XPost: uk.politics, nyc.politics, triangle.general 
 XPost: chi.politics 
 From: nationalrebuke@yahoo.com 
  
 By MICHELE McPHEE, AUSTIN FENNER and TRACY CONNOR 
 DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS 
 Originally published on January 3, 2004 
 The Staten Island firehouse where New York's Bravest 
 did battle on New Year's Eve reeked of booze - and its 
 captain is suspected of orchestrating a brazen coverup 
 of the disgraceful fracas, the Daily News has learned. 
 Capt. Terrence Sweeney lied to doctors about how 
 Firefighter Robert Walsh was critically injured, and 
 even put a phony injury report in the firehouse 
 logbook, investigators said. 
 He kept FDNY brass and cops in the dark about the 
 incident for hours - and his underlings sat watching a 
 plasma-screen TV "like nothing happened" as Walsh 
 fought for his life, a law-enforcement source said. 
  
 "They sobered up, they cleaned up, and they weren't 
 answering our questions." 
  
 The revelations about the goings-on at Engine 
 151/Ladder 76 in sleepy Tottenville painted a shameful 
 portrait of a firehouse out of control and triggered a 
 multiagency probe. 
  
 "It would be embarrassing if we didn't investigate it 
 fully, and if we didn't take appropriate action," Fire 
 Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said. 
  
 A Fire Department investigator left a written notice 
 under the door of Sweeney's Staten Island home last 
 night for the captain to appear at department 
 headquarters. Sweeney doubtless saw it after he 
 returned home about 11 p.m., leaping over flowerpots 
 to avoid the press. 
  
 The firefighter accused of attacking Walsh, 15-year 
 veteran Michael Silvestri, was arraigned yesterday on 
 assault, harassment and weapons charges. 
  
 The FDNY is weighing administrative charges against 
 firefighters who gave "conflicting reports" about what 
 happened, Scoppetta said. 
  
 "There was a report that he had fallen down the 
 stairs, there was another report that he had been in a 
 car accident," he said. 
  
 The Department of Investigation also is probing the 
 coverup, which may have involved as many as a dozen 
 firefighters. 
  
 The scandal stems from a weeks-old feud between Walsh, 
 40, and Silvestri, 41, that boiled over around 6:45 
 p.m. New Year's Eve. 
  
 Walsh, a firefighter for eight years, was waiting to 
 be relieved by Edward McMullen, an ex-cop involved in 
 the fatal shooting of Amadou Diallo. Silvestri was 
 about to start his tour. 
  
 In violation of department regulations, some men were 
 drinking, sources said. 
  
 "You could smell it," a law-enforcement source said. 
 "I'm not saying everyone in the firehouse was having a 
 big party, but some guys might have been oiled up." 
  
 Walsh tested positive for alcohol in his blood, and 
 the stench of booze hung in the air at the firehouse 
 hours after the fight, investigators said. 
  
 Walsh, a giant at 6-foot-7 and 330 pounds, kept 
 needling Silvestri, who snapped. He picked up a metal 
 chair with a blue plastic seat and stunned everyone by 
 smashing it on Walsh's head, authorities said. 
  
 Sweeney and a firefighter bundled Walsh into a car and 
 drove him to Staten Island University Hospital - where 
 doctors were told he fell down the stairs. 
  
 When Sweeney returned to the firehouse two hours 
 later, that's what he wrote in the logbook, sources 
 said. By then, the firefighters had scrubbed away 
 Walsh's blood. 
  
 That might have been the end of it, except Walsh's 
 condition worsened through the night, and doctors had 
 to induce a coma and put in an air tube. 
  
 Suspicious of the firefighters' story all along, the 
 hospital called FDNY operations at midnight. 
  
 A fire chief was dispatched, and the FDNY inspector 
 general's office and fire marshals also joined the 
 probe, officials said. 
  
 But the NYPD still hadn't heard a word about the 
 incident. 
  
 The cops' first inkling of the attack came at 3:30 
 a.m. when a marshal went to the 123rd Precinct 
 stationhouse. 
  
 "There was an incident at the firehouse. It looks like 
 one fireman hit another fireman with a chair," the 
 marshal told commanding officer James Klein, according 
 to a police report obtained by The News. 
  
 When cops got to Engine 151, Silvestri already was 
 being questioned by the FDNY inspector general and 
 Chief Louis Garcia. The rest of the Bravest were 
 watching TV or sleeping. 
  
 Silvestri was suspended. Later, with his head hanging 
 low, he pleaded not guilty to assault, harassment and 
 weapons charges. After being released on $1,000 bail, 
 he was hustled out a back door into a waiting car. 
  
 "We're praying for both families," Silvestri's 
 fianc€e, Heather Rasmussen, said. "We hope 
 everything's okay." 
  
 Walsh was in critical condition with multiple 
 fractures, cuts and head trauma. His family said he is 
 expected to recover but could be in the hospital for a 
 month and faces extensive reconstructive surgery. 
  
 At the hospital yesterday, Walsh's family surrounded 
 his bed with photos. "He looks like something out of a 
 horror movie right now," said his brother Jim. "We're 
 mad as heck that this happened." 
  
 With Jose Martinez,Helen Peterson, John Marzulli and 
 Joe Williams 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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