2 men, including former Town of Lloyd cop, shot to death in Newburgh

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CITY OF NEWBURGH — A former Town of Lloyd police officer and another man died in an empty house Thursday night, gunned down in a mysterious killing on a quiet block.

Newburgh police Chief Michael Ferrara said officers were investigating a missing person report at about 10:30 p.m. when they discovered the men's bodies inside the house at 12 Liberty St. in the Washington Heights neighborhood.

The men's deaths mark the eighth and ninth homicides of 2010 — Newburgh's deadliest year in more than a decade.

According to numerous law enforcement sources, one of the victims was Francis Piscopo, 49, a former police sergeant in the Town of Lloyd. He left the department in August 1990, according to Record archives, and was arrested in December of that year for allegedly stealing $1,790 worth of baseball gloves and a chain saw from Lloyd police.

Piscopo was arrested in 2004 and accused of selling marijuana at a Long Island hotel, and charged with a felony count of intimidating a witness during a 2005 drug network bust, according to Record and Poughkeepsie Journal achives.

Ferrara would release no information about the men or the person who reported them missing but said police were looking for a specific car and had an idea where to find it.

An officer spotted the empty car parked on Liberty Street, just north of Carson Avenue. The doors of the house were open, and the officer discovered the men inside.

"It's too early in the investigation to say what happened or why it happened," Ferrara said Friday.

Neighbors said the white-painted house had been empty for months, maybe more than a year. Few had seen anyone enter or leave the two-story brick building, although it was kept in good shape.

Willie Bryant lives around the corner. He said he had taken his garbage out shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday and heard what sounded like a gun shot.

"I just heard a loud pop, and I was like, 'What was that?' but I didn't see anything," Bryant said.

Emonie Rosado, 16, lives across the street from the house. She said she heard three shots about the same time. She didn't look out then but saw the police arrive later.

"When I saw the caution tape I knew something was wrong," she said.

Rosado's grandmother, Mary Walker, stared out from her porch on Friday morning. She's lived on the block for 30 years.

For her, the neighborhood has been an isolated pocket of calm away from the craziness of other parts of the city. She watched as officers guarded the scene across the street.

"Oh, God," she said, "not in my block."

Police officers worked all night and well into Friday, pausing from the investigation for Orange County assistant district attorneys, medical examiners and finally two men from Engel Funeral Home.

A dozen or so people watched as the officers helped carry one body and then another from the house to the back of a black Dodge Caravan.

Police ask anyone with information to call 561-3131.

Adam Bosch and Michael Novinson contributed to this report

dmurphy@th-record.com