FBI to continue search at East Farmingdale site Thursday

FBI agents continued to dig for a second day Wednesday along the Long Island Rail Road tracks adjoining an industrial park in East Farmingdale in search of the body of a Columbo organized crime family associate who was supposedly slain and buried there.

After using a backhoe and shovels in a so far unsuccessful search for the body of Richard Greaves, the all-day effort was called off in the early evening.

Greaves was murdered in 1995 because he was suspected of wanting to become an informant, sources said.

Officials said the search would continue Thursday.

A mob turncoat had said the area around Executive Boulevard was used as a dumping ground for the Columbo family in the 1990s when at least three bodies were buried there.

Eighteen months ago, FBI agents uncovered the body of Columbo family underboss William Cutolo several hundred feet from the site of the current search. Cutolo was murdered in 1999 by rivals fighting with him for control of the Columbo family, officials have said.

The third victim, a Pace University student, Carmen Gargano Jr., was slain as part of a revenge plot against a relative.

Sources said Gargano's body was allegedly buried near Cutolo's in an area before the industrial park was built.

The builders of the industrial site told FBI agents that they hadn't uncovered human remains while digging deep foundations for the buildings, sources said.

It is likely that Gargano's body was either moved by his killers before the construction began or the remains were inadvertently disposed of during construction, sources said in explaining why the FBI was not searching for Gargano's body.