to too many funeral was a friends of mine that hell have a lot better cop and ho Oak than I'll ever be. But, uh, and, and, and when my brother died, I couldn't help thinking that he was a second grader

Stephen J: (36:09)
And second grade N YP D detective, right? Not second grader, like, you know, justice thinking

Carmine: (36:14)
Of no, no, no. Like he was in the picture books. No, no. And he died a better guy than I'll ever live to be. So I was very lucky, you know, to be stole in these, these, these units that you gotta be voted in. And, uh, you know, I got the plaques are hanging up on a wall.

Stephen J: (36:32)
Wow. So you leave Y P D you're doing the Rockland thing. Um, and a light bulb goes off and says, you know what? There's not enough recognition for the men and women of law enforcement and eventually the fire service for their ultimate sacrifices. Right. And you start an organization. Yes. Talk about

Carmine: (36:48)
That. So when I was in the nine, oh, uh, at that time you had to produce, you know, when people say a, oh, there's no quota, that's. You wanted to have a seat and stay in your seat. You had to give them, you had produce, you had to give 'em. Some soms would made the world around. So we had a, a team in uniform and we weren't in uniform. And all this officer wanted to do was go to emergency service. That was his thing in life. He wanted to stay in for go to emergency service and what it graces to God, he did, he came back from court early one day and there was a gun run. And instead of going home, he went on it to back up his, his, uh, the guys he worked with and there was one shotgun blast. And if I remember correctly, the pellet went between the seams of his vest and killed him.

Carmine: (37:44)
So I knew him. I knew the family. I knew the wife. And matter of fact, the wife is a member of our unit now. And I, I told her what prompted all this? And one time she said something and it, you know, struck me odd. She said, you know, he's gone now. And who's, who's gonna do the things around the house. Who's gonna, you know, who's gonna do these things around the house. I said, that's what the hell of a thing to say. But as time went by, I've say to myself, you know what? That's not a hell of a thing to say, she's a hundred percent correct. Because now that he's gone, who's gonna be there for her. You know, the guy's that are precinct. Eventually everybody moves a on, they get promoted, they retire and your husband's still gone. And nobody's gonna remember him.

Carmine: (38:26)
Nobody who remembers the last couple of guys that just got killed. Did anybody remember them? No. I said to myself, what if we can do something to remember them outside of the norm of law enforcement have our own committee of guardians who remember and take care of police officers, firefighters, service, animals that lose their life in a line of duty. Combatively the idea was born. So we search for police officers that are killed combatively in the line of duty. And we have a small committee, which you're a part of. I am. And we award them our medal of honor. And it's encased in a, uh, shadow box, beautiful ribbon, beautiful award, the officer's name. And we, we're not a religious per se organization, but I don't think anybody would, would be offended with a mass card to go prayer. Sometimes, you know, in the darkest time, maybe a prayer or help the family.

Carmine: (39:33)
And we send a mass card in, we send a patch and some other things of a child is, uh, they lost a father and we, we would send like, uh, the Vermont Teddy bears with the dad shield on it and we send it to the child. We now have we're we're about eight years into this. We've got 4,000 members worldwide. Send it to every police officer's family who was killed in a line of duty. We never send it to the family. We send it to the department and the department. Then what makes their arrangements to present it or drive it over to their family. Right. I received three calls over the years. The last one I got was from, uh, a woman. She says, we got the Teddy bear. He says, but I want to tell you something. We have the metal in the shadow box and it's on the, uh, fireplace mantle. And it's never coming down because my child is never going to remember her, her father. But at some point in time, she's gonna be old enough to see this. And, and she'll ask, what was that for? And then I can sit it down and say, people who never met us, who don't know us, who are on the other side of the country, thought enough of your dad to do this. That's who your dad was. That's incredible.

Stephen J: (40:52)
What, what's more incredible. You're talking about 4,000 people now nationwide. I pay attention to obviously a member. Yes. The organization. But what you're seeing is this organization grow Carine from your leadership. And it's not people who don't don't know the officer of firefighter anymore. This organization has grown so far and wide that you're getting members who want to join and wanna be part of this. That actually now are saying, I've why watched it, man, is that guy was in my community. I went to church with him. Yeah. I went to school with him. I work with him. I want to be your liaison to the family. I want to present that medal. I want to be the one to help mow the lawn or, or do this. You know, we always talk about the network as your network. Your network that you've created with this organization will probably never die and extremely important to the families because the, to know who to call, to know what resources you guys have created, to be able to point people in the right direction is simply amazing.

Stephen J: (41:56)
And I'll tell you, man, I've been through tragedies with law enforcement officers killed the circus that happens after that accident or Ely. Absolutely. Right. You know, violence. Um, isn't is crazy. It's just insane. No, one's thinking clearly, but there's outside resources. And I think of one specific incident where N Y P D actually came up and where some, uh, other organizations came in and said, don't worry about any of this. We got all that you guys deal with your officer's family. You deal with your guys who are really affected by a, a loss of a fellow officer or a firefighter. They're really affected people say, they're not, they are, it's a friend. Oh, absolutely. It's a family member they're losing. But when organizations like the medal of honor committee comes in and other organizations YP, for example, and others, and say, we got it. And you know, they really do. It means the world to the families and to the agencies.

Carmine: (42:53)
Well, I have agencies called us up and in rural, rural parts of our country, who really are just beginning to realize the dangers, because they never had to deal with cops in their department or their areas being killed that have no such award organizations called me up and said, we can't. Thank you F this came in the Nick of time when we were having a ceremony. Now we've got something to give the family. I said, well, it came from you as well. Didn't come from us. It came from you as well. And that's how you should put it. And they would call us, uh, well, you send us another one. So, you know, and they put that on display for everybody to see. And these are basically, uh, police departments that are small or rural. And all of a sudden, now they feel, Hey, we are on the map.

Carmine: (43:51)
It's a tragic reason for it. Right. But we are record nice. You know, and anybody that goes through their, their police departments, or they will see that award, that one of their guys made the ultra sacrifice, and they're not gonna be forgotten. And when these PE see this woman's point was, and she was right, it's all great. And Y P D does a fantastic job. Uh, when, uh, cop killed in a line of duty, it's inspect this funeral. Thousands of guys line up. It is magnificent. It what attribute what respect, but at the end of the day, they go home, right? When it's over, it's over. It's when it's over, it's over. Okay. So for somebody to, uh, get a knock on the door and say, by the way, this is for you. And you realize it's coming from LA Grange, New York, oh, the hell is this. And then they read the letter explaining who we are, that we are there for them. And we recognize it. Even as though we don't know you, it doesn't make a better difference. We do know you, it's a fabric that is woven across our nation. You know, whatever color you wanna put in it, blue, green, red, it's our fabric. And, uh, we threaten it every time we just said, I went out this morning.

Stephen J: (45:13)
It's far too often. You're

Carmine: (45:14)
Sending them out. You know, I'll be honest. I never thought. And I was telling, I was telling on Lorraine. I said, you know, we started this. Did you ever was comment? I never, who would ever believe that these many guys cops are killed and you never hear of a female until Reese getting killed. And now they're being recognized. He said that that the scope of this thing is so big. That it's just not what you thought it was gonna be. You know, here with sorry for your lost this. No, it's far beyond that

Stephen J: (45:46)
Hard stuff, man. Hard stuff, but, but amazing gift that you're giving to the families and to the departments. I, like I said before, is you're giving them not only your condolences and the condolences your committee, but also the network that can provide them support and help from that moment on

Carmine: (46:02)
Really from that moment on is true from that moment on they have. And in the back of our cover letter is the list of delegates and P that are there in a moment, if they're in your area, fine, if not get one close to your area, we'll get somebody to be at your house. And in my family, we have a mental health professionals. You know, I guess it was God's way of saying you need it. So so fair enough. And, and we tell people, you have a problem. This goes no place. Other than you speaking to this health professional on families, this psychiatrist, and they'll help you. You know, it costs them nothing. We never charge anybody, anything for anything. We are strictly donations when it comes in, fine. If it doesn't come in, it's going on anyway, car

Stephen J: (46:52)
Mine, if you could go, go back to 21 year old car, mine who to me was already kind of ahead of himself with public safety. But now there might be another 21 year old car mine today who, who wants to, to attain, uh, things that you've done and, and, and really serve his community. What would you tell him?

Carmine: (47:10)
And today, if I had to go back and look looking at somebody that's just coming outta the academy today, and the, the, the news, the press, the, the headlines have gotta be weighing on them even more than their academic school has just come in. I, I would tell them, pay it, no attention. Don't let it bother you. Don't think about it. Just do your job and do it right. You're not better than anybody. In fact, these people depend on you. So don't let the anus and the troublemaker and the shitheads poison you from going out and doing what you, what you have to do. And doesn't mean that you have a heavy hand and you gotta track everybody down like that, doesn't you. But it also means that you don't turn your head, cuz you're afraid something's gonna happen. And that's what's poisoning. The cops are scared to death. And if I do anything, nobody's gonna back me and I'm gonna wind up living on the top of some GMI somewhere because they took my us. Yeah. So that's what I would tell 'em this don't mind. These, these bad always do the right thing, do the right thing. And God will see you through because I've never heard of anybody in trouble being shot at calling for a crack head. You know, they call the cops.

Stephen J: (48:26)
Well, that's what I always say, man. It doesn't matter if it's your grandma, your mother, your brother, your sister, your best friend when people are in trouble and they have no one else to call, they call the police. They call the cops. You know, that, that to me is, uh, a whole nother level. But what defines hero for you to

Carmine: (48:41)
Know that you're gonna do something that's gonna maybe, maybe cost you your life, but you're doing anyway because it's, it's what you chose in life. I go over the, the bear mountain bridge. And there are times when I, I get a chill up my back and I'm saying to myself, yeah, what an idiot to climb over the rail to bring this guy back from jumping. If you don't think about it, then there's the spark of, of uh, of, of a heroic action. But those are the heroes. The people that go out, do things, even if they they know, or they don't, it's gonna cost them their lives. If they do it anyway. And too many times it does cost them their lives. So those are the heroes.

Stephen J: (49:31)
Carmen, I think every law enforcement officer firefighter, or even EMTs today's day and age, and certainly our military fit that definition of hero. Absolutely. As to you, thank you as to you. And I appreciate you. Uh, I appreciate everything you've done. Thank you. Continue to do in your hero in my eyes. Thank you very much. Thank you

Carmine: (49:48)
So much for your service. Thank you. I, I that's, uh, I feel on it. Thank you.

Stephen J: (49:59)
Once again, our guest doesn't disappoint Justin. No, never,

Justin: (50:02)
Absolutely not. He had just some incredible stories from his background and the things that he's doing with his charity is just simply

Stephen J: (50:09)
Amazing. He's a guy that didn't like to put things out there. As we talked to him, he was making hand gestures and uh, referring to certain things that people I'm sure can catch onto while they're listening to a podcast, but just Google, Carmine Romeo. Yeah. You check out

Justin: (50:23)
That original New York times article of the 86th street car bomb and it is wild. It is a wild read

Stephen J: (50:29)
Again. I don't think he gives himself enough credit for the things that he's done. He's a very modest guy. The things he continues to do are nothing short than spectacular.

Justin: (50:37)
Yeah, he was a great, great guest man. That was, that was so much fun.

Stephen J: (50:41)
Thank you for listening to behind the 10 and hearing about how our heroes are heroes with the 10 on and off, please be sure to like follow, share and subscribe to us behind the ten.com. You can also visit behind the ten.com to find out how you can sponsor cocktails over conversation. And we truly appreciate everybody jumping on board with that. We have, we got a list already and it's pretty awesome.

Justin: (51:02)
Yeah. And I'll add that we, you know, the podcast is off to a great start. So if you're listening to this are hanging out, share it with just one person, share it with everybody. But even if you just share it with one person, man, word spreads really

Stephen J: (51:12)
Fast, leave some comments, leave some reviews. We read every single one of them. We appreciate it. Guys look out for one another and stay safe.