Richard M. Caggiano: Prankster and
Big Brother
Richard
M. Caggiano used to call his grandmother, pretending to
be a pizza deliverer, or a surveyor, or a telephone
solicitor. And she fell for the prank over and over and
over again.
"He loved to play tricks on his grandmother," said his
mother, Veronica Caggiano.
"'Is that you, Richard? Is that you again?'" she would
say after a while. He would change his voice so it was
always hard for her to tell. He had a great sense of
humor."
Mr. Caggiano, 25, a native of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was
a stock options trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, his first
big job, where he had worked for about nine months before
the attack.
"He was very excited because this was going to be the
beginning of his career," his mother said.
"He was learning the business. It was his all-time
goal to work in the financial sector."
Mr. Caggiano was proud of his blue-collar roots. He
lived at home in Flatbush with his mother; his father,
Albert, a city worker; and a younger brother, Michael,
23.
The two brothers were close. They learned from one
another. The older brother taught the younger how to
throw a baseball, how to present himself to the world,
how to be patient and calm.
Mr. Caggiano got to watch his younger brother grow
into a man, the result of his generous advice, said
Michael Caggiano, who wished that his brother could have
been here for his 23rd birthday on Aug. 25.
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