New York Daily News

Pol: Ax bigot Bravest son of commish

- BY THOMAS TRACY

THE FDNY HAS already moved him from one firehouse to another over racist tweets he made five years ago — now legislator­s want to move probationa­ry firefighte­r Joseph Cassano out of the department altogether.

“We have been saying for years now that this individual, who has expressed hate toward multiple groups, including the AfricanAme­rican and Jewish communitie­s, should not be working with the public in any diverse neighborho­od of our great city,” City Councilman Andy King (D-Bronx) said Tuesday.

King spoke out after he learned that Cassano, son of former Fire Commission­er Salvatore Cassano, was moved from Engine 247 in Borough Park — the “Hot Stuff” firehouse — to Engine 162/Ladder 82 in Great Kills, Staten Island, where firefighte­rs are nicknamed “The Harbor View Boys.”

The department quietly moved Cassano (photo inset) from his first post just days after his graduation on Wednesday — once legislator­s in the Orthodox Jewish community heard about the assignment.

Protesters were going to get together Thursday to show their disapprova­l, but the gathering was canceled after FDNY bigwigs took Cassano out of Borough Park, sources with knowledge of the situation said.

Cassano resigned in disgrace in 2013 when his tweets — saying he liked Jews as much as Hitler and that Martin Luther King could “kick rocks” — came to light.

He also blasted the city’s Emergency Medical Service — saying everyone wanted to be firefighte­rs, not emergency medical technician­s, and accused his patients of using ambulances instead of cabs because Medicare pays for them.

Because he quit before he got fired, Cassano was able to rejoin EMS and get fast-tracked into the firefighti­ng ranks.

The FDNY did not return a request for comment.

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