Son of ATF agent shot in pharmacy holdup an NYPD recruit

The son of hero federal agent John Capano is one of the newest recruits of the New York City Police Department, officials said Wednesday.

Capano, of Massapequa, a 23-year veteran of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was accidentally shot to death Dec. 31, 2011, while struggling to stop a robbery of a Seaford pharmacy.

Though based on Long Island, Capano had gone on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was 53.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, at a swearing-in ceremony at Colden Auditorium at Queens College. said Capano's son, John, is in the new recruit class.

Officials declined to allow Capano to be interviewed.

In all, de Blasio said the new class of 944 is diverse, including 107 who were born outside the United States, come from 56 countries and speak 44 languages, including Cossack, Dari and Macedonian. Dari is a Persian dialect. Police Commissioner William Bratton said the average age is 26 and a number of recruits have served in the military.

The recruits will undergo six months of training before being assigned to police units.

Agent Capano was killed by a bullet fired by retired Nassau County Police Officer Christopher Geraghty, according to a report on the incident by the Nassau County district attorney's office.

The report said Geraghty and off-duty New York City police officer Joseph Arbia went to Charlie's Family pharmacy just as Capano struggled with robbery suspect James McGoey.

In the chaotic scene that ensued, Arbia, of Seaford, fatally shot McGoey, and Geraghty, of Woodbury, shot Capano, the report said.

When the district attorney's report was issued, the head of the ATF in New York, Joseph Ararumo, said, "The fact remains that the responsibility for the tragic events that occurred on Dec. 31, 2011, lies with a career criminal who chose to resume a life of crime."

McGoey, of Hampton Bays, had been released from prison in August 2011 after serving 20 years for robbing pharmacies, state records show.

Capano, a regular customer of the Seaford pharmacy, had gone there to fill a prescription for his father.