Three bodies pulled from rubble of crane collapse

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com

11:45 PM EDT, March 17, 2008

Hope gave way to grief Monday as the lifeless bodies of two Long Island construction workers and a woman from Miami were pulled from the rubble of the catastrophic East Side crane collapse.

The deaths of Santino Gallone, 37, of Bellmore; Clifford Canzona, 45, of Seaford; and visitor Odin Torres, 28, brings to seven the number of victims killed in Saturday's accident.

The devastating chain reaction was set in motion when a 51/2-ton steel collar that was being installed around the crane fell Saturday afternoon from the 18th floor of a building on East 51st Street, authorities say.

As the collar, which is used to secure the crane to the building, plummeted, it struck the collar already in place at the ninth floor, knocking it loose and destabilizing the 300-foot crane.

Both collars then fell to the third floor and the crane, now completely unsupported, toppled, crashed into the building at which it was being used and leveled a town house around the corner, on East 50th Street.

Torres, the only victim who was not a construction worker, lived in Miami, but was in the town house visiting family friend John Gallego, 30, at the time. Gallego was rescued from under 30 feet of brick and concrete about three hours after the collapse, the last survivor.

Gallego remained in critical but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Center. Torres, who was near Gallego at the time of the collapse, was not found until Monday.

The discovery of the last known victims came as investigators continued to piece together the circumstances surrounding the collapse, with the Manhattan district attorney's office probing the crane operator, Joy Contractors Inc., of Elizabeth, N.J., according to law enforcement sources.

The key question, said the sources, is whether the collapse was the result of mechanical error or human failure, such as whether the hoists and nylon straps used in securing the collar were strong enough.

The district attorney's office confirmed it is involved in the probe, but said it is too early to tell if any charges will be filed. Joy Contractors declined to comment.

Residents had complained about the construction -- workers were erecting a 43-story condominium -- and more than a dozen violations were issued at the site in the past 27 months, authorities said. None, however, were related to the crane, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

A total of 24 people were injured in the collapse, including 11 first responders. Most suffered minor injuries, but eight, including Gallego, remained hospitalized Monday.

Gallego's survival -- he was trapped in a small air pocket -- raised hopes at the scene Saturday, Sunday and early yesterday, as workers delicately removed the rubble and sections of the crane.

Paramedic Juan Henriquez spent nearly two hours Saturday trying to locate Gallego, who was seated but folded in half, facedown, in the rubble. Eventually, they were able to pull him from the wreckage Saturday night.

"All we could see was the back of his head, a little of his neck, and at least five fingers," Henriquez said Monday at a news conference outside Bellevue Hospital Center. "He started to tell me that God had abandoned him and he was going to die in the hole. He began to panic and I reassured him that he was not going to die."

But despair set in Monday when Gallone, who was married with a toddler daughter, was discovered about 10 a.m. Canzona was found in the early afternoon and Torres a short time after that. The news traveled quickly to relatives and close friends keeping vigil at a nearby Starbucks. As they got the news and left, co-workers of the dead construction workers held their hard hats above their heads, trying to shield the families from photographers.

Later, those workers, many of whom came from different work sites to take part in the vigil, gathered near the site in mourning.

"If it was me and I died, I'd want my brothers looking out for me," said Andrew Smith. "It's like if you go your office and someone dies, you can't work."

Adam Pincus, Patrick Falby, Sarah Portlock and staff writer Melissa Mansfield contributed to this story.