10/28/2007

in

Firefighter Arsonists

Stacey Eisenberg

Two New York Firemen, Michael Izzo and Richard Capece, were busted this weekend on charges of arson. Shockingly, the firefighters, around 2 am on Sunday morning, torched the door of a Midtown Manhattan firehouse, reported The New York Post.  
  
Apparently, it was a "prank gone bad," according to an investigator of the bizarre event. However, the FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta is taking a rougher approach in calling it "an outrageous depraved act that should be prosecuted to the full extent under the law." Izzo, 30, and Capece, 31, turned themselves in and were charged with three felonies: second-degree arson, first-degree reckless endangerment and second-degree criminal mischief. They have been suspended without pay.  
  
Izzo's lawyer, Robert Gallo, claims, "On paper, this appears far more serious than it was." No one was injured by the small fire, and it was put out by on-duty firefighters soon after the men doused the firehouse's front truck door with gasoline and lit it aflame.  
  
The only other information offered by the firehouse is that "It's an ongoing investigation." Neither Izzo or Capece had any comment for the media as they were walked into Central Booking.