Pieces lead to peace
Pizza a key for cops who ended armed Qns. hostage situation
Pizza gave NYPD negotiators the common ground they needed with two armed ex-felons in an hours-long hostage drama that unfolded in Queens.
Police were called when three terrified women and an infant were held at gunpoint for hours Tuesday night at a home in South Richmond Hills.
The gunmen claimed they were after a debt owed by the infant’s father, who died of cancer in October. They believed the money was in the house, officials said.
Specially armed police clustered around the house and waited for an order to go in.
Meanwhile, Detective Kristian Flood, an NYPD negotiator, talked on his cell phone with one of the accused hostage takers, Tex Ortiz.
“He was at times calm and patient very articulate and then at times he became very erratic and emotional,” Flood told the Daily News.
“He wanted food. Pizza was the first thing that came to his mind, so we had guys trying to find pizza.”
Though they were ready outside the house with armed officers, police would rather resolve hostage situations peacefully.
“We know they want to come out. We know we can talk them out,” said Lt. Michael Tomao, commander of the NYPD Hostage Negotiation Team.
“We’d rather wait, and do it in a peaceful way, than go in there and have anybody get hurt,”
The opening play in Flood’s negotiation to end the standoff came when Ortiz asked to see his wife.
As cops went to get her, Ortiz agreed to release the oldest hostage, a 92-year-old woman, along with her 62-year-old daughter and the baby.
“Doing that showed good faith,” Flood said. “One of our jobs as negotiators is, you have to build a trust with the subject.”
Then, Ortiz said he wanted food. When the pizza arrived, Flood had a second opportunity to end the standoff.
“If you want it, you’re gonna have to meet me halfway and come down, there’s gonna be absolutely no funny
Ortiz.
“He goes, ’Well, I’m going to send the girl down — the other hostage.’”
And so, around midnight, the remaining adult hostage, a 33-yearold woman, ran desperately out of the door, roughed up but unscathed.
Flood said he focused his negotiating on Ortiz, 35. The other accused hostage taker, Wilbert Wilson, 51, appeared to think cops were going to charge in and threatened to open fire if they did.
Wilson “was a little bit more combative,” the detective said. “So I tried to primarily use Tex.”
It was roughly another two hours before the men emerged from the house on 125th St. near Liberty Ave.
About 2 a.m. Ortiz came out of business,” Flood told the house. They were charged with robbery on Wednesday.
Wilson was in the hospital Thursday, and had not been arraigned, the Queens District Attorney’s office said. It was unclear whether Ortiz had been arraigned.
A few hours later, the 33-yearold woman went into the nearby Stop And Go Candy & Grocery for a coffee or soda, said Aal Sadin, an employee of the bodega.
“[She] was crying. [She] told me someone broke into her house last night,” Sadin, 52, said. “She said, ‘I have some problem. They caught two people who broke into my house. They rob me, tried to ask for my money.’”
Wilson has done five prison stints since 1990 for drug offenses, records show. He was last released from prison a year ago.
Ortiz has been arrested eight times since 1997 on charges including sex abuse and assault. He was last busted in 2018, when he robbed two men at gunpoint in East Harlem.
“During our training, we teach [hostage negotiators] a lot of things, but one of our most important part is actually listening,” Tomao said.
“And listening is the most important part, because we want to hear why that person got into that predicament on that day. As soon as you have a rapport built with them, we’ll negotiate them out for a peaceful surrender.”
“If they want a pizza, we will get it with pizza.”