By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — Construction workers charged with killing two firefighters who died in a raging fire at the Deutsche Bank building in 2007 are taking the fall for the failure of overseeing agencies, defense attorneys said at a court hearing Monday.
"Why are they scapegoating a few defenseless people at the bottom of the line?" said Edward J.M. Little, the attorney for Jeffrey Melofchik, 48, a site safety manager assigned to the Deutsche Bank demolition job who is accused of manslaughter.
Mitchel Alvo, 58, the director of asbestos removal on the job, and Salvatore DePaola, 55, a site foreman, were also indicted in December of 2008 on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges related to their work on the deconstruction of the Deutsche Bank skyscraper, which was badly damaged on 9/11.
Little argued prosecutors "didn't have the nerve" to indict federal, state or city government agencies who were truly responsible for the deadly fire, he said at the hearing. He did not cite specific agencies he had in mind.
Two firefighters — Robert Beddia, 53, and Joseph Graffagnino, 34 — were trapped without access to water in the 2007 fire because the sprinklers were shut down and the contractors failed to provide water through a standpipe system.
The DA said all three building professionals knew about the many violations and condoned "rampant" cigarette smoking in the hazardous building.
"All three of these [defendants] acted in a morally-blameworthy and egregious manner," said Assistant District Attorney Noah Genel.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Rena Uviler will rule on a motion to dismiss the charges against the three men in October, at their next scheduled appearance.
