Rockland’s chief detective retiring after 45 years investigating murders, corruption – The Journal News / Lohud.com

Rockland County District Attorney Chief of Detectives Peter Modafferi recounts 45-year career as he prepares to retire. John Meore/Lohud

Peter Modafferi, Rockland County District Attorney's Chief of Detectives, recounts his 45-year career. Photographed at the Rockland County District Attorney's Office in New City on Monday, June 5, 2017.(Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)Buy Photo

Murders. Political corruption. Mobsters. Gambling. Police abuse.

Peter Modafferi, who is retiring June 14, helped investigatethose and many other crimes during his 44 years with the Rockland District Attorney's Office30 of those years as chief of detectives. His 45-year career started in June 1972 as an investigator with the Rockland Public Defender's Office.

Modafferi, 67, raised in Rockland County and married for 31 years to retired teacher Mary Beth Modafferi, also has been a major force behind the maturation of law enforcement in Rockland, such as helping create the Rockland Drug Task Force by obtaining a $125,000 grant in 1973 to rent a building and buy four unmarked cars.

His contacts in federal law enforcementprovided Rockland with millions of dollars in modernized surveillance, connections and credibility. He's testified before Congress on law enforcement issues, including surveillance and homeland security issues.

"If you look at Peter Modafferi, you see someone known nationally in law enforcement who's not always recognized as an influential figure in his local community," Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said. "Here's a guy who's been involved in every majorinvestigation in the county over four decades. The guy's a visionary. He has been well ahead of his time when it comes to law enforcement changes.

"He's had a lot to say on a national level such as the president's drug policy on law enforcement advancements in the 21st century," Zugibe said.

Modaferri's seen Rockland change from thebucolic community of his youth and younger days as an investigator to a more urban suburbia, but insists the county always had its share of violence and drugs. He's seen law enforcement officers grow in numberand become better equipped and trained,spurred by the murder of two Nyack police officers and a Brinks armored car guard on Oct. 20, 1981.

Peter Modafferi, Rockland County District Attorney's Chief of Detectives, recounts his 45-year career. Photographed at the Rockland County District Attorney's Office in New City on Monday, June 5, 2017.(Photo: John Meore/The Journal News)

"It's been a thrill of a lifetime," Modafferi said recently,sitting behind his desk at the DA's Office in New City.His desk is modestly clear of clutter, but police patches,hats andawards are scattered on furniture andwalls.

"It was always what I wanted to do," he said of law enforcement. "It was exciting. Every decade brought something new. "

All cops and prosecutors have horrific memories of violence, as well as dealing with families facing emotional distress, shock and anger.

(Photo: Courtesy of her family )

Two horrific murders of young girls are among the major investigations recalled by Modafferi cases he won't forget:

(Photo: Submitted)

File photo /The Journal News The Clarkstown police Honor Guard presents the colors during the 34th annual Brinks Memorial Service in Nyack on Oct. 20. The Clarkstown police Honor Guard presents the colors during the 34th annual Brinks Memorial Service in Nyack on Oct. 20. The event remembered South Nyack police Sgt. Edward O'Grady and Officer Waverly Brown, and Brinks guard Peter Paige, who were killed in an armored-car robbery in 1981.(Photo: File photo by Peter Carr/The Jou)

Despite Rockland's reputation as a bedroom community, Modaferri said Rockland has long been home to violence, murders, illegal gambling and organized crime figures. He's been involved in establishing units to investigate the mob, gambling, drugs, and political corruption, working closely with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

"Since I started, the population of Rockland County has grown 40 percent," he said of the changing nature of the state's smallest county geographically. Law enforcement has changed with the times, he said.

He recalledthe 1970s and 1980s when Rockland saw 15 to 25 murders annuallymany that went unresolved as "we couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt."

Nyack Police Officer Waverly "Chipper" Brown, left, and Sgt. Edward O'Grady were murdered Oct. 20, 1981, at a Nyack roadblock during robbery of a Brinks truck.(Photo: The Journal News/File photo)

"There wasn't DNA back then," Modafferi said. "They did tests on blood to determine the range of possibilities. DNA made it a different world as technology has enhanced law enforcement and investigations today. The technology can help convict or exonerate a suspect."

Organized crime also has a foothold in Rockland. Several major mob figures such as Genovese family captain Daniel Pagano and organized crime-linked gamblers and loan sharks have been arrested and sent to prison over the years. Pagano's father, Joseph Pagano, reputedly ran the region's garbage industry and gambling.

"They are very active in Rockland," Modafferi said, adding recently retired detective William Michella headed investigations into the mob. "I've met them. They are wiseguys. That's what they do for a living. They know we know it. It's a chess game. "

He recalls a lawyer who stole from senior citizens to pay his gambling debts to the mob, saying that alone is proof gambling is not a victimless crime, as many in the public claim.

"Loansharking comes with a price," he said. "It's a vicious cycle."

Aside from helping solve crimes and conducting investigations,Modafferi takes pride that he represented the Rockland District Attorney's Office on national panels and with groups studying crime and modernizing investigative approaches.

He's spent 27 years working with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, chairing its investigative operations committee for years. He's been published in law enforcement magazines and periodicals numerous times. He also chaired the executive advisory board of the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center.

Hetestifiedin 2013 before theHouse Investigations Subcommittee on the use of warrants and probablecause to get personal information on citizens as part of an investigation. He's been quoted on law enforcement issues by newspapers and periodicals nationwide, such as the Washington Post.

His connections with the federal drug councils provided the county Drug Task Force with$2 million worth of surveillance equipment. Rockland got the equipment free and became a test site forfederal drug agencies to determine the effectivenessof the equipment, he said. The Sheriff's Office also got a $400,000 ballistics identification system through his efforts.

"When you get involved in these organizations, the benefits to the county are huge." Modafferi said.

Modafferi's been ahead of the curve on law enforcement needs for decades and his work with the chiefs association has won him respect across the nation, said Col. Steve McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety, which includes the Texas Rangers, patrol officers and intelligence-gathering.

"He's clearlyan icon," said McCraw, who met Modafferi decades ago as an FBI agent. "I don't use that word lightly."

McCraw said Modafferi has been a leader on advocating intelligence-based investigations, the use of data, computers, cooperative witnesses, and law enforcement combining resources.

"He hadseen the need for intelligence-gathering before 9-11 and he's seen the impacts of commercial sex trafficking and exploited children," McCraw said, noting the work done by the Rockland District Attorney's Office and other agencies to curb sex trafficking at the recent Super Bowl in New Jersey.

"For some children, theironly chance of being free is an informed patrol officer on human trafficking, and that's something Pete has long advocated," McCraw said.

Modafferi has worked for four district attorneys over his career hired by Robert Meehan and followed by Gribetz, Michael Bongiorno and Zugibe, with whom he has worked since 1981 when Zugibe was an assistant district attorney. Modafferi worked closely with Zugibe's father, the later Dr. Fred Zugibe, a world-renowned forensic pathologist who created the Rockland Medical Examiner's Office.

Retired FBI AgentHilda Kogut also praised Modafferias an advocate forcooperative investigations building bridges to solve crimes.

"Peter is a detailed oriented guy and a really good investigator," she said. "I've always found him to be educated, a real classy guy, very professional and always there to help you."

She said she and the FBI worked with Modafferi and the District Attorney's Office on many cases, including a robbery of a millionaire businessman in Piermont, the murder of a scientist in Pearl River by his wife and her cousin, and the Judaic Studies case, during which millions of dollars in education funds and other social welfare programs were stolen by residents of New Square.

Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe in his New City office April 27, 2017.(Photo: Peter Carr/The Journal News)

Zugibe, who has worked with Modafferi since 1981,described Modafferi's investigative style like Peter Falk's character in "Colombo" intellectual and meticulous.

"He can dig into the most complex cases and come up with a strategy," Zugibe said. "I am talking about white collar cases, not just street crime. Peter has a natural knack. He's going to be missed by my office and the county."

Modafferi graduated from the FBI Academy in June 1983 and always tried to send his office's investigators to the program, where they got training and could make connections that last a lifetime, Kogut said.

"Networking is critical to being a good investigator," Kogut said. "We're a small county. You want people like Pete out there who is a point person to meet the right people so we can get the equipment and financing we really need."

Modafferi said the District Attorney's Office's working relationship with the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office led to the formation of an anti-corruption task force.He noted that District Attorney's Office detectives provided the FBI with a key undercover operative, Moses Stern of Monsey, whichled to the convictions of officials from Spring Valley and New York City.

He helped spearheadthe office's community prosecution concept and the special victims unit with Lt. Mary Murphy to establish the Spirit of Rockland Special Victims Unit for interviewing and helping sexual abuse survivors on the grounds of Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern.

His future plans involve working for a national program that delves into human trafficking, a worldwide crime problem.

"Something has to be done about the sexual and laborhuman trafficking of children, women," he said. "Crime doesn't stop. It's just being done differently."

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