I had already met the young woman AUSA at our own offices nearby. She was an eager Harvard Law school grad who was going to be working the case. Now for what was the first of the next few visits we had to go where she worked, at
1 St. Andrew's Plaza, in lower Manhattan, the building pictured to the right, and the subject of yesterday's A-Hed piece in the WSJ, describing the place as a little frayed at the edges on the inside.
My visits were nearly two decades ago, but I distinctly remember being in the AUSA's office on a piece of furniture I'm sure I sank in, looking around at the neither small or large office, but thinking "this place is really a shit-hole."
The whole place was a municipal purchasing agent's idea of mis-matched decor. I believe there was a flag in the office and I immediately thought of my old P.S. 22 in the 1950s that had a flag on the auditorium's stage, tucked away in the corner. Of course then, there were only 48 stars in the flag.
I distinctly remember taking the place in and felt it was badly in need of a paint job, so much so that my Greek heritage came out and had me volunteering to come in on a weekend and paint the office, or at least let me buy the paint. Because if there are any two things anyone of Greek heritage has experience with it is wearing an apron, and holding a paint brush or roller.
The place was dimly lit, with mismatched file cabinets and the prosecutor's in line roller blades resting on the floor. I imagined her skating over the Brooklyn Bridge in the morning from their apartment someplace in Brooklyn. She was after all young enough to be doing stuff like that. I was always the oldest person in the room.
The WSJ A-Hed, as is typical of A-Hed pieces is filled with puns. The print headline and sub-headline alone start if off: Manhattan Prosecutor's Smell a Rat/Or maybe mold in the decrepit U.S. Attorney's office.
It seems my turn-of-century visits might have found the place in far better shape than it has now fallen into. The A-Hed piece describes even old office furniture that employees stake out and take for themselves when someone is leaving. One departing attorney kept coming back from lunch and kept finding another item made off with from their office.
When water coolers were found to dispense water with a high lead content, the office staff simply covered the fountains with garbage bags and took up a collections to keep bottled water in the place.
A nasty smell lead to the discovery of a dead rodent being found decomposing in a radiator, and there have been bed bug outbreaks. Mold and a mountain of finger nail clippings have been found in desks when newly taken over by someone starting out.
The Manhattan Correction Center is right next door, a detention facility for those awaiting trial. Apparently when one prisoner was brought into the offices for a conference they asked that the next meeting be held back at the jail: it had better accommodations.
The notorious drug lord El Chapo is currently in the Manhattan Correction Center. There have been no stories that he's been brought to St. Andrew's Plaza and asked to next have the meeting in a tunnel. He's not getting moved around much, so he doesn't really know how much worse it can be.
Added to my memory of offices in bad need of a paint job, I distinctly remember there was construction going on, ceiling tiles were pulled out in the lobby by the elevators and the pipes and electrical wiring were visible. This is the same lobby that appears on the news when there is a press conference announcing a major arrest where lots of weapons and drugs are fanned out for the public to see on the evening news. My guess is the ceiling work might now be over, but the cameras should stay away from pointing up, just in case.
If you've watched the Showtime series 'Billions' you get a feeling that the U.S. Attorney's offices are not bad. Of course that's television, and they only show a floor portrayed as where the U.S. Attorney themselves have their office. The rounded stucco edges of the walls are what I also remember, and are part of the overall building's architecture, something the WSJ tells us is evocative of a Soviet-era building, circa 1974. It does have that look.
The prosecutor we used to meet is now gone from St. Andrew's Plaza, after I think 9 years of AUSA employment. My guess is they have some fond memories of the place, but no doubt are now enjoying vastly improved surroundings.
Aside from the offices I came to realize that anytime we were in an AUSA's office there was an FBI agent with us. They act as the body guards for these people. In one famous instance an AUSA was about to open a present they thought was a Christmas gift from their family when the agent abruptly stopped them and whisked the package away to the bomb squad.
It turned out the package was actually from an Asian drug lord who was the defendant in a case the prosecutor was involved in. The briefcase gift would have exploded if it had been popped open. This was pre-9/11.
One morning when it came time to be shown where I had to go to find the courtroom to give testimony in the case, an FBI agent was walking me through the vast lobby of the Federal courthouse, the one whose stairs are always seen on television. The place was as empty as a vast railroad station at midnight.
He told me the story of once escorting a prisoner who gave him directions on where they had to go in the building.
I wonder if he was found guilty and got a little time shaved off for helping out.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
I grew up with Greeks in Philly - they were all related and in the food import business. My playmates taught me all the curse words phonetically in Greek which was no help when ordering in a Greek
ReplyDeleterestaurant. They were clannish, liked new cars and married within their faith. Their mothers were the best cooks and on holidays they made coffee cakes with coins imbedded in the dough so when they gave us one they always cautioned us not to bite down on a dime or nickel. Great people and great neighbors.