NYPD Deputy Chief Dies Of 9/11-Related Illness

NEW YORK, NY — A deputy chief of the New York Police Department died on Monday from cancer he developed in the wake of 9/11, police officials said Tuesday.

Deputy Chief James Molloy died of brain cancer. Roy Richter, president of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association, told Patch that Molloy was a first responder who helped lead recovery efforts at Ground Zero after the terror attacks in 2001. Molloy, 54, is survived by a wife and two daughters, according to Richter.

NYPD's special operations division posted a message to Twitter on Tuesday morning saying saying that Molloy had "succumbed to 9/11 related illness."

Richter said that Molloy was diagnosed with a brain tumor about two years ago.

"He was always a go-to, get-it-done person," Richter said. "He had a dry wit that would take the edge off of some very serious situations."

Anthony Agugliaro, a retired NYPD detective who worked with Molloy for more than four years, said he was a "lovable guy" and a "great boss." Agugliaro remembered working on New Year's Eve and the Fourth of July with Molloy and said it was "always fun to go to work with him."

"Nobody ever wants to work the holidays," he said. "I loved working the holidays with him."

Richter said he knew at least 10 first responders who had died from 9/11-related illnesses in the years after the attacks.

"It shouldn't be their time," he said. "It's unfortunately been our reality that we've been dealing with over the last 15 years, and every day there seems to be more and more people that are diagnosed and more and more people that are taken from us way too early."

John Feal, who founded the FealGood Foundation to support first responders, said the exact number of people who have died from 9/11-related illnesses is impossible to determine. He estimated that as many as 1,800 people have died from illnesses sustained at Ground Zero.

"Most people think about the buildings coming down," Feal said. "The aftermath, and toxins that were released cause of the buildings coming down, has caused harm 16 years later."

The NYPD estimates that about 100 police department personnel have died from illnesses after being exposed to toxins while responding to the attacks.

Molloy most recently ran the detective bureau in Queens. Before that, he headed the Emergency Service Unit; he was transferred after two officers in that unit were involved in questionable fatal shootings, according to the New York Times.

Agugliaro, his former colleague, said that Molloy was the longest-serving captain of the elite Emergency Service Unit and that the transfer was standard.

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