By Barry Paddock New York Daily News
Two-year-old twins, Max and Owen Cioffi, are held up near their father’s name Lt. Steven Cioffi. Susan Watts/New York Daily News
The names of a dozen cops who succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses — including two who died several years ago — were added Friday to the NYPD Memorial Wall in Battery Park City.
“It was bittersweet,” said Delores Weiner, 57, a retired NYPD detective whose brother, Detective Thomas Weiner died of pancreatic cancer in 2003. “We were very honored and surprised to finally have the recognition he has deserved for so long.”
Weiner spent more than 60 hours toiling in the ruins of the World Trade Center before his death.
The NYPD’s medical board and city bureaucrats had long argued that he developed pancreatic cancer before 9/11 because some studies show it takes six years to metastasize.
He was posthumously awarded a line-of-duty pension just last year, allowing his widow to collect better benefits.
Weiner was half of the storied crime-fighting duo “Tom and Jerry” with partner Jerry Dassaro. Together they combatted crime in the transit system.
Mayor de Blasio praised the heroism of all 12 NYPD heroes during Friday’s ceremony.
“Toxic dust swirled around them as they did their duty,” de Blasio said. “They did the right thing. They did the tough thing. They did the noble thing — and we honor them.”
Also added to the wall was Frank Macri, who worked about 350 hours at Ground Zero and the Fresh Kills landfill after 9/11. He died in 2007, five years after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.
The city denied his illness was related to his 9/11 work.
But in 2012, the state’s highest court disputed that and ordered pension officials to award the more lucrative line-of-duty benefits to Macri’s widow, Nilda Macri, who attended Friday’s ceremony.
In addition to Weiner and Macri, the names added to the wall Friday were: Officers Francis Pitone, Richard Holland, Ronald Becker Jr., Karen Barnes; Detective Traci Tack-Czajkowski, Tommy Merriweather, John Kristoffersen, Carmen Figueroa, Sgt. Michael McHugh, and Lt. Steven Cioffi.
