UNITED STATES ARMY

CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY

INTERVIEW OF

MSGR ANTHONY R. FRONTIERO

North Morgue, Ground Zero

126-ORH-I-035

NEIT-126-035

CONDUCTED BY

SFC DAN MORIARTY

The Center of Military History

AT

DMORT

October 4, 2001

TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
2

1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 SFC MORIARTY: (Inaudible) and

3 SGT DELUCA: SGT Joseph Deluca from the 126th 

4 Military History.

5 SFC MORIARTY: And this interview is taking place 

6 at -- this is the North Morgue?

7 MSGR FRONTIERO: I'm not sure what you'd call it. 

8 It's the only one I know.

9 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. Well, there's two. There's 

10 north and south. This is the north, right outside of 

11 what were formerly the World Trade Center towers.

12 MSGR FRONTIERO: The World Financial Center.

13 SFC MORIARTY: Oh, we're right outside the World 

14 Financial Center?

15 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

16 SFC MORIARTY: And this interview is with 

17 Monsignor

18 MSGR FRONTIERO: Anthony Frontiero.

19 SFC MORIARTY: Would you spell your name 

20 phonetically?

21 MSGR FRONTIERO: F-r-o-n-t-i-e-r-o.
3

1 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. Now for the legal 

2 disclaimer. I understand that the tape and transcripts 

3 resulting from this oral history will belong to the 

4 U.S. Army to be used in any manner deemed in the best 

5 interest of the U.S. Army, as determined by the Chief 

6 of Military History. I understand it's subject to 

7 security classification restrictions, I will be given 

8 an opportunity to review the resulting transcript in 

9 order to clarify or expand my original thoughts. The 

10 Army will provide me with a copy of the edited 

11 transcript for my own use subject to classification 

12 restrictions.

13 Do you have any conditions you --

14 MSGR FRONTIERO: No.

15 SFC MORIARTY: And if at any point you do, we can 

16 come back to this.

17 MSGR FRONTIERO: Oh, yes.

18 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. Could you put your name 

19 here?

20 MSGR FRONTIERO: Sure.

21 SFC MORIARTY: I was wondering what the 
4

1 abbreviation for Monsignor was.

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: It's okay if I abbreviate it, 

3 right?

4 SFC MORIARTY: Yeah. Not a problem. And your 

5 duty station is -- you're assigned to the World --

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: The United Nations Embassy.

7 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. If you could just sort of 

8 squeeze that in there.

9 MSGR FRONTIERO: Okay. Right here?

10 SFC MORIARTY: Yeah.

11 MSGR FRONTIERO: Okay.

12 SGT DELUCA: So do you have diplomatic status?

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Only in the United Nations but 

14 no, I don't have a diplomatic passport.

15 SGT DELUCA: Well, you don't need it.

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: No.

17 SFC MORIARTY: And if you have no conditions, you 

18 initial there.

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: None. And sign?

20 SFC MORIARTY: And sign right here and date it 

21 there.
5

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: Okay.

2 (Recess.)

3 SFC MORIARTY: You were just called away.

4 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

5 SFC MORIARTY: And a family came down?

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: No. Actually the workers found a 

7 black bag, a duffel bag with some material in it and 

8 they thought there were some body parts attached to it, 

9 but they found nothing. That was what I was --

10 SFC MORIARTY: Okay.

11 MSGR FRONTIERO: You need me? Yes, they do need 

12 me.

13 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. That's not a problem. We'll 

14 wait.

15 (Recess.)

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: It probably belonged to one of 

17 the firefighters. It was a duffel bag with tools in it 

18 and they thought that there still may be some kind of 

19 body part attached to it or somewhere around it, but 

20 they're searching it now, but they don't think there's 

21 any -- they're calling the remains bio. If they see 
6

1 there's bio there, that means body part. So at the 

2 moment we'll just wait until they call me again.

3 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. Now, is that a routine 

4 practice?

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes. What happens here is that 

6 they bring in the bodies or the body parts, as it were, 

7 and typically what happens is if a body is recovered or 

8 a body part and it's identifiable as a police officer

9 or a firefighter, everyone that's here in uniform goes 

10 down to the site, they drape the remains in an American 

11 flag and they have a procession here, like a funeral 

12 procession. They treat everyone with such dignity and 

13 care, you know, particularly if they're a firefighter 

14 or a police officer.

15 And then what happens is they bring the body or 

16 the part -- the remains into the next tent and they 

17 identify it to the best knowledge that they can, if 

18 it's possible. They do a sample for DNA and then the 

19 priest is called in to bless the remains.

20 SGT DELUCA: And do you give them like last rites 

21 or --
7

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: No. We do not give last rites 

2 because we can only give last rites for a person who is 

3 alive.

4 SGT DELUCA: Oh. I didn't know that.

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: We do a blessing, prayers for the 

6 dead and we bless the remains but we do not give the 

7 sacrament of last rites. You cannot do that after a 

8 person has died.

9 SGT DELUCA: I didn't realize that.

10 SFC MORIARTY: Now, the other thing -- earlier you 

11 had said that maybe it was a family coming down and you 

12 were going to pray with them.

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

14 SFC MORIARTY: Is that also what's happening here?

15 MSGR FRONTIERO: The families don't come here to 

16 this point. Before, when I went to the hospital and 

17 early on I stopped at the armory to be with those 

18 people because in the immediate -- immediately after 

19 the incident, they were gathering in hospitals, the 

20 armory, especially if their loved ones were missing.

21 SGT DELUCA: That's the Park Avenue Armory?
8

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right. Exactly. So I went there 

2 one day and spent a few hours there with the people and 

3 so forth, just to talk and pray with them as they 

4 waited. Here it's a little bit different. We're 

5 waiting to receive and bless the body remains. And 

6 there are times when it's more busy than others, 

7 naturally. Like this morning they -- I was told they 

8 found quite a few body parts that they were bringing 

9 in, so it was quite busy this morning here for the 

10 priest on duty.

11 The priests are rotating every six hours here.

12 SFC MORIARTY: Really?

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Two priests every six hours.

14 SGT DELUCA: Now, you're all volunteers?

15 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes. This is Father -- Father 

16 Paul has come from Rochester, New York.

17 SGT DELUCA: How are you doing, Father?

18 FATHER PAUL: Good.

19 SGT DELUCA: You came all the way down from 

20 Rochester?

21 FATHER PAUL: I did. I came down today.
9

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: That's Dan and that's Joe.

2 SFC MORIARTY: Pleasure to meet you, sir.

3 MSGR FRONTIERO: Father Paul is going to be here 

4 for four days. He's a retired priest and is 

5 volunteering his time to help here and so we're a team 

6 and we came down at 6:00 and then we'll leave at 

7 midnight.

8 SFC MORIARTY: And another team --

9 MSGR FRONTIERO: Another team will come in. 24 

10 hours a day there's always -- there are two priests.

11 SFC MORIARTY: And how about Rabbis and ministers? 

12 Are they also involved in this or --

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: I'm not sure.

14 FATHER PAUL: I'm not sure, either, but I would 

15 imagine so.

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: I think, though, that if they're 

17 really kind of glad that the Catholic priests are here 

18 only because we wear identifiable signs, the Roman 

19 collar. I mean, in other religious traditions where 

20 they wouldn't have this, they're not as visible and so 

21 forth. But they like that sign. They were telling us 
10

1 today during the briefing that it really is a 

2 consolation to see us and that's why they encourage us 

3 to walk around.

4 So Father Paul just went for a walk and then later 

5 on I'll go for a walk.

6 SFC MORIARTY: Now do people on the site approach 

7 you and talk to you while you're out there?

8 FATHER PAUL: I go up to them and if they want to 

9 talk, they come up.

10 SGT DELUCA: How about you? Now, you were here 

11 the first day --

12 MSGR FRONTIERO: But even -- well, let me see. 

13 Shortly afterwards. And I spent a lot of time at the 

14 hospital and went to the armory the one afternoon. The 

15 Lennox Hill Hospital (phonetic) next to the place where 

16 I live.

17 SFC MORIARTY: Right.

18 MSGR FRONTIERO: And the -- I have noticed that a 

19 lot of the workers here come up and say thank you for 

20 being here. Just a couple of guys, before you came 

21 here, very appreciative, and said thank you so much, it 
11

1 means a lot that we see the priests here. And so 

2 that's gratifying. Although we're more glad that you

3 guys are here, really, and that they're here to do this 

4 work because that really is the more important.

5 SGT DELUCA: That happened to me the other night 

6 at our hotel. There were a couple of firefighters. 

7 They must have just had a meeting. They were from 

8 Ladder 30. You know, they had the patch on. And as 

9 I'm walking by, one of them reached out and grabbed me 

10 around the shoulder and said thanks for being here.

11 And, you know, I feel like so inadequate because 

12 those are the guys that go to the front line, you know. 

13 We're down here in support, you know, and our job is 

14 to collect and document so that, you know, hopefully 

15 this never happens again but if it does, there's an 

16 institutional knowledge.

17 Now, that institutional knowledge from your 

18 (inaudible) -- now, when abouts -- how did you find out 

19 about this so that you can volunteer to come here?

20 MSGR FRONTIERO: As soon as the terrorist attack 

21 happened, shortly thereafter, I think three days later, 
12

1 we got a fax from the Archdiocese of New York. All the 

2 priests in the area. I don't know if you did up in 

3 Rochester.

4 FATHER PAUL: No. No.

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: But we did here, those of us --

6 said an urgent appeal that you volunteer your time to 

7 go to the hospitals and the armory and also call the 

8 Archdiocese to volunteer for morgue duty down at the 

9 site. And actually, they had an excellent response 

10 from the clergy because I would have liked to have done 

11 this more often so far but there's a good number of 

12 guys that are just willing to come down. And 24 hours 

13 a day there's always two Catholic priests here. So 

14 that's really great. And that's how I got involved in 

15 it, because of this urgent appeal that came out to all 

16 the clergy.

17 SFC MORIARTY: Have you been over to the family 

18 center at all?

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: No, I have not been to the family 

20 center.

21 SFC MORIARTY: Do you know if there's other clergy 
13

1 over there?

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: I imagine there are but I don't 

3 know how that's actually working. Maybe -- I think 

4 that may be where a lot of other denominations are 

5 being called in because the -- perhaps there's more of 

6 an association of religious denomination going on there 

7 than there would be here. I think the Catholic clergy 

8 are much more recognizable here, so that that's what 

9 they're -- that's my sense. I don't know.

10 SFC MORIARTY: You had a question, I thought, from 

11 the -- okay. Never mind. And the process is you 

12 basically wait in this tent.

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right. We wait here.

14 FATHER PAUL: Yeah. Yeah.

15 SFC MORIARTY: And as you're needed they come from 

16 next door?

17 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly. Yesterday or the day 

18 before they found many bodies of --

19 SGT DELUCA: Yeah. We were here that day and they 

20 said they found an elevator?

21 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.
14

1 SGT DELUCA: And going back to what you were 

2 talking about before, the respect, and I notice that 

3 everybody came to attention and presented arms --

4 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes.

5 SGT DELUCA: -- as they came up. And even today, 

6 as -- we were in Battery Park today and then we came to 

7 (inaudible) site, and as we were leaving traffic was 

8 stopped allowing the ambulance out, and again the same 

9 thing. Everybody came to attention (inaudible).

10 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

11 SGT DELUCA: So, I mean, it's -- were you on that 

12 day?

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: No. I wasn't here on that day. 

14 No.

15 SGT DELUCA: About how many times have you been 

16 here?

17 MSGR FRONTIERO: This is my first night here and 

18 I've never come to this site yet before today.

19 SGT DELUCA: Where have you been before?

20 MSGR FRONTIERO: Just the hospital and the armory.

21 SGT DELUCA: Okay.
15

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: That's where -- then I 

2 volunteered and then they just called me for this 

3 tonight.

4 SFC MORIARTY: Were you at the missing persons --

5 where they've got the missing persons --

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: On 68th Street.

7 SFC MORIARTY: 68th.

8 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly. I went there the 

9 Saturday after the attack and --

10 SFC MORIARTY: So it must have been an incredible 

11 scene.

12 MSGR FRONTIERO: Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of 

13 people and very emotional.

14 SGT DELUCA: How do you deal with that? I mean, 

15 doesn't --

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: It affects me personally, you 

17 know. I have -- I had a few sleepless nights since 

18 this started and -- but I basically talk to the priest 

19 that I live with at home about it. That helps, you 

20 know. But I found at first going there, going back and 

21 watching the news, it made -- so saturated by the news. 
16

1 They never -- that's all you can get on any channel. 

2 And I found at the beginning I couldn't sleep because 

3 it kept staying with me in my brain at night and just 

4 made me very restless.

5 SGT DELUCA: The horror.

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: Just thinking about what's going 

7 to happen next, they're going to do this, they're going 

8 to do that. It became a real --

9 SFC MORIARTY: I do the same thing you do, you 

10 know. When I wasn't at the newspaper, I was home 

11 watching it on television and, I mean, I was staying up 

12 till 2:00 in the morning and getting up at 6:00 the 

13 next day to go to work. And after four days, I 

14 couldn't bear to watch anymore. I couldn't see that 

15 plane flying into the side of the building anymore.

16 SGT DELUCA: When you closed your eyes at night 

17 and see that plane hit that tower.

18 SFC MORIARTY: Exactly. Yeah. And the fireball 

19 and the rest of this. And from my hometown in 

20 (inaudible) there were three people. There was one on 

21 Flight 11 and there were two in the towers. And we're 
17

1 a small town in Western Massachusetts, 40,000 people.

2 And we had three people that could have easily 

3 have been in it. So there's six people in our small 

4 town and if that's happening all across America, you 

5 know, because New York is -- New York is one of those 

6 destination cities that a lot of people come to.

7 Now, you've been in New York for how long?

8 MSGR FRONTIERO: Almost three years.

9 SFC MORIARTY: And prior to that you were --

10 MSGR FRONTIERO: I was in Washington, D.C.

11 SGT DELUCA: You were going to school in 

12 Washington, weren't you?

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

14 SGT DELUCA: Which school, Georgetown?

15 MSGR FRONTIERO: No, Catholic University.

16 SGT DELUCA: Catholic University?

17 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

18 SGT DELUCA: And what were you studying?

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: I studied moral theology.

20 SGT DELUCA: What was that?

21 MSGR FRONTIERO: Moral theology.
18

1 SGT DELUCA: Amoral --

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: (Laughter.) Health care ethics.

3 SGT DELUCA: Okay. Okay.

4 SFC MORIARTY: And you're a monsignor, right?

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

6 SFC MORIARTY: And that's an academic --

7 MSGR FRONTIERO: That's an honorary title.

8 SFC MORIARTY: Oh. I thought it was an academic 

9 title.

10 MSGR FRONTIERO: No, it's strictly honorary.

11 SFC MORIARTY: And were in the Vatican at all?

12 MSGR FRONTIERO: No. I mean, I've been there. I 

13 work now for the Vatican.

14 SFC MORIARTY: Oh. So you work for the Vatican 

15 here in New York.

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly. 

17 SFC MORIARTY: Have you noticed a change in the 

18 community of New York?

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: Oh, yes. I mean, I think this 

20 seems to be a more respectful atmosphere. I mean, 

21 people seem to respect one another a little bit more. 
19

1 They're more friendly. As a priest I can walk down the 

2 street and people say hello, Father. That never 

3 happened before. I've had people come up and ask me to 

4 bless them or pray for them. Just, you know, not 

5 around here or in the hospital; just on the street.

6 And one man came up to me -- a few nights ago I 

7 was walking home late at night. I had gone out for a 

8 dinner and he came out from the shadows of the street 

9 and I thought he was going to ask me for money or 

10 something. He looked like a street person. And so he 

11 said hey, Father. And then grabbed my hands and he 

12 started kissing my hands. And then he embraced me and 

13 kissed me and he said, would you please bless me? And 

14 so I blessed him, and then he left.

15 But that shocked me because in New York you're not 

16 used to that. I thought really -- I said, this guy is 

17 going to ask me for money or try to do something. He 

18 looked like a pretty frightening character. But that's 

19 all he was looking for. And I think this whole 

20 incident has created something in people, sensitized 

21 them more to the value of human life in some way, you 
20

1 know, and the need for God, too, I think.

2 SFC MORIARTY: Well, I think the other thing, too, 

3 is that it's changed your perspective.

4 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

5 SFC MORIARTY: I mean, this is a tragedy of such 

6 magnitude that it's hard to comprehend and our petty 

7 problems and desires and the rest of that just don't 

8 match up, you know. This is so immeasurable.

9 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly.

10 SFC MORIARTY: Because we've seen it ourselves. 

11 We've also seen the brotherhood who are down here and 

12 because we're wearing these uniforms, we've been 

13 privileged to be allowed into that brotherhood. But I 

14 don't envy you your task here tonight. And looking out 

15 the window, the people -- is that a summons again for 

16 you?

17 MSGR FRONTIERO: Well, that's something different. 

18 They just --

19 SFC MORIARTY: Because you notice that neither one 

20 of us are asking (inaudible). I have no desire to see 

21 that end of this process. And from what I understand, 
21

1 a lot of the bodies are body parts.

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes.

3 SFC MORIARTY: And DNA is how they hope to 

4 identify them?

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly.

6 FATHER PAUL: Yes.

7 SFC MORIARTY: That's one of the things that you 

8 notice here in the back of my military ID, this little 

9 strip.

10 MSGR FRONTIERO: That's DNA?

11 SFC MORIARTY: Yes.

12 MSGR FRONTIERO: Wow.

13 SFC MORIARTY: And they started doing this for all 

14 soldiers. You have one of those, too, don't you? They 

15 take your blood and the rest of the stuff and they do a 

16 DNA analysis. And from what I understand talking to 

17 some of the police and fire officers, they also do that 

18 here.

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: Wow.

20 SFC MORIARTY: So other than what, what you have 

21 to start doing is getting the family members to come in 
22

1 and donate blood so they can start matching --

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah. It's a very tedious 

3 process.

4 SFC MORIARTY: And how -- as clergy, this is what 

5 you help people with. How do you help people who never 

6 had the closure of a funeral, of having their loved one 

7 where they could put them in a casket and put them in a 

8 cemetery where they can go up every memorial day and 

9 put the flowers out and stop by and pray?

10 FATHER PAUL: That's the hard part. That tears 

11 their heart out because they can't do that. They can't 

12 go someplace and do something with their hands, express 

13 their grief.

14 MSGR FRONTIERO: I think most clergy are really 

15 being very good in asking and inviting families that 

16 have family that are missing to have memorial services. 

17 We just had one in our church, even though there's no 

18 body. There's a young man who his fiancé was killed 

19 and they haven't recovered the body but we had a 

20 memorial service for her at the church, which seems to 

21 -- that seems to help. I mean, you've got to do 
23

1 something. You've got to ritualize the loss in some 

2 way and I think the church is really prepared to do 

3 that, where we want to do that and it's one way to help 

4 the families and to also bring some kind of closure to 

5 this for them.

6 FATHER PAUL: We had a case which was very 

7 interesting. A young lady committed suicide and asked 

8 that her body be cremated and the ashes spread among 

9 the rose garden in the backyard of her parents' house. 

10 And they did that and we had a service. But those 

11 parents had no place to go, as you say, on memorial 

12 day. It was a beautiful thought.

13 Before I retired, they came and said Father, would 

14 you mind -- could we take some of the soil from the 

15 rose garden where we spread the ashes, bring them to 

16 the cemetery and put them in a grave and have a 

17 headstone, so that they have a place to come by. You 

18 know, everybody else comes and decorates their grave; 

19 they had no place.

20 SFC MORIARTY: I understand that some of the 

21 families have requested some of the ashes from here.
24

1 FATHER PAUL: Yeah. Yeah.

2 SFC MORIARTY: And that's something that I called 

3 up the newspaper and asked one of my co-workers to call 

4 up these three families who had lost to see if they 

5 were interested in pursuing that. If they were, I was 

6 going to go over to the family center and try to get 

7 some information for them.

8 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

9 SFC MORIARTY: But then I realized, too, that --

10 how do they get the death certificates? They must have 

11 already had to come here because this would be where 

12 the death certificate would be issued, isn't it?

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: The family center.

14 SFC MORIARTY: Yeah. Because I don't think they 

15 can issue it in Westfield.

16 MSGR FRONTIERO: No. I think they have to come 

17 here.

18 SFC MORIARTY: So they may have already come here. 

19 You know, it raises -- it's not just this incident. 

20 It's the stone into the pond that ripples and ripples. 

21 For years there's going to be those kinds -- and 
25

1 again, as clergy, you'll be counseling people.

2 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

3 FATHER PAUL: Yeah.

4 SFC MORIARTY: And how do you prepare yourselves 

5 for -- because that is emotionally draining.

6 FATHER PAUL: Yes.

7 MSGR FRONTIERO: Oh, yes. Well, I think, you 

8 know, part of what grounds us is our faith. And I 

9 think that's the big difference between, for example, a 

10 counselor or a social worker and who we are as priests. 

11 Faith is a tremendous consolation for us and our 

12 belief that, you know, for example, love doesn't end in 

13 the grave. It's not the end. So this faith of ours is 

14 what I find will get us -- get me through as a priest.

15 I mean, if this were it, if this -- then yeah. I 

16 mean, I don't know how we would be able to do what we 

17 do, and that's what we've got to try to help the people 

18 to believe in. We've got to give them hope despite the 

19 fact that sin and death has intruded into their lives. 

20 There's such destruction and violence, you know, and 

21 it's not an easy task.
26

1 But I find a lot of my family has been asking 

2 well, what are you doing? I mean, you help people and 

3 then who helps you? And that's one of the 

4 difficulties, you know. But when we went for the 

5 briefing -- tonight after we finish at midnight we have 

6 to go back and we're going to just talk for a little 

7 while about, you know, how we're feeling, how is it 

8 going. It just helps to verbalize what's going on in 

9 your head and your heart. It helps.

10 SFC MORIARTY: You also have your own 

11 international brotherhood. Like we know they talk 

12 about the international brotherhood of police officers.

13 FATHER PAUL: Yeah. Yeah.

14 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right.

15 SFC MORIARTY: You have one of the largest 

16 international brotherhoods of priests and you usually 

17 have a friend or a confessor that you can approach when 

18 you have your moments --

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly.

20 SFC MORIARTY: -- of pain and whatnot. They've 

21 already started turning lights on here.
27

1 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yeah.

2 SFC MORIARTY: Is there anything that I haven't 

3 asked you about in this process that perhaps should be 

4 documented or anything personal that you want to add?

5 MSGR FRONTIERO: I don't know. I don't think so. 

6 I don't think so.

7 SGT DELUCA: And through all this, in addition to 

8 these additional duties, you've still been doing your 

9 function (inaudible)?

10 MSGR FRONTIERO: Oh, yes. Yes. Although my boss 

11 (inaudible) has been very good. I told him that I'd 

12 like to do something and he said, oh, by all means, you 

13 know, it's a good idea that I try to help in any little 

14 way that I can. So he's been very good. Oh, yeah. 

15 But I still -- I worked a full day today and left 

16 early to come here.

17 But you know, for me, this kind of work and 

18 dealing with people is really what the priesthood is 

19 all about. Right now I happen to have a desk job, you 

20 know, and I'm not crazy about it. But I prefer to be 

21 with people in their hour of need and moments of joy 
28

1 and sorrow and to do the work of a priest in the 

2 trenches. That's what I like to do.

3 SFC MORIARTY: It would seem to me that with the 

4 way the political things are shaping out here now, 

5 don't you feel vulnerable at all being in the UN 

6 buildings because it would seem to me that they would 

7 be an ideal terrorist target.

8 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right. Well, the UN -- I mean, 

9 they're very, very concerned right now that there will 

10 be some kind of attack. They're certainly preparing 

11 for it. They have very close security. You can't 

12 drive anywhere near the UN. And also, they've had two 

13 drills now, bomb drills, you know, for all of the staff 

14 people at the United Nations and delegates who go to 

15 work there. You had to go and practice evacuating the 

16 building. So they're taking every precaution.

17 SGT DELUCA: Did they have nuns in the hallways 

18 directing people where to go?

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: (Laughter.)

20 SFC MORIARTY: I always found that -- I went to 

21 Catholic school so I always found that the good sisters 
29

1 were most efficient in getting people to do what they 

2 were supposed to do.

3 MSGR FRONTIERO: That's good. But I personally 

4 don't feel worried or anxious about that. I don't know 

5 why but I just don't.

6 SFC MORIARTY: Okay. Do you have any questions?

7 SGT DELUCA: You mentioned the security around the 

8 UN. Who is providing that? Is it the police?

9 MSGR FRONTIERO: I think it's -- the UN has its 

10 own security people -- force. So they are providing 

11 the security, which they always have security there. 

12 But what they do have now that's different is they have 

13 these huge sand trucks all over the place and the 

14 perimeter of the United Nations so you can't drive a 

15 car in. And those are, I imagine, city trucks. I'm 

16 not sure. But --

17 SGT DELUCA: On the UN property itself, because 

18 it's a jurisdictional thing --

19 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes.

20 SGT DELUCA: -- the UN is international territory.

21 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly. 
30

1 SGT DELUCA: It's not US territory so even though 

2 the New York Police Department works very closely in 

3 conjunction, they have responsibility for the UN 

4 property. But there will probably be rings of New York 

5 police outside of that and several layers deep.

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: Right. And also the State 

7 Department of the United States is responsible for 

8 diplomatic security, you know, for protecting the 

9 diplomats who are here. So they have their own network 

10 of people that are involved in this whole thing, too.

11 SGT DELUCA: Plus it's all the counselors 

12 throughout all of New York.

13 MSGR FRONTIERO: Exactly. All of that. But the 

14 mayor has been very directive in how the United Nations 

15 will proceed with its work because, as you know, 

16 they've postponed the general debate wherein the heads 

17 of state come every fall for a two-week period. They 

18 now are thinking of having that in November. But 

19 that --

20 SGT DELUCA: He just spoke, Giuliani --

21 MSGR FRONTIERO: On Monday.
31

1 SGT DELUCA: Right.

2 SFC MORIARTY: Were you there?

3 MSGR FRONTIERO: Yes, I was there for that. And 

4 it was a very good speech.

5 SFC MORIARTY: How was his reception?

6 MSGR FRONTIERO: Excellent. Excellent. I think 

7 he received a standing ovation for more than two 

8 minutes. It was really quite impressive. But he gave 

9 a great speech to the United Nations which they could 

10 really -- they need to hear once in a while that 

11 they've got to really -- they've got to be decidedly 

12 against terrorism and they've got to take action, not 

13 just talk about it. The UN is a --

14 SFC MORIARTY: Very good at talking.

15 MSGR FRONTIERO: Don't get me going on the United 

16 Nations. So he -- there's no holds barred with him. 

17 He just really told it like it was and did a very good 

18 job.

19 SFC MORIARTY: Nothing further? No questions? 

20 Then we'll end the interview right now.

21 (The interview was concluded.)
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