Chapter Two

Summer means wide open spaces in a whole lot of extra miles.

Last place you want your engine to give out is halfway to nowhere. Out here, vote oil or a week battery is just an ambush way to happen.

“That's why every oil change at Valveline is the oil change of glutes at 18 point maintenance check.”

These text are trained to help spot issues early and give you a run easy. Valveline, instant oil change wisely. 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.

Crazy, how are you holding up what's the latest from down there on the scene? 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 die. Even as rescue teams have begun searching for survivors in the twisted metal and crush concrete

that less than an hour ago, dude, as among the most recognizable buildings in the world.

This is K9 Unit 401. We just found a woman pinned under the gutter. She's not moving. Ma'am, Miss, can you hear me? Still no movement.

And you hear me. She's dead, Michael. Don't wait, wait. Help me. She's crashed.

I'm calling in. I will hear ma'am. You hang in there. We're coming to get you. Your family helping with this.

Mom is the girl, Mayor Giuliani, was on scene. His suit covered with dust and he issued a statement of support and encouragement. What's your name, honey? It's an easy.

“We don't got any mass will going to get you from out of this girdle, right?”

What's your name? Carol. I'm Tommy. This is Mike. You're going to make it, Carol.

We're all going to get out of here, okay? Convoy goes girders are falling. We've got time to go. Tomorrow New York is going to be here. 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. I'm Frank Sturiano, formerly of the New York City Police Department. Think you know the whole story in 9/11? You don't. This is underground zero.

This is my story of how we took on the mob. Come on, what's this guy doing? I spent the night before 9/11 with Janet my grandmother. She ran the service department at a Cadillac dealership in Queens, which was convenient when my wife had to bring the car in.

We 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.”

And how I after the tower fell, I got the car. Had no one be at the Brewster Hunt Fish Club on Richmond Avenue at Staten Island. I spoke in flight of Saudi Arabia to take over. The club belonged to us, the Gen of East family. And it was 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 tribute to the boss. Saudi dip de Pietro. Had no exact dip brought the meeting to order. He did everything exact.

Thank you. I'll be having the gen of East family. I want to welcome the guillminos, the Locazies. In the back over there, in the back, we're going to back the Columbus. Yeah, okay.

We don't know who we are, but we don't know why we're here. So dip was a Marine of Vietnam. Let's get ready to do some business. On a bronze star. If he loved anything as much as his family,

it was his country. He spilled blood for bolt. Some of it is. Look, it's a fucking outrage what these very kids don't pass. Okay, if they weren't dead already, I'd get my fucking uniform out of

more bullsevered effucking handsyship than his roach. Okay, but you know why I stay with that? Okay, representatives of the NYPD, the NYFD. As a lieutenant command of the NYPD, I helped run the city's cleanup operation out of what have been a burger king on Liberty Street.

We are here to save lives.

“There's almost 2 million tons of rubble with 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. Carol. Can you hear me?

I'm here. Mike! I don't know. Oh, Jesus. The darkstead.

The trade senders on Genevieve's territory. But we're going to divvy it up amongst us. Jo Bianchi is going to plant the Genevieve's of flag.

And now he's all known, Joey, come here, come here.

Go ahead, tell him what you're going to say. Okay, well, thanks, Tim. Hi, great steal, copper, magnesium.

“The city's got no way to cut it out of here.”

They don't have the equipment, the trucks, they got nothing. We do. The debris supposed to go to fresh kills landfill. The city owns South of Judd on Staten Island. And some of it will.

Most of it are go to the odds we control. And from there, we're going to sell it all over the world. 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. 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 being more than heads. Hands have fingers, fingers have wings, go, plant and assignments.

What? What's that? What's that, Tommy? I don't know. I don't know. We're going to end the day city officials would fake time and material tickets

and these guys will have no choice, but to do business for us. 'Cause we're the only game in town. We got the city by the fucking ball. And the time to squeeze is not. Dip, anything else to say.

Use your head and don't be fucking greedy. We're in this together. We're more we put together, more we make each family, put more money in their pockets.

“It's the dangerous work, but nothing we do for as long as we live will be more important.”

I wish it's good luck. Stay safe. I've got bus. God bless America. After the meeting, I had a private sit down with dim.

Okay.

Every week, we had the club's web for NYPD and FBI bugs, but you can never be sure.

Meeting in cars was safe. Okay. We got blueprints from the city plan is office. The tunnels below building four. Stargate construction late part of the foundation.

Stargate. There's coal mine all the barrels out there. What's in the tunnels? Go bars of ingots. My guy says we could be worth half a billion.

Okay, we gotta protect that. Yeah, we should. We're looking at the opportunity of a lifetime for us and the other family. The other families. You know what, fuck them.

This is Genevieve's fucking turf, my friend. We get it all. Yeah. Well, we still may have to give a taste to our friends over at City Hall. Well, that's an investment in future cooperation now.

Right? I don't want one fucking sand going to them getting a hoods and Brooklyn of coins. Sounds like they're getting closer. That's because they are. This is it.

Carol, we're going to get out of here. Frank, what is it, Phil? There are explosions going off under the North Tower. Looks like they're coming from vehicles in the parking structure. And the engineers are saying the structural integrity of building seven could be compromised.

What's his life expectancy? Well, nobody knows, but this isn't helping. How many vehicles are down there?

And if you figure each of them has an average of five gallons of gas, a thousand Molotov cocktails on wheels. Frank, our rescue people are still hearing voices under the rubble, but what's the vibe is running out of time, Mike?

The Vice of Span Rescue Operations, we saved the first responders.

But we'd have no one search him for victims. Yeah. If the rescues continue and building seven falls, we could lose everyone. That's pretty much it, Frank. Founders and victims.

How long would we have to stop work? Long enough to douse those vehicles with retardant. So we're looking at probably between four and six hours. One of our salvage yards was in Green Point Brooklyn, consolidated according.

We had trucks care stuff for what looked like a mile.

We're used to carry trash from them that every restaurant construction site in the city

was going to carry off the debris from the towers. And the construction union repeat Eddie Bernstein was on our pad. Pretty sight, ain't it, Joe?

“That's what you're seeing Eddie, dip expected to take your usual piece of the no-bids.”

That's an unusual situation. You're not taking a vacant advantage now, yeah. How long you wouldn't mean only because you said a fucking us? Whatever. I ain't no reader of mine, just tell your boys, they get greedy.

It's going to reflect on you. You know, it hurts you feel you got to say it. You know, I heard worse if I got to say it again. And one more thing, I don't owe these trucks. I want America flag flying as many as you can find for what?

Just see that they're fucking waving it, that's it. Valdeline, instant oil change presents wisdom from the road. Summer means wide open spaces in a whole lot of extra miles. The last place you want your engine to give out is halfway to nowhere. Out here, low oil or a weak battery is just an ambush, way to happen.

“That's why every oil change at Balveline, instant oil change includes at 18 point maintenance check.”

These texture trained to help spot issues early and give you a run easy. Balveline, instant oil change wisely. 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.

For more on that, let's go to Tracy Marquez on the same. Tracy. 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.

Carol. This day and I, I have to go. I, I, I, I, I don't want to leave you. I, I just, what? I need a priest.

I, even if I could find one, I want the last rights. Don't let me die without him. 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 prevalent. And they'll make it a meal you'll choke on.

Frank, it, it, it, it's Lieutenant Commander Sturiano. Sorry, Lieutenant Commander Sturiano.

“In deciding to suspend search and rescue operations, did you consult Detective Cronin?”

No, I didn't. Why not? 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.

I can't, Sturiano, he was responsible for vetting companies that have applied for city contracts, but may have connections to organize crime. Many of them are construction and cartridge companies. Is there a question buried in there? Oh, 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 of the city's resources so minimal that you can't hold it right there. There are still people trapped under the rubble. And we need every hand-on deck to find them. As far as Lieutenant Sturiano's judgment morality and concern, I could attest to both.

Thanks, Mickey. What did I do? It's what you said to the reporters. You didn't have to, and I just...

“I picked the right godfather for Frank Jr.”

I meant it. On one hand, on the other it was unadulterated bullshit. But at least it was bullshit coming from me and not you. Meaning what? Those wise guys on the trucks, the Gambinos, the KZ.

It's not just wise guys, Mickey. One of them's Joe Bianchi, he's my brother-in-law. No one could blame you for who he used to stay married. We both know if we're going to save anyone we got to do what we got to do. But as I'm concerned, one life's worth more than a hundred fucking no-bid contracts.

All right. Now go home. What? Take a shower. Have Connie pack you a bag.

You're going to be here a while.

“And they're ready to try clean as working from here to Long Island City.”

As our trucks made their way to the trade center, they had never saw so many American flags.

They must have been 2,000 people lined up on the sidewalks, cheering like the 4th of July. And I'm like, we're about to steal this feeling blind. And these Gambas just think we're heroes. Good evening. 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. But they have failed. 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.

Like Mickey said, I went home and shower. Connie packs some shirts, socks, underwear, and my other two brown suits. When you think you'll come home again. When I run out of shorts. Looks horrible on TV.

What's going on down there? TV doesn't begin to.

Right before the towers went down, there were things I'll never get out of my mind.

You mean people jumping? That way you mean? Is that what you're trying to spare, you Connie? I don't want to be spared. I want to be included.

“If that's what you're going through, I want to be a part of it. Otherwise.”

Otherwise what? 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 things. A wife's left her for a newer model who doesn't want to be included. We used to talk all the time, Frank.

Save by the bell. And I want you the lucky one. I didn't mean it that way. Didn't you? Mori, sorry to just know what like this.

Oh, what kind of talk is that?

You know you're always welcome.

Thanks. Come on in. You want coffee? I just went to math, but thinking about Frank all day. I tried calling, but I couldn't get through. You're right.

Yeah. He's here. I'm fine, sis. Oh, thank God. Come here, give me a hug.

Remember Laura Ferraro? No, yeah, remember her. From saying Ignatius. She worked in a North Tower. Three kids.

He holds us as five. Oh, my God, I know. I gotta get back down there. Be careful, honey. Call when you can, okay?

What do they have you doing, Frank? Don't. Don't why? You know I can't say. I'm worried, is all.

Come on, let me sister for God's sake. Don't you trust me? I trust you. I don't trust your husband.

No.

Well, just this one time.

Especially this one time. I'll call you Connie. I love my brother. Yeah, me too. Just wish I knew him.

Yeah.

“I had at least a hundred grand out on the street at any given time.”

Come on, I fucking hate you. Jimmy Maripisi was in my book for seven grand the week. His date of pay was Tuesday. Crystal money, Joe. Your boys bring me down here like I'm some kind of fucking deadby.

It's Tuesday.

My nephew's missing it the trade center.

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. Your old seven large, principal of big, and if I don't get both by noon tomorrow,

I'm going to 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. Fuck you. You're principal and you fix it.

“Jimmy, aren't until we find my nephew, you've got to wait.”

They're in a fucking thing you can do about it. Jimmy, you made three mistakes.

You borrowed my money, you didn't pay it back.

You just respected me by using an excuse to trade center. Joe, it ain't like that. It's nephew of yours. What you're happy to know, you don't have. Joey, tell me you don't have the money.

At least that I can believe. Yeah, the fucking machine out there. You know what it does, it grinds concrete in the power. Show them the machine, Joey. The crazy hell already in this.

Joey, come on, I'm a father. In a body. Joey, come on, come on. I'm a father, Joey, please. Go forth Christian soul from this world and the name of God,

the Almighty Father who created you. And the name of Jesus Christ, son of the living God who suffered for you. And the name of the Holy Spirit who was poured out upon you. I think she's gone for him.

Well, in case the soul hasn't left the body. May your home be with God and Zion, with Mary, the virgin mother of God, with Joseph and all the angels and saints. Thank you, Father. I should tell you I'm not ordained.

What? 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 many of us should go.

And you're to be thankful for that. On the time I got back to the trade center, the safe to search for survivors again. Well, so we thought as I walked through the rubble, I thought how many people might be taken their last breaths under my feet.

“That's what I saw in my brother and law.”

Joey, Uncle. 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, Mary.

I figured you'd be here, Frank. I'll come. I found out you were running a cleaner. And you're planting the genavise flag. So here we are.

In the same boat, we both got jobs to them. Question is, which one of us wins? That's not the question. You tell me that. You were always smarter.

I wasn't smarter, Joe. I was just a little tall. Underground Zero, 9/11 in the mob, is a production of thoroughbred studios, Goldhop Productions, and I-Hard Podcasts.