Joseph Borrelli, former NYPD chief of detectives who helped solve 'Son of Sam' case, dies

When NYPD chief Joseph Borrelli was summoned to see his new boss, Commissioner William Bratton, in January 1994, he was sure he was going to be fired.

Borrelli hadn't done anything wrong. But as the newly minted commissioner under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it was Bratton's job to appoint his own leadership team by getting rid of some chiefs and naming new ones. Borelli was the chief of detectives and figured he might be out the door next.

According to his son-in-law Michael Hines, when Borrelli got to sit down with Bratton, the two men hit it off, and the new commissioner asked him why he should be kept as chief of detectives, one of the most important jobs in the NYPD.

"If I ask them to jump out the window, they would jump out the window," Borrelli responded about the department's detectives, according to Hines.

Bratton kept Borrelli in the job, where he was a major part of his leadership.

"That was the reputation he had. He was highly regarded by his detectives," Bratton recalled over the weekend.

One of the so-called "Super Chiefs" of that era in the NYPD, Borrelli — who played a role in numerous major investigations, including the "Son of Sam" case — died Wednesday at the age of 93. A resident of Greenport, Borrelli had battled leukemia over the past year, Hines said.

"A great person, a great cop, a great legacy," Bratton said. "You don't get better than that."

Born in Brooklyn on July 31, 1931, Borrelli played baseball as a first baseman for the minor league team of what was then the New York Giants, Hines said. It was during a baseball road trip that he met Frances Dicarlo, the woman who would become his wife, and decided he needed a more steady job.

After taking the police exam, Borrelli was sworn in as an officer with the NYPD in May 1959 and rose quickly through the ranks, ultimately becoming chief of detectives in 1989, recalled Hines.

Earlier, while Borrelli was assigned to the detective bureau in Queens, he took a pivotal role in the investigation that led to the arrest of David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer. It turned out that Berkowitz had sent anonymous letters to Borelli.

Berkowitz terrorized New York City in 1976 and '77, killing six young people and wounding seven others with a .44-caliber revolver. He called himself "Son of Sam" in notes to police.

"What really got him on the chart was Son of Sam," recalled former NYPD deputy commissioner Stephen Davis. "Sam addressing letters to him."

When Berkowitz was finally caught in August 1977, Borrelli took part in the arrest and had a short conversation with the killer.

"He was a little surprised, because he [Berkowitz] wasn't as sharp as he thought the guy was going to be," Hines remembered Borrelli commenting.

Other major investigations in which Borrelli took part included the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1988 murder of police officer Edward Byrne, the 1994 murder on the Brooklyn Bridge of Jewish student Ari Halberstam and the 1986 incident in Howard Beach where a Black man, Michael Griffith, was fatally struck by a car after being chased by a gang of white men.

One case that deeply impacted Borrelli was the murder of the child known as "Baby Hope," the 4-year-old girl whose body was found dumped in a cooler off the West Side Highway in Manhattan in 1991. 

"He always talked about [Baby Hope] because it really touched him," remembered Hines, who retired as a deputy inspector with the NYPD in 2008. Later investigation in 2013 identified the child as Anjelica Castillo. A relative was charged with her sexual abuse and murder but died before trial. Detectives pooled their money to give the child a burial at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.

Bratton said that after Borrelli retired at the end of 1994, he joined a private investigative firm. He also built a home in Greenport that he used as a base for boating and fishing with his eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Hines said.

Borrelli's wife, Frances, died in 2019. He is survived by four daughters: Laura Cronin, of Kings Park; Roselle Borrelli, of Greenport; Jennifer Borrelli, of Mattituck; and Alyson Hines, also of Kings Park; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A wake will take place Tuesday, 2-8 p.m., at the Horton-Mathie Funeral Home in Greenport. A funeral mass will be Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. Agnes Church in Greenport. Burial will be at St. Agnes Cemetery.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

[email protected]tonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.