Rutgers University, the Quakers and a Cop Killer

Let me tell you about Lodi, NJ police officers Peter Voto and Gary Tedesco. In 1963, these two men were executed by a man named Thomas Trantino and Frank Falco. John Derbyshire has more:

In the pre-dawn hours of August 26th 1963, two officers on the force of Lodi, N.J. responded to a report of a disturbance at the Angel Lounge on Route 46 in that town. The officers were Sergeant Peter Voto, aged 40, and Patrolman Gary Tedesco, 22. Tedesco, a probationer, was unarmed, so Sgt. Voto went into the bar alone. When, after a while, he hadn't come out, Tedesco went in himself. Inside the bar were two career crooks, Thomas Trantino and Frank Falco, celebrating a recent crime spree. They had grabbed and disarmed Voto after he entered the bar; now they held Tedesco, too. The two police officers were forced to strip to their underwear, taunted and pistol-whipped, then shot in the head. The murderers then fled. Among the police officers who later arrived at the crime scene was Chief Andrew Voto, who slipped in a pool of his brother's blood.

What Derbyshire failed to say was that they were also rumored to have been forced to perform unspeakable things before both being shot in the head. Falco was killed in a shoot-out two days after the incident and Trantino turned himself in to authorities.

He was convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence that was commuted to life in prison in 1972 after the NJ Supreme Court decreed the death penalty unconstitutional. Trantino was then sentenced to life in prison and was allowed to apply for parole seven years later. In 2002, Trantino was given parole and a killer of two cops was out on the street again. Law enforcement officers as well as some state politicians were enraged that the state of New Jersey would allow a cold-blooded killer out on the street again. But alas, this being the Garden State, liberal activist judges had their way and a man who destroyed two families lives had the chance to live his.

A short time after Trantino's release, he was back in court defending himself against charges he choked his girlfriend. He was acquitted even though it appears he should have had his parole voided and been sent back to prison for life.

If the story ended here, you would be outraged wouldn't you? Sadly, the story is not over. The good people known as Quakers or Friends decided that they wanted this man to speak for them at an event for the Friends Transition Support Services that was designed to assist parolees with their return to society.

The event was hosted at a Rutgers University facility, but not paid for using tax dollars. However, a university professor named Drew Humphries was a co-sponsor of the event and did have a very active role. The main group involved with the program was the Haddonfield, NJ Friends. Professor Humphries has rejected all interviews and refuses to explain herself or apologize.

You can contact Rutgers and explain that convicted cop killers should not be involved in events such as this.