Fireman and fury
Bigot assigned to ‘Jewish’ Brooklyn
A former FDNY commissioner’s son who once tweeted “I like Jews about as much as hitler” will join a firehouse in the middle of Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn, The Post has learned.
The move infuriated a local lawmaker. “For him to be assigned to Borough Park, where you have an incredible number of Holocaust survivors, is an insult to our community,” fumed Assemblyman Dov Hikind. “Put him somewhere else.”
Joseph M. Cassano, 28, the son of ex-Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, graduated from the Fire Academy on Wednesday and was sent to Engine 247 on 60th Street.
Joseph Cassano quit his FDNY emergency medical technician job in March 2013 after The Post exposed his tweets, which also derided the poor and the black people he had to serve.
“All of us make mistakes, but we’re talking about a guy who made the kind of vile remark that is so hateful and beyond the pale,” said Hikind, whose parents were Auschwitz survivors. “I want to be fair, but when you make that kind of statement, you lose me.”
Cassano did issue an apology when the tweets were exposed, and the FDNY rehired him as an EMT in July 2015; he graduated last week.
“Probie assignments are at the discretion of the department, and every member is expected to perform their duties with dedication, commitment and compassion to the people they serve — for which they will be held accountable,” said FDNY spokesman Jim Long.