by Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) - Top brass at the FDNY are paying for their mistakes, ones that may have cost two firefighters their lives.
Two officers have been stripped of their commands for failing to inspect the damaged Deutsche Bank building. They and five others will have permanent black marks on their records.
A still-grieving father wondered allowed Wednesday night if the guilty will ever be brought to justice in the fatal fire at Deutsche tower two summers ago.
"It goes on forever. It never ends," Joseph Graffagnino Sr, said. "This is a continuous nightmare that nobody's waking from.
Records indicate the demolition began in March of 2007 and went on for five months without a fire inspection before the fatal blaze that claimed the lives of Firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino.
Two commanding officers -- Deputy Chief Richard Fuerch and Capt. Peter Bosco -- have now lost their commands. Five other department officials - Deputy Chief Paul Cresci; Deputy Chief John Bley; Deputy Chief Roger Sakowich; Battalion Chief Ronald Schmutzler; and Battalion Chief Robert Norcross - also received disciplinary reprimands for their role in the tragedy, amounting to permanent black marks on their service records for something some believe wasn't really their fault.
"They feel terrible. This was never in their mind's eye the way they would end their career," said John McDonnell of the Uniformed Fire Officers' Association, adding that he believes they are scapegoats.
It's a New York story full of tragic irony -- a fire station right next door to the Deutsche tower itself and the fact that the Fire Department not only took the casualties but now part of the blame for what happened when in fact two different city agencies were in charge of the tower at the time of the fire -- the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Department of Environmental Conservation. Nobody from those agencies has to this date been blamed, charged or disciplined in connection with what happened.
The officers are hoping the Manhattan District Attorney will provide some justice. He has already secured criminal indictments against the primary contractor, John Galt Corp., and three employees, but none against the city officials who were supposed to monitor the demolition project.
Indicted were Mitchell Alvo, Jeffrey Melofchik, and Salvatore DePaola. They pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
It's been nearly eight years since the building was damaged on 9/11 and almost two years since the tragic fire.
The officer tower was being demolished when the fire broke out. Beddia and Graffagnino were trapped by blocked stairwells in a building that had its hydrant standpipe severed during demolition.
Morgenthau said in 2008 that going after the city for failing to inspect would have been fruitless because the city has sovereign immunity.
"If we tried to litigate with the city we would have never gotten changes we succeeded in getting," Morgenthau said in December.
The head of firefighters union said FDNY brass dropped the ball.
"Firefighters had no way out," Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Stephen Cassidy said. "If the city had done what it was supposed to it would have never happened."
Added Graffagnino: "That's the fire department, they have their own rules and regulations and I have to go with whatever they decide. I just think it should go much deeper than this."
The city has dedicated a force of 25 inspectors who will survey work being done on buildings going up and buildings coming down.
"Our hope is that the district attorney when he goes forward in his investigation, that he will find fault and indict some people that we feel are grossly negligent in their responsibilities," McDonnell said.
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