Search for missing Great Neck man continues

When Victor Brief got a call last Tuesday asking for help in finding Steven Mayer of Great Neck, who had gone missing, he sent an e-mail to about 100 members of the Boro Park Shomrim, a Jewish civilian patrol organization based in Brooklyn.

The e-mail, seeking volunteers to search for Mayer, also reached Shomrim members in Flatbush, Williamsburg and Crown Heights.

Then, Brief's e-mail went viral.

"It was all word-of-mouth. We sent out an e-mail and it was forwarded and forwarded," said Brief, owner of Glatt Diner in Borough Park. "Close to 15,000 people received that e-mail."

By Sunday morning, six days after Mayer, 65, disappeared while driving to work, more than 2,000 volunteers, most of whom did not know Mayer, drove to Riverhead and joined the search. The volunteers traveled from as far away as the Catskills and Lakewood, N.J., Brief said.

The Boro Park Shomrim got its start in the 1970s when a handful of bakery drivers witnessed acts of vandalism and other crimes at local shops and restaurants, Brief said. The men, known as the Bakery Boys, formed a citizens anti-crime patrol group and bought themselves walkie-talkies, Brief said. The men used the radios to alert each other of possible danger and alerted police about crimes, Brief said.

"The primary goal is patrolling the neighborhoods and being the eyes and ears of the police department," Brief said.

Today, the Boro Park Shomrim has grown in size and scope, which includes search and rescue efforts. Brief said several members of the Boro Park Shomrim graduated from the New York City Police Academy, including him, but did not become police officers.

"We're just a community organization," Brief said.

Meanwhile, Mayer's family members, who are waiting for new leads, are pinning their hopes of finding him by locating his car: a silver, four-door 2010 Nissan Sentra with New York license plate EWN-4035.

"What we really want is for people to be vigilant about looking for the car," his son, Stuart Mayer, 31, said. "A big part of finding my father is going to be locating the car."

There is a $25,000 reward for anyone who finds Mayer, his son said. Anyone with information is urged to call 347-927-7701 or 516-847-5005.