J. Biscardi, 86, ex-Suffolk cop brass

John P. Biscardi, who as a young policeman helped merge western Suffolk's independent municipal police forces into a countywide department and who later rose to be the new force's top uniformed cop, has died.

He died March 17 at age 86 in a hospice in Palm Bay, Fla., of what doctors believe to be lung cancer, said a daughter, Linda Fuller.

Biscardi's police career, which went from 1954 to 1988, witnessed the birth of the Suffolk County Police Department in 1960 from the five western towns -- Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip and Smithtown, and the incorporated villages of Lindenhurst, Babylon, Patchogue, Brightwaters, Village of the Branch, Old Field, Poquott, Belle Terre, Shoreham and Bellport.

At the time, Biscardi was a detective with the Babylon Town force, said James Caples, former Suffolk police commissioner from 1987 to 1988.

Caples appointed Biscardi to succeed him as chief inspector -- the department's highest uniformed ranking position, now called chief of department.

Despite varied command structures, paperwork, and sometimes conflicting personalities, the merger stuck, Caples said, and Suffolk now has one of the nation's largest suburban police departments.

"Somehow, someway," Caples said.

John Philip Biscardi was born in Brooklyn to Francesco Biscardi and Angelina Mummolo on July 15, 1924. While serving in World War II as a radio man and tailgunner, Biscardi's plane was shot down over enemy territory in Belgium.

He and the other men survived after nuns hid them in the basement of their convent. He returned to the United States, worked as a carpenter -- he built the family home himself in Deer Park -- and joined Babylon's police force, with a starting yearly salary of $2,800.

Back in the era before 911 and cell phones, cops like Biscardi found out they were being dispatched to a call when a blue light illuminated on a street-corner call box. A cop would pick up a black phone on the pole to find out details from station house, his daughter said.

Biscardi rose through the ranks as a cop in Suffolk, including details protecting both John F. and Robert F. Kennedy, stints undercover against organized crime, and heading the homicide squad, his family said.

The current police commissioner, Richard Dormer, who worked for Biscardi as a deputy police chief in the mid-1980s, said he learned to be deliberate and patient when making decisions that affect the police force.

"It was good to have a seasoned veteran -- calm, coolheaded -- leading the troops," he said. "It's very important that you not make knee-jerk decisions."

In his retirement, Biscardi split his time between East Hampton and Viera, Fla.

Biscardi is survived by his wife of 62 years, the former Stella Settembre -- who as a witness to a bank robbery once help her cop husband identify the perp -- three children, Fuller, of East Hampton, Patricia Larado of Sayville, and Frank Biscardi of Melbourne, Fla.; a sister, Faye Bounpastore of Haledon, N.J.; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The family held a funeral Wednesday at St. Lawrence the Martyr Roman Catholic Church in Sayville.

Burial was at Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton.