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He clearly didn’t have a friend in Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdez, whose sympathies lie with the man who, until Tuesday, was the challenger in the race, fellow Republican Felix Garcia, a former undersheriff who once worked for Speziale.
But Speziale landed on his feet. Without any time off in between, he begins a new job as first deputy superintendent of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department today.
Curiously, Valdez was visited last week by state Attorney General Paula Dow, a Christie appointee. State law enforcement authorities are under tremendous pressure to change how New Jersey deals with crime, with its various layers of local, county and state agencies — and the chiefs, captains, lieutenants and sergeants who come with them. Mergers and attrition are clearly in our future; what types are still open to question.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, on the other hand, is a quasi-public authority that answers to no one except the governors of each state.
“It was an honor to serve as Sheriff and I will always be thankful to the citizens of Passaic County for the opportunity of protecting their homes and neighborhoods and creating a better quality of life for [them], Speziale said, in a prepared statement.
“I look forward to serving in my new capacity with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and will continue my service law enforcement on behalf of not only the citizens of New Jersey, but the citizens of New York as well.”
People will point to a recent flap with the state Civil Service Commission over the number of patronage appointments he made (See: Speziale: Records show no patronage abuse), but there was plenty else going on, even as Speziale, 48, built a $1 million warchest for a re-election bid to a fourth term this fall. The money is now going to fight cancer, he said (Wouldn’t it be something if that was his plan all along?).
Speziale, an NYPD folk hero who has a cameo in the Richard Gere film, “Brooklyn’s Finest,” was a widely successful undercover cop who rose from the grime of the streets, along with his buddy Bernie Kerik, to become a leader.
“Crazy Jerry,” as his colleagues called him, was always an aggressive, in-your-face narc, the son of a popular Paterson barber who began his business in the city with a shop called Gerard’s.
He got his first job in law enforcement with the Passaic County sheriff’s department three decades ago, before shiting over to the NYPD’s undercover unit — where he was shot in the arm, hit by a cab, tossed from a roof and beaten by rouge cops.. For a time before that, Speziale drove a wrecker for an outfit that contracted with the New Jersey State Police.
He was also on the crew that build the Wayne Hills Mall, where he was 18 when he met Maggie, all of 15. They’d later marry.
Speziale recently has been holding up under the strain of Maggie’s ongoing battle with breast cancer. She is currently hospitalized. (See: Passaic sheriff’s family endures trial)
It’s somewhat ironic that only last week he ran into former Sheriff Edwin Englehardt following a minor accident. When the ambulance was slow in getting there, Speziale drove the Passaic legend to the hospital himself.
“Don’t worry,” Englehardt told him. “You’re gonna win.” (See: Englehardt “sharp as a tack,” Speziale says)
“Complex situations are when I am at my best,” Speziale once said, “because I remain alert, focused, composed, resolute and steadfast in my abilities to handle the situation at hand. Believe in me, I worked hard and earned everything I have attained in life taking nothing for granted.”
He also has his own polling done before every election and is a master at reading tea leaves. So maybe something was rubbing HIM the wrong way.
We’ll see…. Jerry’s always been a straight shooter. Sooner or later, we’ll find out.
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