11.19.03
for those who don’t want to register at the bergen record…
Celebrated ex-cop Joseph Delaney dies
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
By BRIAN ABERBACK
STAFF WRITER
Joseph Delaney, a colorful North Jersey lawman who was never at a loss for words and gained national attention when he told a Soviet diplomat to go “pound salt” after being asked to apologize for the arrest of the official’s wife, died Monday. He was 69.
During a 45-year career in law enforcement, Delaney infiltrated the mob, headed Bergen County’s drug and organized crime task forces, and served as Paramus police chief and Ramsey police director.
Known for his tough but caring demeanor, lively quotes, and devotion to his men and his job, Delaney retired from police work in 2002, the same year that he revealed he was battling cancer of the esophagus. He died of complications related to the cancer. Delaney had lived in New Milford with his wife, Carol, for 38 years.
“He was a tremendous force throughout the state and county,” said former Paramus Mayor Cliff Gennarelli, who worked with Delaney for 10 years. He remembered Delaney as a man others turned to in times of trouble. “He was the rock and a foundation you could always lean on,” Gennarelli said.
Delaney was propelled into the national spotlight in late 1982 after Paramus police arrested the wife of a Soviet diplomat on charges of shoplifting a pair of $4.25 children’s tights from a Route 17 coat store. She was released because of diplomatic immunity, but when her husband demanded an apology, Delaney, then the chief, refused. He won fans around the country for standing up to the diplomat at a time when Cold War tensions were running high.
Delaney was interviewed on CBS’ “60 Minutes” after the incident and received calls from newspapers and magazines nationwide, said retired Paramus Police Chief Michael McCormack, who was Delaney’s deputy chief at the time.
“This is America the free, but some things you have to pay for,” Delaney told the diplomat. The official persisted and Delaney told him to “pound salt.”
“No pun intended, but I saw red when that guy walked in here and wanted us to apologize,” Delaney said at the time. “I told him it was going to be a hot day in Siberia when this department apologizes for doing its duty.”
The quotes were typical Delaney.
“I admired him because he never pulled any punches,” said Michael Mordaga, chief of detectives in the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, who had known Delaney for more than two decades. “If something had to be said, he wouldn’t hesitate to say it.”
Delaney was named the first head of the Bergen County Narcotics Task Force in the mid-Seventies. Shortly afterward, he infiltrated a loan-sharking ring with ties to the Gambino and Genovese crime families by posing as a crooked cop. The 11-month operation netted 26 convictions and Delaney was awarded a Medal of Honor by the Bergen County Chiefs of Police Association.
The operation almost turned disastrous while Delaney was in the Elmwood Park home of a reputed mob hit man. Delaney was wearing a microphone under his shirt, and the recording equipment caused the mobster’s television reception to turn to static.
“Joe was very nervous,” said retired state police Lt. Fred Martens, who worked with Delaney. “He was afraid he would get patted down. But Joe was able to talk his way out of it.”
Delaney could be impatient with government bureaucracy. Tired of waiting for the state Department of Transportation to fix dangerous road conditions on Route 17 in the early Eighties, Delaney went over Trenton’s head by installing signs warning motorists of the hazardous conditions. He also unilaterally reduced the speed limit from 50 mph to 35 mph on a stretch of the highway. Two days later, the state approved his actions.
Delaney, who grew up in Manhattan and Paramus, began his law enforcement career as a Paramus patrolman in 1957, and spent 36 years on the force there, serving as chief from 1981-93. He also served in the Army Honor Guard during the Korean War.
Shortly after retiring from Paramus, he was hired by Ramsey to help restore morale in a department that had been split by scandal and instability.
His professionalism helped bring the department together, Ramsey officials said. But Delaney wasn’t immune to the type of controversy he was brought in to clean up.
In 2001, the Ramsey Borough Council docked Delaney the equivalent of $32,000 in vacation and sick time for receiving wire-transfer loans from a subordinate while gambling in Atlantic City. On two of four occasions, the officer was on duty while making the loans, which totaled $9,000.
Even in an embarrassing situation, Delaney still had witty words for the media. After his punishment was levied, Delaney, speaking about the dangers of gambling, said: “The only things that pay off [in Atlantic City] are the ATMs.”
In addition to his wife, Delaney is survived by two sons, Keith and Kevin; a daughter, Karen, and three grandchildren.
“He was a man so much larger than life,” said Delaney’s son, Keith, a detective in the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. “Law enforcement and serving the people of this county meant so much to him. He felt it was very important to serve with a purpose. He did his job with pride and he did it with honor.”
Delaney’s son Kevin also followed in his footsteps, and serves as a Paramus police detective. Delaney’s brother, Thomas, is a retired Paramus police captain.
Visiting hours are scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 113 Fairview Ave., Paramus. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the funeral home, with burial to follow at George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus Road, Paramus.
Staff Writer Raghuram Vadarevu contributed to this article.
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