This past Friday, Luigi Carrubba, the chief officer of New Dorp’s 122nd Precinct, was honored in an NYPD promotion ceremony in Manhattan among a hundred other NYPD members. Carrubba, 53, holds over a quarter-century of service experience with NYPD, including 11 years as a captain. His successful stint earned him the promotion to the respected position of deputy inspector, a badge of recognition he donned with pride.
On his promotion, Carrubba expressed his gratitude, noting the immense satisfaction of being recognized for the rigorous demands and challenges attached with the job. The resident of Eltingville, before finding his calling in NYPD, was engaged in retail loss prevention management. However, in his late twenties, Carrubba traded his former career path and began his journey with the NYPD.
As years passed, Carrubba carved an illustrious career for himself, moving up hierarchically and serving across various precincts in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Before being appointed as the commanding officer of the 122nd Precinct in December 2023, he also performed the duties of an executive officer in several Staten Island precincts.
The precinct under his command witnessed a significant diminishing of crime rate. As per Carrubba’s data, from the starting of the year until the day before the ceremony, there was a noteworthy 18% decrease in the crime rate, mirroring an ongoing trend of reduction, as the precinct saw a 4% dip in the criminal activity in 2024 as compared to 2023.
Carrubba welcomed this dip in crime rates, emphasizing the hard work put in by the officers and staff. He acknowledged the precinct’s past struggle with property crimes and expressed his satisfaction at the significant improvements made.
Alongside Carrubba, another individual from Staten Island was promoted at the ceremony, Daniel Del Pino, who, unlike Carrubba, comes from a long lineage of NYPD service. The 36-year-old was promoted to the rank of detective after a career spanning nearly 15 years with the NYPD. He currently performs his duties in Brooklyn under the chief of special operations.
Descending from a family of NYPD servicemen, Daniel’s grandfather and uncle both decked the NYPD uniform, the former being the late Edward Del Pino. In a moment of heroism back in July 1986, Edward managed to subdue a swordsman on the Staten Island Ferry, responsible for two deaths and nine injuries, despite being retired at the time.
On being given the honor, Daniel expressed his humility, being promoted after serving a lineage of honorable servicemen. In an earlier instance in March 2021, he was among the four officers credited with a life-saving rescue of an infant girl.
At the time, he was serving in the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, fortuitously only two blocks away from the emergency on Bowen Street in Clifton.
As he reached the scene of the emergency, he saw another officer performing chest compressions on the baby. He took the lead and began another round of compressions, prompting the baby’s father to do ‘rescue breaths’, which led to the successful resuscitation of the child.
The lifesaving event was undeniably the pinnacle of Daniel’s career. Following that was his promotion, which according to him was an equally monumental moment.
At the same ceremony, 36-year-old Valerie Matteo was promoted to the rank of detective second grade after serving for over 13 years in NYPD. Like Daniel, she hails from Great Kills and has been safeguarding the community since 2012. She spent the last eight years as part of the Special Victims Squad.
In a remarkable case during her tenure, Matteo was one of the first NYPD officers to deploy Narcan, a nasal spray to reverse opioid overdoses, thereby saving a life. The incident took place in May 2014, on the day the NYPD started distributing Narcan.
They were called to Merrill Avenue in Bulls Head, where they found a 27-year-old man unconscious, surrounded by pills. Despite being new to the Narcan, Matteo and her colleague successfully administered it, reviving the man.
Matteo feels a sense of honor to be recognized and takes pride in serving Staten Island faithfully. Endowed with a sense of purpose, her mission lies in protecting families and ensuring justice for survivors of adversity.