Jail Captains' Head Meringolo Retiring
A Battler Ready for Last Bell

By REUVEN BLAU

Correction Captains' Association Peter D. Meringolo began his career in labor after he was wrongly accused of stealing bail money as a new Captain more than 20 years ago.

'NEVER LOST A CAPTAIN': His heated advocacy on behalf of his members sometimes antagonizes and annoys city officials, but Correction Captains' Association President Peter D. Meringolo says he's done what's necessary to protect his members from unfair disciplinary penalties.

At the time, his union delegate suggested he accept a reduced penalty to avoid a potentially drawn-out disciplinary hearing. "Someone tried to pin something on me that I had no responsibility for," Mr. Meringolo recalled last week. "The delegate suggested that I take a penalty and make it go away. That's not what I believed in."

A Quarter-Century Run

Believing he could do a better job, he successfully ran for delegate and worked his way up through the ranks. But after 25 years as a union officer, 15 as president, Mr. Meringolo has decided to retire. "I want to spend more time with my grandson, Carter," he said. "He's the apple of my eye. I want to see him grow up."

The announcement, which had been rumored for months, was a difficult decision to make, Mr. Meringolo said. "It's rough because I love what I do," he remarked.

Mr. Meringolo grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and his father told him that he "owed his country a duty to defend it." His father died when he was only 12 years old, but the lesson remained and in 1968, when he graduated from Seward Park High School, he decided to enlist and get his military service out of the way.

Shortly after his 18th birthday, he found himself in Vietnam as a member of the 82nd Airborne's reconnaissance patrol. After more than 11 months, almost all of it in the field, which included a promotion when his Sergeant was killed in action, and five medals - among them a Bronze Star and Soldier's Medal - Mr. Meringolo made it home.

'Glad I Made It Out'

"I'm glad I made it out alive," he said, noting that he was injured by shrapnel during his service. "I was so lucky that they flew me to Saigon for some treatment, and I was back in the field the next day."

When he returned to New York, he began working part-time for the Post Office, loading mail trucks in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. He also worked at Gimbel's department store handling customer complaints.

But he sought a more-stable and higher-paying job, so he took the exams leading to Police Officer, Firefighter, and Correction Officer. "I promised myself that I would take the first city job that would take me," he recalled. "Back then, a city job was the most secure thing to get, for the pension and benefits."

His starting Correction Officer salary of $10,200 was almost double what he had been previously earning. "There was no decision whether I would take the job," he said. "I was there in a heartbeat."

Captain Plans Delayed

After 4-1/2 years in the House of Detention for Men, now known as the James A. Thomas Center, he transferred to Rikers Island's outside security detail. Due to the city's fiscal crisis in the mid-1970s, promotion exams were delayed and he did not get a crack at the Captain exam until he had served as a CO for eight years. Upon his promotion, he was transferred back to the House of Detention.

He worked there for three years and then moved on to become the Personnel Captain, in charge of scheduling for officers, which put him at the center of often-conflicting requests for days off and choice vacation times.

In 1987, Mr. Meringolo was named Operation Captain of the department's Emergency Management Response Unit, which replaced the Emergency Response Team. The old unit was known more for creating confusion than providing help when it was called in, Mr. Meringolo remembered.

'Made It Come Alive'

As a major official in the new unit, Mr. Meringolo helped develop an innovative training program and completely revamped the department's emergency response. "We made the unit come alive," he said. "It is one of the most prestigious units in the country. We would train other units in the country."

During that time, he worked his way up in the union, serving in various executive board positions. In 1991, he became president after then-CCA President Donald J. Cranston left due to illness.

Throughout his tenure, Mr. Meringolo has never shied from battling management on behalf of his members. Notably, two years ago the CCA represented four Captains the department was seeking to fire for beating an inmate who attacked a Correction Officer.

After persuasive testimony from the supervisors, an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings judge actually hailed the Captains for helping save the officer who had been knocked unconscious by the inmate. Mr. Meringolo has repeatedly cited that case as proof of Correction Commissioner Martin F. Horn's "barbaric" disciplinary policy, a claim the head of the jail system has vehemently denied.

'Took It Personally'

"If it wasn't for me, four Captains would have been fired wrongly," Mr. Meringolo said last week. "I take those things very personal; we've never lost a captain."

Over the past several years, Mr. Meringolo and the union's lawyers have successfully defended scores of other Captains brought up on similar disciplinary charges at OATH. "My winning track record is unsurpassed," he asserted.

Despite their strained relationship, Mr. Horn last week said he wished Mr. Meringolo the best on his retirement.

Mr. Meringolo over the years has also worked to persuade the department to promote multiple Captains to Assistant Deputy Warden. Many of those officers, he said, have since risen to the rank of Chief and other top positions. "I'm going to miss defending my members," he remarked.

'Monumental' Equalizer

The union president said that his greatest accomplishment as CCA head was persuading Governor Pataki to sign a pension bill that virtually equalized the pension costs for new Correction Officers and those promoted to Captain. "That was monumental," Mr. Meringolo asserted. "It restored the career path."

The bill, which Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook supported, corrected an imbalance created over 15 years ago by former COBA President Phil Seelig that provided a full pension after 20 years to Correction Officers under Tier 3 but forced Captains belonging to that pension tier to contribute more than twice as much in salary for the same benefit.

Based on the union's last election figures, Mr. Meringolo's militant approach has been valued by his 880 members. In 2002, he was reelected with more than 90 percent of the vote. He ran unopposed in the majority of his earlier elections.

But his aggressive stance has also angered Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley. Their feud reached a new nadir recently when the union leader vowed to sue the city's top negotiator for defamation of character over comments he made to this newspaper suggesting Mr. Meringolo was acting irrationally.

Will Kept PEC Job

He does not plan to completely retire from labor. He was just re-elected to another term as head of the New York State Public Employee Conference. The umbrella group, which includes more than 60 unions, recently changed its bylaws to allow retired union officials to serve as chairman.

The CCA president noted that PEC has vastly expanded its membership and political influence since he took over seven years ago. PEC led the lobbying effort to authorize a pension disability boost for the many thousands of city employees who responded to the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.

He also plans to work as a lobbyist for the CCA, replacing longtime lobbyist Floyd Holloway, who retired himself. "I'm 1,000 percent labor," Mr. Meringolo said. "I would never be appointed to a management position because I can't do to the workers what I'm seeing being done to them now."