Greedy Bastards...

[Kippi ben Kippod]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/loca...p-365147c.html


BY DON SINGLETON
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sanitation worker John Naimoli shows credit card he used so Mass for co-worker Steve Landano could proceed after funeral home refused to release body.

The Brooklyn church was ready for the 9:30 a.m. funeral. The priest, the family and a city Sanitation Department honor guard were all waiting.

But there was no body.

Sanitation Supervisor Steven Landano's corpse was held hostage yesterday morning inside a Brooklyn funeral home because the family's bill wasn't paid in full.

"All or nothing - or we put your husband back in the freezer," a funeral home official told Landano's grieving widow, she and witnesses told the Daily News.

When the funeral home refused to reconsider, one of Landano's fellow sanitation workers, John Naimoli, handed over his MasterCard and charged the whole $8,650 bill.

An hour after schedule, the coffin finally rolled out the doors of the Andrew Torregrossa & Sons Funeral Home at 2265 Flatbush Ave. But too much time had been lost.

Landano's funeral Mass at St. Bernard's Church in Bergen Beach had to be abbreviated to prevent the service from delaying two other funerals scheduled later in the day.

"They were despicable," Landano's widow, Katherine, said of the funeral home. "To watch my husband suffer so for the past year, and then see him treated that way? Disgusting.

"My husband ended up with a 15-minute funeral."

A receptionist at the funeral home said no one was available to comment. But the receptionist insisted the funeral home had done nothing wrong.

"I don't understand what the problem is," she said. "His wife was just in here to pick up the death certificates, and she hugged me and kissed me and said thanks for everything."

Deputy Sanitation Chief Sebastian Grosso scoffed at the funeral home's account.

"The poor guy didn't even have a regular Mass - just a quick service," said a disgusted Grosso. "They treated the whole family like garbage."

"On Wednesday, they kept asking the family for money, and the family said they had to wait for the insurance. They had used all their money for hospital and medical expenses," said Grosso.

Steven Landano, 40, of Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, died last Saturday after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer about a year ago. The 21-year sanitation veteran left behind his wife and a 10-year-old daughter, Bernadette.

Grosso said he and other city and union officials assured the funeral director that Landano's family would be receiving the proceeds of separate insurance policies.

Grosso also said he and other friends collected $3,000 in cash to help cover the bill, and one of Landano's pals offered to charge the remaining portion of the bill on his credit card.

"But the guy from the funeral home - his name was John something - said he wanted full payment and he wanted it right then," Grosso said.

So Naimoli - who worked with Landano in the Brooklyn South 15 garage - put the bill on plastic, and Landano's body was set free.

"All I know is I can sleep tonight with a clear head," Naimoli said.

Originally published on July 8, 2006

[X-Sport]

I guess since he picked up garbage for a living , they thought they could treat him and his family like garbage...

FUCKING SAD