Giovanni Galante & Charles Wolf | 9/11 Widowers Update Listeners on Petition Attempting to Bar Mamdani from Ground Zero

Get Ready, Staten Island. The Fairy Hawks are back at SIU-H Community Park next weekend for a four-game series against the Long Island Ducks. Friday, August 7th, first pitches at 7 p.m. Plus, it's kids glow around the bases. Saturday, August 8th, it's a single-admission doubleheader with first pitch at 4 p.m. It's Italian Heritage Night with post-game fireworks. And Sunday, August 9th, first pitches at 1.30 p.m. Plus, kids run the bases. at fairy hawks.com now to lock in your seats. Bruce Blakeman. Did you not work for the Port Authority at one point? I know you did. I was a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for eight years. Eight years is the Port Authority. So this is going to hit close to home for you. We're about to commemorate 25 years. I know you listen to me every day. I am beating this drum. I had Bill Donnie from the Catholic League. He's written a long letter urging Zohran Mamdani not to come 9-11. I brought on survivors, victims, the families. I brought on the guy that started the petition. I'm bringing on another lady. I am on a mission to keep this mayor away. Now, I know I can't do it, and I know the odds are stacked against me. But I also know that... The overwhelming majority, not even the overwhelming majority of 9-11 families, don't want this anti-American mayor there. So I'm not asking you whether you think he'll come or not, or if you were governor, if you would stop him from coming or not, I want, as a guy that worked with a port authority, who lost people that day, I want you to tell me, do you think the mayor should show up? Well, first of all, said, I don't know if you know this or not. But my nephew was murdered on that day. Oh, no. No. Sergeant Tommy Juergens, my sister, Linder's older boy, oldest boy. I'm sorry. 26 years old, Army veteran, volunteer firefighter, New York State Court officer, was giving first aid to a woman who was severely burned in Tower 2 when it collapsed on him. We never got a body or DNA. We only got his sidearm and his badge. So it's very personal to me. I am a family member. And I don't think Zohran Mamdani should go. It's as if, you know, someone's having a wake and they asked you not to go to the wake for personal reasons. You wouldn't go. So, I mean, I don't think he should go. But here's what I'm going to say. If he's hell-bent on going, I think people have a way to respectfully protest that. Turn your back on him. Don't say anything to him. Don't make a ruckus. Be solemn because it is a solemn day. Just turn your back on it. The courageous man that started the petition to keep the mayor away, his wife, Grace, 29 years old, murdered that day. And a friend of his name Charles Wolfe, I think Grace worked a can of Fitzgerald. His friend Charles Wolf, who's a lovely wife, Catherine, was also murdered that day. She worked at Marsh Emma Clennon. So with that said, Giovanni, Charles, welcome to the show. How are you guys today? Good morning. Good morning. Thanks to having me on. You got it. Let me start with you for a second, Giovanni. When you came on this show a couple of weeks ago, and I was humbled, you said you tried to reach out to me when you started this petition, so thank you for that. I think you had about 14,000 signatures. The next day you had about 50, and last I heard you were closer to 90. What is the actual number on the petition right now?

It's 81,952, I believe. And when we spoke, I only had about 1,500,000. You didn't give you enough credit to yourself. Wow. Your listeners and the support that I've gotten, they love you. They love this petition. I have to say, I called you back, and I said, I want to come on the show, and I want to thank everyone that sent me emails, everyone that signed a petition, and everyone that's sharing it. They've been great. I've got to say, your audience is spectacular. Ah, thank you. Well, they're real Americans. Go ahead, I'm sorry. No, no, thank you. They're real Americans, they're patriots, and they love you, and they, you know, they love grace. And, you know, same thing. I've never talked to you before, Charles. This will be the first time. Obviously, my heart goes out to you, and God rest your beautiful wife, Catherine's soul. I'm devastated. I'm going to ask you some of the same questions I asked my friend Giovanni here. Some of them will be a little difficult. I'm warning you now, but take me back to that. Take me back to that. horrible morning coming up on 25 years on 9-11. Where were you? And what were you doing when you figured out that Catherine was not coming home? Well, I live in Lower Manhattan. I live in Greenwich Village, the historic district of Greenwich Village on Bleacher Street. And she had left for work. She, interestingly enough, she did express. The fact that her mind is not at ease that morning. Really? Yes. You know why that was the case? You know why she was referring to? Not then, what I do now. My wife had a tendency to be oppressive. In other words, she could decide to do something and against all odds it would happen. She kind of, well, she actually had a dream. The night that she accepted the position at Marsha McClennon, which was like the two-thirds the way through August, she had a dream. And she told me about the dream, and she wrote it down, and I found that book in January of 2002. And it is... A prophetic dream about the attacks themselves. Oh, my God. I want to go into any more of that, but at this point. But, yeah, she had, she was prescient, I guess. Didn't really know it until after the fact and found this, this book. But she, you know, we live in a small studio apartment. It's a corner of bleaker in Thompson Streets in the village. and uh i had turned off the television so i could get some work done because i work from home and she said would you mind turning the tv back on please my mind is not at ease i had never heard her say that and we'd been together for thirteen years

So she went to work, and I happened to be a pilot, just a private pilot, not an airline or a jet pilot, just a private, you know, four-seater, six-seater propeller plane. And I know I've been to a lot of air shows and so forth in my years, and I heard the plane fly over. And instantly I knew it was a twin-engine plane at full throttle. And then I heard it hit the building, but I didn't know what it hit the building because I faced the other direction. my little balcony faces uptown rather than downtown. But it flew directly over our building. And then I ran down into the street and saw the gash in the building and it all went from there. I ended up in calling the FBI to tell them that was no accident because I knew it was deliberate. And so that's what happened that morning. Did you have a chance? I know, for example, Howard Lutnick, who's become a friend of mine, works with President Trump. His brother was able to make a phone call before he died that day in that building. The plane hit, well, first of all, I know Howard very well, and he and his sister and I did a lot of post-9-11 work. Oh, great. But the plane hit Catherine's office directly at 450 miles an hour. So she never knew what was coming, and she never knew it happened because she and all the others right in her office area were instantaneously vaporized, which I am glad she didn't suffer. Oh, of course, absolutely. This is Charles Wolfe who lost his wife, Catherine, and Giovanni Galante, who had the courage to start this position. petition i should say one more thing sure before you go uh the governor or the uh the man who's running for governor i forgot it Bruce Blakeman Bruce Blakeman he he gave a he gave a piece of advice and i wanted to say that i've already done that because Zohran Mamdani showed up at the uh visitation of uh Charles III the third back in late april And the mayor was going around kind of interrupting conversations and so forth. And I didn't like that. So when he came over to me, My hands were in my pockets, and I turned my back to them. Good for you. Good for you. Well, we'll get back to you, Charles. We're not done yet with you just yet. But Giovanni, you said you went from 14,000 signatures, actually 1,400 on your petition to better than 80,000 now. Do you have any more confidence today than we spoke two weeks ago that maybe just maybe something is getting through to this moron this mayor? Or do you feel like, while, yes, my audience has been great and New Yorkers have been great? That'll still be there. And maybe you have to do what Bruce Blakeman said, and Charles just said, just turn your back on this creep. Well, I want to say.

And her father, Doug Miller, was murdered that day, too. He was a firefighter. Anybody who died that day was murdered. That's the bottom line. So she lost her dad that day. She was six years old. And I heard a news clipping about a week ago. And she said that she was okay with the mayor coming. So long story short, she was on this show a couple days ago. And I said, you know, Liz, and I love you. Don't get me wrong. I love you. I felt horrible for you. But this mayor hangs out with people. Like he's friends with them. He doesn't know him. He's friends with people. who thought your father, who thinks your father, deserve to die. That's right. Sounds rough, right? They think your father deserved to die. Do you know, as sweet as she was, she was on for 15 minutes, I couldn't sway her to go the other way. She thinks that the mayor. Now, look, she's a Democrat, and she would have voted for Mumdney. She admits that she lives on Long Island. But are you shocked, Charles, when you hear any family member of a 9-11 victim okay with the mayor showing up? Everyone has their opinion. Some people have an opinion such as that because they aren't fully informed. Some other people just have a way of reasoning that doesn't want to interfere. I'm not going to put the lady down. I mean, she lost her dad. I would, geez, I'd hate to have lost my dad at six years old. Wouldn't really know who he was. You know, everybody has their viewpoint, and I don't agree with it at all. I have my own reasoning for it, and it's basically that Zohran Mamdani is essentially an Islamist. I have no problem with Islam as a religion, but don't force it on me, and don't force its rules on me. I send church at the Cathedral, St. John the Divine, and I have been asked, I'm a reader there, and I was asked to read the Koran a couple of times for the morning service. And it was harmless, very good things. But I believe what Charles III said in his speech to Congress this last spring, okay, is that the... Sharia law, which comes along when you want to take over a country. Now, you see, being Muslim in your own private sense is fine, but it's when they start to apply Sharia law, which controls you. And there's a reason why the First Amendment says there shall be no establishment of religion. It doesn't prevent religion. It means that everyone has the right to exercise their own private practice of religion. So that's fine. But when you want to take over a country, when you want to, you want to oppress people.

That's a whole different situation. I agree. So that's the way I see it. Oh, you're right. You're right on the money. I got about three minutes to go. I want to get one more from both of you. Giovanni, again, those signatures went up 80,000 fold for folks are listening right now that are victims' families or New Yorkers in general as we move closer and closer to this day. What is your message to them this morning? Well, if they want to go sign the petition, they can look it up. under the change.org. And if they can't find it, they can email me and I would send it to them. Under the change.org, it's under the memory of those lost in September 11th with dignity. They can look it up or they can email me at WTC1-911.01 at AOL. And I love them all and I appreciate all their feedback. Well, thank you. They love you too. Now, your wife, of course, Grace, God rest of soul, was 29 years old. I don't know how old Catherine was, Charles, but I'm going to ask you to do something that Giovanni did for me, which was hard on him, but he got through it. And that is, if you had a chance to visit heaven this morning, and have one more conversation with Catherine. What would you say to her? I love you. I would hug her, and I would tell her I love her, but she already knows that, but I would tell her I love her. And let's say it was the 30 second interchange. And I would just tell her I love her and that when my life ends, I look forward to being with her again. How old was Catherine on that day, Josh? 40. She had just turned 40. Oh, my God. Listen, both of you guys are great men. You're courageous. And I love you guys. I really do love you. And New York loves you. America loves you. And I'm here for you. And I will do whatever I can in my power to help you do whatever you want to do and accomplish. Certainly again, like I said, Giovanni, I spoke to Bruce Blakeman last night. We're going to go together. on the eighth to be there for you guys. But anything else you guys ever need, reach out to me. And God bless you both. You're great patriots. And I'm really sorry for what you guys have had to go through the last 25 years. I really am. Your word touched my heart. Thank you, Charles. You're quite a guy yourself, buddy. Thank you. You're sweet man. You too, Giovanni. I love you both. Thank you so much. That is Giovanni Galante and Charles Wolfe. Giovanni lost his 29-year-old wife, Grace, on that day, and Charles lost his 40-year-old wife, Catherine, on that day. Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning. You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning, weekday mornings at six. If you like the podcast, share it with your friends, and listen anytime at wabcradio.com and download the Wabc Radio app. Hit that subscribe button on all major podcast platforms. Plus, follow WABC on social, on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X. See you next time for a new episode, so you never have to wonder. What the...

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