VITO DELEO: `Never
Surrender'
Vito
DeLeo was in court in March 1994 when four defendants
were convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade
Center.
A trade center mechanic who had grudgingly worn a
hearing aid since the explosion, Mr. DeLeo had been
fixated by the trial. He plastered his office with
clippings about the case. When the verdict came, he
rushed to meet his wife, Sally Ann, to have a vodka on
the rocks in celebration, he said in an interview with
The New York Times at the time.
"I had chills coming down my body when I heard it," he
said. "For my colleagues who are deceased: `We can't
bring you back, but I hope now that your souls will rest
in peace. Never surrender.' "
Mr. DeLeo, 42, who was 150 feet from the explosion in
1993, was partly deafened by the blast. Nonetheless, he
helped dozens of people escape from the building, said
his cousin Helen Potenzano. Witnesses told the family
that Mr. DeLeo, a father of two, was back at it again on
Sept. 11. "He was a hero twice," Ms. Potenzano said.
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