Cries to fire this guy's ass
Fuming that ex-FDNY big’s bigoted kid back
The disgraced son of former FDNY Commissioner Sal Cassano never should have been permitted to rejoin the department after his racist Twitter rant — and was only allowed to because of a “horrific double standard,” furious department sources said Friday.
In what one senior FDNY official called “definitely a violation of standard protocol,” Cassano let his son, Joe, resign from his probationary position as an EMT in March 2013 after posting the offensive tweets, instead of being axed.
The move allowed Joe Cassano, 26, to be recently rehired by the department’s Emergency Medical Services.
“The Cassano administration permitted him a chance of redemption he would never have given anyone else by allowing him to submit a resignation,” a source said. “He should have been dishonorably fired instead.”
Another source agreed, saying, “The senior Cassano would never give any of his employees second chances of redemption.”
The highranking source noted, “If it was the average guy and if it weren’t Sal Cassano’s son, would he have been [re] hired due to his character flaws? That is the question. The general feeling is it wouldn’t happen.”
Joe Cassano stepped down as a probationary EMT after The Post revealed his vile posts against Jewish people and blacks under the Twitter handle @jcassano15. The account has since been suspended.
On Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, the son tweeted, “MLK could go kick rocks for all I care, but thanks for the time and a half today.”
He also tweeted: “I like jews about as much as hitler.”
But the son reapplied to EMS, was accepted and is set to start at the academy on July 13.
Joe Cassano shouldn’t expect a warm welcome from fellow recruits, according to the FDNY official.
“The average EMS person is not aware of this yet,” the veteran source said. “Other firefighters have been kicked to the curb for similar conduct.”
Brooklyn firefighter Thomas Buttaro, for instance, was sacked for wearing to work antiaffirmativeaction Tshirts. One bore the logo for Merit Matters, a group opposed to changing the FDNY’s admissions test to accommodate minorities, sources have said.
After news of Joe Cassano’s reentry into the department surfaced, a veteran FDNY paramedic sniped online, “Nothing shows diversity at FDNY like rehiring racists and antiSemites.”
The FDNY responded through a spokesman, “Based upon the remorse expressed for his prior conduct, and his ongoing efforts to demonstrate respect for all people, he’s been given a second chance and the Department will hold him to that standard.”