Slaying Victim in Brooklyn Is Said to Have Been Part of Genovese Mob

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
A 70-year-old Brooklyn man who was found dead in his duplex apartment on Thursday was a longtime mob figure, the authorities said Friday.

The man, William Romano, was found submerged in a bathtub upstairs, and his companion, Elviza Aronova, 36, was found partially clad in a bedroom on the lower floor, the police said. She had apparently been beaten and stabbed to death, and Mr. Romano apparently died of head injuries, the medical examiner’s office said.

The bodies were found in the apartment Mr. Romano shared with Ms. Aronova at 8020 Bay Parkway in Bensonhurst, the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said at a news conference.

Both suffered head injuries, Mr. Kelly said. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office, said Ms. Aronova also had stab wounds to the torso. The authorities were investigating whether Ms. Aronova had been sexually assaulted.

Mr. Romano had owned the 54-unit apartment building where he lived until he sold it in 2006, retaining two apartments there, Mr. Kelly said. A man who lived in Mr. Romano’s second apartment often visited him and Ms. Aronova and had a key to their apartment, the police said. The tenant discovered Ms. Aronova’s body and called the police, who found Mr. Romano’s body when they arrived shortly after 5 p.m.

Mr. Romano kept an office in the second apartment, and the police found two shotguns, a .45-caliber handgun and a live hand grenade there, Mr. Kelly said. The police questioned the tenant but did not detain him, a law enforcement official said.

The official said the first apartment was in disarray, the electricity had been turned off and it appeared that someone had tried to clean up the crime scene with bleach.

Ms. Aronova’s mother had gone to the apartment, No. 7, on Thursday after her daughter said she needed food, but there was no reply, Mr. Kelly said. The door was ajar, and a neighbor called the police for the mother, the police said.

It was not clear how long the bodies had been there. Mr. Kelly said. Mr. Romano was last seen at 9 a.m. on Wednesday.

State and federal law enforcement officials said Mr. Romano had long been associated with the Genovese crime family, in particular with the capo Salvatore Lombardi, known as Sally Dogs, who was heavily involved in narcotics trafficking.

Nearly two decades ago, Mr. Romano was arrested at Kennedy International Airport after customs inspectors found about two pounds of heroin taped to his shins and midsection, the officials said. He denied the charges, saying the drugs had been planted on him by the authorities. He was tried twice in Federal District Court in Brooklyn; the first case ended in a hung jury and the second in his acquittal.

His lawyer at both trials, Gerald L. Shargel, said Friday, “He was a longtime client, and I was saddened to hear of his death.”

William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.

Custodian’s stress-disorder suit restored

Meghann M. Cuniff / Staff writer

A custodian who sued her school district after being forced to clean up the bloody scene of a student’s suicide had her lawsuit reinstated Tuesday by the Washington Court of Appeals.

Debbie Rothwell, who still works at Lakeside High School in Nine Mile Falls, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a lawsuit filed in May 2007 by her lawyer, William Powell, of Spokane. The 16-year-old student shot himself in the head inside the school’s main entrance in 2004. The lawsuit was dismissed in January 2008 by Spokane County Superior Court Judge Greg Sypolt, who ruled the incident was covered by the Industrial Insurance Act.

But the Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, disagreed and reinstated the suit.

“There are people who do clean up the mess after one of these horrible murders or suicides happen,” Powell said Tuesday, referring to private professionals. “But the superintendent in this case chose not to do that. He should have known better.”

Along with former Superintendent Michael Green, now superintendent of the Woodland School District in Western Washington, the lawsuit names the Nine Miles Falls School District, Stevens County Sheriff Craig Thayer, two sheriff’s detectives and an unidentified man as defendants.

None was available for comment. Like most civil suits in Washington, the complaint seeks unspecified damages.

Rothwell’s complaints center around her task of cleaning up the suicide scene, then being asked to move a backpack she later learned belonged to the victim and contained a suspicious device that authorities detonated using a robot.

She stayed at work until after 4 a.m., cleaning the mess of blood, brain and bone alone, becoming “emotionally distraught and physically ill” before returning to the school less than four hours later at Green’s orders to serve cookies and coffee to grieving students and keep the media from the school, according to the suit.

At issue in the court decisions was whether Rothwell’s claim of post-traumatic stress disorder fell under the industrial injury act, which prohibits lawsuits based on industry injury or occupational disease.

Judges John A. Schultheis and Dennis J. Sweeney ruled it didn’t because it wasn’t the result of one work order. Her trauma grew over several days, according to their written opinion. Judge Teresa C. Kulik dissented.

Cleanup part of healing process at ACA

By: Neil St. Clair

ENDWELL, N.Y. -- It's the kind of job nobody wants to get called to do, but it must be done so life can move on.

"We've been involved in triple homicides, but never the amount of people involved in this. All these cases are tough, but this may have been the worst one," said Jim Coyle, owner of Disaster Clean-Up service in Endwell.

Coyle is a lifelong Broome County resident and a veteran of crime scene biohazard removal. He was charged with the cleanup last Sunday after the 13 senseless murders at the American Civic Association.

It's a scene that affected him as it affected many people in the area.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody to walk in and see this, even the first responders."

The grisly job took Coyle and his crew around six hours, but helped the ACA reopen its doors and get back to its business of helping immigrants become Americans.

Cleanup part of healing process at ACA
After all the pain surrounding the shootings at the American Civic Association, the community has begun to heal. As our Neil St. Clair explains, several local businesses have donated their time and services to help everyone in that process.

What would normally have cost thousands of dollars, Coyle did for free, a service to help his community heal.

"We wanted to do something. There was enough suffering involved here. It just didn't seem right to profit from something like this."

Coyle was one of the first non-emergency personnel to enter the building.

His job is normally thankless, evaporating the tangible memories of some horrible moment. But this one was different, and several people have offered praise for the work he's done.

"You don't really take pride in something like this, but after you see the look on people's faces after you do this, that's what keeps you going back, somebody has to do this."

And though it's tough to wipe away the horror he's witnessed, he, like this community, is trying to push ahead. "Just go on with my life...nothing out of the ordinary...just another day."

Coyle teamed up with BioRecovery Corporation based in New York City as part of a collaboration with the nonprofit American Bio-Recovery Association.

ACA cleaned, but no decision yet on when center will reopen

By My-Ly Nguyen
mnguyen@gannett.com

BINGHAMTON - Four days after the massacre at the American Civic Association, the center is ready to open its doors. But it's unclear whether the staff, students and community are ready to have classes and other activities resume inside.

Mayor Matthew T. Ryan said the association wants to reopen as soon as possible.

Cleanup crews in the building over the weekend have made that possible.

State funding, allocated by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, also will help: $100,000 to help the civic association get back on its feet and another $100,000 to provide counseling services and implement protective measures at the center, said Tina Ruocco, a spokeswoman for Sen. Thomas W. Libous, R-Binghamton.

It will take at least a few days for the related paperwork and other administrative procedures to be completed, she said.

Priscilla Pease, a teacher who was in the civic association basement during the shootings Friday, said staff would meet with students "at a neutral site" today "to talk about what we're going to do next."

Through the front windows of the American Civic Association, a man could be seen mopping the lobby floor late Monday morning.

A co-owner of Disaster Clean Up and two of the Endwell business' technicians spent about six hours Sunday conducting more extensive cleanup at the facility. They donned Tyvek white suits and other protective gear, and disinfected the space inside.

"You'd never know it happened other than some telltale signs of some bullet holes," said Jim Coyle, who owns Disaster Clean Up with his wife, Debby.

It takes a certain kind of person to do this job, he said.

"You kind of have to put it out of your mind," he said. "You have to understand that you're doing a valuable service. That's the attitude we have."

Bio-Recovery Corp. of New York City sent two workers to the site to help with the cleanup, Coyle said.

Both companies are members of the nonprofit American Bio-Recovery Association of crime and trauma scene workers. The businesses donated their labor and supplies to the City of Binghamton and the civic association. Coyle said he'd normally charge about $12,000 for a similar job. Insurance almost always covers the cost.

Outside the civic association, flower bouquets, balloons and even a line of 14 pennies - presumably to mark the 14 who died Friday during the shootings in the association's building on Front Street - were placed on the front steps. A light rain fell from the dark gray sky late Monday morning.

Casey Chandler, 26, of Endicott, stopped to drop off a bouquet of flowers and pay her respects to those killed and their families. She said she feels for the gunman's family, too, and wonders how they're coping with what happened.

"I cried when I heard it," she said. "When something this tragic happens ... it affects everybody."

Two doors down at HCA Respite Home & Residential Services, staff members have fielded calls from concerned families, some of whom asked if the HCA is taking any special precautions in light of the shootings, said Mike Reed, a registered nurse.

The facility provides services for families and children with disabilities. All doors in the building have keypad systems to provide security, Reed said.

On Friday, about 30 new staff members were participating in a training class at the HCA, he said. None of the children were present because they were in school or at work.

"Everything is quiet today, even Wal-Mart," said Mary Catherine Allison, a residential counselor. "It was just like a calm. Normally, it's hectic on Mondays. There were lots of parking spaces. It was really weird. It felt like the city was mourning."

Across the street, Envy You Salon-Boutique remained closed Monday, after being closed Saturday and Sunday "due to the recent events," according to a sign posted in the shop's window.

Pedestrian traffic on the sidewalks near the American Civic Association was sparse late Monday morning.

"Everyone who survived this incident is a hero," Chandler said.

She wants outsiders to know this: "We've always been a tight-knit community. ... We're not just a small, rundown little town. I just can't believe this happened."

Industry donates resources in NY massacre cleanup

BINGHAMTON, NY — Following the horrific events that unfolded last Friday at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, NY, the American Bio-Recovery Association (ABRA) has completed the cleanup, according to a press release.

The ABRA, a non-profit international association of crime and trauma scene professionals sought help from two local companies to assist in the biorecovery cleanup efforts, the release stated.

Disaster Cleanup of Endwell, NY, and Bio-Recovery Corporation of New York, NY, donated their labor and supplies to professionally and legally remediate the scene with a crew of six highly skilled biorecovery technicians, the release noted.

As a community service, the ABRA provided no cost biohazard cleanup services to the non-profit American Civic Association in hopes of helping the community heal from the loss of 13 innocent would-be American citizens and the wounding of four others, the release added.

The thoughts and prayers of the CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management® and CM/Cleanfax® staff go out to all of the friends and families affected by this tragedy.

Cleanup completed at Civic Association

April 5, 2009

Cleanup has been completed at the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, where a gunman killed 13 people and injured four before taking his own life Friday.

The American Bio-Recovery Association, a non-profit international association of crime and trauma scene professionals, said Sunday that the bio-recovery cleaning was complete. The Ipswich, Mass.-based group provided the service at no cost.

Two member companies, Disaster Clean Up of Endwell and the Bio-Recovery Corporation of New York City, donated labor and supplies to remediate the scene with a crew of six technicians.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG SIGNS LEGISLATION ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR SAFE CLEANING OF TRAUMA SCENES

Remarks by Mayor Bloomberg at a Public Hearing on Local Laws


"The next bill before me is Introductory Number 123-A, sponsored by Council Members Nelson, Gentile, Liu, Sanders, Vallone, Katz, Weprin and Mealy. Introductory Number 123-A requires the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to establish guidelines for the uniform and safe cleaning of trauma scenes on both public and private property and to provide important information on resources related to trauma scene clean-up.

"Presently, there are no available written guidelines that integrate both worker protection requirements and medical waste handling. The guidelines established under this bill will provide agencies, private employers, and the public with clear and important information on protecting workers and the public.

"The guidelines for trauma scene management - to be followed by all City agencies - would include the immediate restriction of access to the trauma scene, the cleaning and decontamination of the trauma scene, and the removal of any waste in accordance with applicable laws and guidelines. These guidelines will be modified for trauma-scene management on private property and will be available through 311 and on NYC.GOV along with helpful information for property owners and crime victims.

"I would like to thank the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Thomas Frieden and his staff for working on this bill. I would also like to thank the Council for approving this legislation."

Canarsie station would be hazard, residents say

BY Erin Durkin
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, March 30th 2009, 4:00 AM

Canarsie residents are fighting a plan to build a medical waste facility they charge could be hazardous to their health.

CMW Industries is planning to build a medical waste transfer station on Farragut Road, to move waste such as mercury and formaldehyde between hospitals and labs and out of state disposal facilities. Waste could be stored at the site for as long as 10 days.

Residents worry that an accident could expose them to dangerous chemicals, and that 35 daily truck trips will add to air pollution.

CMW officials insist their concerns are unfounded.

"I think it's horrendous," said Sylvia Jones, who lives four blocks from the project site. "It will jeopardize everyone's health within this area, and my health too, as a 76-year-old woman."

CMW is waiting for a permit from the state Department of Environmental Conservation that both sides agree is likely to be granted.

An administrative law judge threw out a bid by Assemblyman Nick Perry and Councilman Charles Barron to block the application.

"It's just an inappropriate place," Perry said, noting there are homes a block from the site and a school a block and a half away.

Opponents say their neighborhood is already burdened with too many polluting facilities.

"This smacks of environmental racism," Barron said. "We have bus depots, we have transfer stations, we have so many environmentally hazardous facilities in our community. We don't need another one."

"One accident on one of those trucks and all that medical waste will be spilled in our community."

But owners said the station would pose no danger.

"They're literally taking boxes from one truck that have been fully sealed at a doctor's office and moving them to another truck," said Jeff Baker, a lawyer for CMW. "

"The concept that there's any kind of a risk to the community is ridiculous," he said, adding truck traffic to the facility would not be enough to significantly add to air pollution.

That's little comfort to Jewel Brown, 47.

"I'm an asthmatic," she said. "I'm very concerned about my health ... the traffic, the pollution - it's going to be very heavy."

Perry said if the DEC approves the permit, he will ask for an injunction to stop the facility because it violates zoning law.

"We are prepared to go to court," he said.

Queens’ own crime-scene cleanup crew

by Lee Landor , Editor


Ron Gospodarski, left, founder of Bio-Recovery Corp., and employee Manny Sosa clean up after a natural death in the Bronx. (photo by Lee Landor)

Death is a dirty job. No one knows that better than Ron Gospodarski, a volunteer paramedic and founder of Bio-Recovery Corp., a trauma- and crime-scene cleanup company that deals with the gruesome grime that most people never get — and usually don’t want — to see.

The 47-year-old Woodside resident started his company in 1998 after realizing there was a gaping void in the area of bio-hazard abatement. At the time, Gospodarski was working as a paramedic and as operations manager at the Queens District Attorney’s Office.

“I never knew who cleaned stuff up,” Gospodarski said, noting that emergency medical personnel and police officers often leave a crime or trauma scene even messier than it was when they arrived. Curious and concerned, the microbiologist did some research and found there was no one responsible for cleaning things up.

Seeing the opportunity to provide a much-needed service and to start his own business, the Buffalo native opened the first bio-recovery company in the New York City. His primary aim: offer help to victims and families who have suffered a loss and can’t bear to deal with cleaning up remains. Another important goal he aims to achieve is increasing awareness about the presence of companies such as his.

“I feel bad for these people,” Gospodarski said. “I really, truly do.” The city does not provide services in this area, he noted. What’s worse is that it doesn’t even inform those who need cleanup services that they have options, that companies like Bio-Recovery exist. According to Gospodarski, the Police Department and offices of the medical examiner and district attorney said it would be a “conflict of interest” to refer such companies.

Spokespeople for both the Queens District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said crime-scene cleanup does not fall under their jurisdiction. A spokesman from the NYPD said referring businesses would be a conflict of interest. “We’re not in the business of promoting other businesses,” he said.

“Is that really caring about people?” Gospodarski asked. Without the help of city agencies, how exactly does one go about advertising death-scene cleanup services? The truth is, “Nobody wants to know about you until they need you,” Gospodarski said. “People just don’t want to deal with reality,” but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be informed, he added.

But sometimes reality is harsh. That Bio-Recovery technicians know well. They were called in to clean the aftermath of the May 2000 Wendy’s Massacre in Flushing. Five employees were killed and two were seriously wounded during a robbery planned by a former employee of the fast food restaurant and its manager.

Gospodarski, along with 65 certified bio-recovery technicians, finished the $30,000 cleanup two weeks after it began; the entire restaurant was contaminated with bio-hazardous chemicals.

Typically, cleanups range from one to three hours, utilize one to three technicians and cost between $600 and $2,000. Bio-Recovery can get up to 10 jobs some weeks, and none others, according to Gospodarski.

Bio-Recovery has cleaned everything from accident, suicide and homicide scenes, to hoarder houses, anthrax outbreaks and sewage backflows. The company specializes in the cleanup of microbial contamination and other bio-hazards.

In addition to the Wendy’s Massacre, Bio-Recovery was responsible for cleaning up after several other high-profile Queens crimes, including two in Howard Beach: the June 2005 beating of Glenn Moore by Nicholas “Fat Nick” Minucci and the February 2008alleged murder of ex-cop Raymond Sheehan by his wife, Barbara Sheehan.

In January, Gospodarski and his crew went to clean up the bloodied Springfield Gardens home of 86-year-old Vivian Squires, who was slashed across the neck while fighting off an intruder who tried to smother her to death.

“You’re sort of like a voyeur,” Gospodarski said. “You get to see what others want to see, but don’t get to.” Crime scenes are only fascinating until they become a reality: people think they want to see the gruesome aftermath of an unbelievable crime, but once that actually becomes a possibility, they shy away from it, according to Manny Sosa, a 29-year-old technician who has worked with Bio-Recovery for nearly 10 years.

While he and his fellow technicians — all certified by the American Bio-Recovery Association — view the cleanups simply as their jobs, they fully acknowledge that they’re dealing with human life. At a recent cleanup in the Bronx, where a woman died of natural causes and was found five days later, Sosa was emptying drawers filled with contaminated clothing and other items. “You’re throwing someone’s life away,” he said as he filled a large black garbage bag. “It’s pretty sad.”

Still, overall, “We’re more pragmatic about it. We take it ... for what it is,” Gospodarski said. “To us, it’s really just a job again.”

The Bio-Recovery technicians must detach themselves while they work. That way, they’re able to remain focused and judgement-free. “It doesn’t matter to us who they were, where they came from,” Sosa said. “We just do our job.” This is a job he does not talk about outside of work: “I try not to attach myself to any of this. Work is work — when I leave here, I don’t want to discuss people’s personal privacy. I’m invading people’s space just by being here,” he said.

One of the most important and difficult things about this job, according to Gospodarski, is interacting with those who hire him. “You have to build a rapport and friendship” to earn their trust, he said. Acknowledging that they’ve been through a trauma and treating them, and the victim, with respect is key.

In this job, it’s not enough to have a tough stomach: “You have to be a people person,” according to Gospodarski. “If you put the people factor first, you can’t go wrong.” Because he’s done just that, Gospodarski has earned Bio-Recovery its good reputation, he noted. And that, he said, “is more important than any dollar sign.”

According to a spokeswoman from the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New Yorkers can call 311 for information on safe clean-up or access detailed guidelines on the department’s website, nyc.gov/health.

Bio-Recovery Corp. technicians are available 24 hours a day in New York, New Jersey and Southern Connecticut and can be reached at (877) 246-2532, (718) 729-2600 or (516) 766-3366. For more information about the company, email info@biorecovery.com or visit biorecovery.com, where Gospodarski’s crime-scene cleanup blog can be accessed.

New Yorker finds niche cleaning up grisly scenes

Shanghai Star.
RON Gospodarski has made a career cleaning up after other people ?their blood, brain matter and body parts.

Gospodarski owns Bio-Recovery, a business that cleans crime, trauma and biohazard scenes in New York City and surrounding areas.

An emergency medical technician in the city for more than two decades, Gospodarski established Bio-Recovery nine years ago as an outgrowth of his old job, in which he would be among the first to arrive at a messy scene of tragedy.

“People would ask us who we could get to clean this up and we never knew anyone,?said Gospodarski, 43. “I did some research and found out no one was doing this here so I figured, let’s do something.?

His company, based in Long Island City, New York, charges customers US$600 and up, depending on the job. Families and property owners find him through funeral directors, the telephone book and the Internet. The police are forbidden to make such referrals.

Gospodarski and more than a dozen employees ?all with backgrounds as firefighters, police officers or in other emergency services ?arrive at a scene after the police finish collecting evidence.

Dressed in chemical-resistant blue suits, full-face respirators, gloves and boots, they meticulously scrub away blood, brain matter and other body fluids and parts following suicides, homicides and other traumatic events.

Tough task

“We’re helping people during a tragic time when they’re left with something like this,?said Gospodarski, who has a master’s degree in biology. “We’re there to do a job and we can’t get too emotional, because that gets in the way.?

Gospodarski, who says he works 10 to 15 hours a day, has cleaned up after stabbings, hangings and fatal work accidents.

Toughest to take, he says, are suicides of young people.

“You’re usually in their bedrooms and you’re looking at pictures of them and you see how they live and you think: ‘What would make someone go this far to do this?”’

Bio-Recovery has cleaned up after some of New York’s most sensational and headline-grabbing murder cases.

In 2000, the company cleaned a Wendy’s fast-food restaurant in Flushing, Queens, where seven people were shot execution-style inside the walk-in refrigerator. Five died.

Human nature

By the time Gospodarski’s group arrived, the entrance to the restaurant had been transformed into a shrine, adorned with votive candles, flower bouquets and sympathy notes.

Inside, the food contents of the walk-in had been left to spoil and the walls and floor were splattered with blood.

Bio-Recovery scrubbed and disinfected the apartment above the Carnegie Deli in New York’s theatre district following a highly publicized triple homicide in 2001.

Gospodarski’s group also helped clean up after letters containing anthrax were received at the New York offices of ABC News and the New York Post.

“We’ve run the gamut and we’ve seen everything,?he said. “I wouldn’t say I’m desensitized to this, but you do get used to it.?

The grim and gruesome job has its rewards, he says.

“The greatest satisfaction of the job is when the families call up and say thank you and that we really made a difference,?he said. “We get calls from the poorest to the richest who say that we’ve done a wonderful job and we appreciate it. That means a lot.?

The job also gives some insights into human nature.

He recalled being stopped by an onlooker as he cleaned up a building in Manhattan’s East Village where an elderly person had died of natural causes and body fluids dripped through six apartments before the corpse was discovered.

“It’s inevitable; someone will stick their head in and say, ‘Are they going to rent this?”’ he said. “It’s amazing.?

Norovirus sickens 59 at assisted-living facility

LYNBROOK, NY — An outbreak of norovirus, a highly contagious gastrointestinal infection whose eradication requires extensive cleaning of surfaces, sickened 59 individuals at the Atria Tanglewood assisted-living facility, according to WCBS-TV.

Due to the nature of the virus to easily spread, the facility imposed a three-week quarantine on itself to ensure its containment, the story stated.

It is not uncommon for such illnesses as norovirus to sicken people living in close proximity, especially those susceptible to illness like the elderly, the story noted.

Noroviruses are also sometimes known as "winter vomiting viruses" or "Norwalk-like viruses," and symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, the story added.

Behind the scenes as a crew takes on the city's dirtiest job

BY Robert Dominguez
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER



Manny Sosa has already spent a good hour on his hands and knees, steaming and scrubbing and finally getting the best of a stubborn stain on a kitchen floor, when he calls out to his supervisor.

“I got the blood up,” says Sosa, his voice muffled through a hazmat helmet and respirator. “But the skin’s not coming off the tiles.”

“Waddya expect?” answers Ron Gospodarski. “The body was decomposing for a week.”

This is clearly no ordinary cleaning job, and the men spending a sunny day in a Manhattan apartment casually getting rid of a horrific mess are not your average custodial workers.

Like the characters in the movie “Sunshine Cleaning,” opening Friday, Gospodarski’s Queens-based company, Bio-Recovery Corp., specializes in cleaning up the grim and gory aftermath of crime and trauma scenes — everything from murder to suicide to a bloody home accident.

Or, as they’ve been hired to do on this day, tidying, straightening and ultimately sanitizing a one-bedroom rental in Chelsea where the tenant keeled over, died in the kitchen — and was found seven days later after neighbors complained of the smell.

The body of the tenant, a single man in his 40s, was removed days earlier. But the stench of death lingers, thanks to a huge and unsightly stain — a crusty, dark-brown puddle of blood mixed with other bodily fluids on the floor where the man was found.

“You can see the outline of the body,” said Sosa before the cleanup. “He was there so long, some of his hair and skin is stuck in it.”

“This is nothing,” says Gospodarski. “I’ve had jobs where the body fluids seeped through the floorboards and walls of a building for six stories, and then they had an insect infestation. And the suicides are the worst, especially when they use a shotgun.The blood splatters all over, and you’ll find pieces of brain and skull on the other side of the room.”

It may be a dirty job, but Gospodarski and Sosa are glad to do it. Bio-Recovery Corp. is one of only a handful of such companies in the New York area, and the pay is good — not surprising, given the morbid nature of the business.

Gospodarski, 47, is a former New York City paramedic who founded the company in 1998 after realizing there was money to be made in cleaning up the crime and trauma scenes he covered.

“A business owner who had a shooting or stabbing in front of his place would ask who was going to clean up the mess,” says Gospodarski. “The city is supposed to do it when it’s on public property, but they don’t.”

He says he can earn anywhere from $650 to $2,000 for a day’s work, depending on the complexity of the job and how much waste has to be disposed of.

A bag of medical waste, for example, costs $75 to throw away at a dump, while an old mattress soaked with body fluids can cost several hundred dollars to get rid of properly.

“We never turn away business,” says Gospodarski, noting that things have slowed down during these rough economic times.

“In a city like New York, you’d think there’d be no shortage of jobs for companies like us. But the problem is that families or landlords can’t afford to pay for a service like ours.”

Even during boom times, there are the potential health hazards. Bent over the stain and brandishing a high-pressure steam machine, Sosa has to wear a hazmat suit, helmet and respirator to protect himself from inhaling dangerous microbes released into the air by the steam.

“You have to assume that every body had a disease like HIV, TB or hepatitis,” says Gospodarski. “But the biggest danger, of course, is getting a puncture wound from a needle whenever we clean up a drug den.”

Bio-Recovery was involved in cleaning up buildings and offices in New York and Florida exposed to anthrax soon after the 9/11 attacks. But a typical job consists of being hired by a building to clean and sanitize an apartment where someone has died, or by a family that wants to clean out the room of a recently deceased relative.

Other times, they’re paid to remove the immense clutter of junk and garbage left behind by a pack rat who’s been evicted from an apartment.

But that’s tame stuff compared to the job a couple of years ago that left even these seasoned pros gagging in disgust.

“A guy died sitting on a toilet,” recalls Gospodarski, who clearly enjoys telling war stories “He had been there for days, and the toilet was clogged. When Manny reached in to clean out the mess, he came up holding the guy’s intestines. Even I couldn’t take the smell.”

“Yeah, once you bring something up out of the water that’s been there a while, it can smell pretty bad,” adds Sosa.

There are occasions, says Gospodarski, when the job can be emotionally draining. He and Sosa, 29, who joined the company four years ago, have cleaned up after several high-profile crimes, including the multiple murders in a marijuana den above the Carnegie Deli and the shootings in the basement freezer of a Wendy’s restaurant in Queens.

“You definitely need a strong stomach for this line of work,” says Gospodarski. “But you also need to be compassionate and a good listener. We’ve been in homes where a teenager killed himself and the family is devastated, and they reach out to us just to talk.”

It’s also important to be respectful of the dead and nonjudgmental, especially in a city like New York, inhabited by all kinds of people — with all types of lifestyles.

“Sometimes you uncover secrets of how people lived — really crazy stuff no one would believe — but you need to overlook that and just do your job,” says Gospodarski.

“It’s bad enough for a family when someone dies. But they shouldn’t have to find out something they don’t need to know about.”
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When the Worst Happens, He Cleans Up

Today's NY Times answered a question I've often asked myself. Who cleans up after gruesome murders and grisly deaths? The answer in Andrews Jacob's piece is Ronald Gospodarski, a former paramedic who runs a company called Bio-Recovery Corp, in Long Island City.

"I've had guys left dead for months where fluid seeped down six floors and everything had to be torn out...you can't leave one drop of blood or body fluid or the place will stink." He went on, explaining a $3000 technique used on the most dreadful of deathscenes, where superheating an entire apartment kills every odor producing microbe. But mostly they just use industrial strength cleansers and wear protective gear.

One of the hardest crime scenes Gospodarski had to clean up was a house in the Bronx used for Santeria, the South American religion that involves ritual slaughter of animals. Amid razor blades, animal hoofs, bottles of poison they unearthed what looked like a clump of human hair. "I'd rather be dealing with a gunshot victim," said one worker, "I don't like this one bit."

The Top 13 Worst Jobs with the Best Pay

These are dirty jobs and somebody has to do them. At least they get paid well for their efforts
Think you have a lousy job? You're not alone. So do about half of your fellow workers—and about a quarter of them are only showing up to collect a paycheck, according to a survey conducted by London-based market information company TNS. Grumbling over the size of that check is common, too. About two-thirds of workers believe they don't get paid enough, says TNS—even though many of them may actually be overpaid, compared to average compensation data

Crime-Scene Cleaner
Average pay: $50,400
If crime-scene cleanup was just wiping blood off the floors—well, that would be easy. But CSI fans with get-rich-quick dreams should note the job involves more than handiness with a mop and a tolerance for the smell of decomposing flesh. Getting rid of bodily fluids typically calls for more rough-and-ready methods, such as ripping up carpet, tile, and baseboards. It also sometimes means working in confined spaces (if someone was electrocuted in an attic, for example). And when tearing up old houses, workers face exposure to hazards such as lead paint and asbestos—not to mention the combustible chemicals involved in drug-lab abatement.

A Mystery Vigilante Paints Dog Waste-It really is a Crime Scene

There is a vigilante dog-waste graffiti painter on the Upper East Side, according to a new YouTube video put up by Stan O’Connor, a local tour guide. The vigilante is apparently going around after hours spray-painting dog droppings that are being left on the sidewalk, apparently in violation of New York’s strict scooper laws.

After the dog waste is finally removed, the bright rings of orange and green spray paint remain, reminding passers-by of what used to be there. Mr. O’Connor’s video takes viewers on a tour of the colorful splotches.

They are oddly reminiscent of the chalk body outlines from homicides — only more blob-shaped.