By Dareh Gregorian
The New York Post
NEW YORK — An abatement worker at the former Deutsche Bank building said he was ordered to remove brackets holding the building’s standpipe system in place by his supervisors — an order prosecutors say helped lead to the death of two firefighters.
Alphonso Ortiz said his immediate boss, Salvatore DePaola, told him and his fellow workers they had to cut several brackets holding the building’s standpipe to make their cleanup process — at the site being demolished after it was left a toxic mess by 9/11 — “go quickly.”
As a result, a chunk of the standpipe collapsed, Ortiz said. Such pipes are used to deliver water to fight fires in high-rise buildings.
Prosecutors said the busted standpipe helped condemn firefighters Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino to a smoky death when responding to a fire at the building in August 2007.
DePaola, his boss Mitch Alvo and site safety manager Jeffrey Melofchik are all standing trial on manslaughter charges.
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