WR: Now I have to go through a hearing in front of a judge and try to get my operating license back, and my rigging license. The rigging license is now expired. I never renewed. They suspended the crane. The crane license had nothing to do with that day. Why didn’t they suspend my driver’s license because I drove to the job? It’s the same right and privilege. They want to take away my rigging license, I understand it because that was what was going on that day. I wasn’t operating the crane. The operating license was not needed by city requirements.

NYC: What happens if the Department of Buildings doesn’t budge?

WR: I’ll keep fighting.

NYC: How do you cope with everything that’s happened?

WR: I’m blessed. I have a great wife and kids and surrounding family. My friends have been calling me and telling me not to give up, keep your chin up. That day [of my acquittal], I was offered three jobs. They were jobs that were going to be offered beforehand, but I didn’t have my licenses.

NYC: Did they assume that since you were acquitted you could go right back to work?

WR: Immediately. So did I! I was like, “Okay, I can go to the union hall, and go back on a crane.” And, bang! Monday morning, there was the letter. Yeah, just like when they knocked on my door after being locked up. Registered mail, bang! Once again, another slap-down. I feel my only help will come through the industry.

NYC: You said it’s been difficult to get your life back. What’s the road there?

WR: To be able to have my license back is a start. Then, I can start feeling like I’m contributing to my profession. It’s hard to be a crane operator without a license. I don’t even know if I want it, it’s just the point of not being able to have it now. It’s weird. It’s hard to explain.

NYC: You’re clearly not afraid of heights.

WR: [Laughs] Not at all. I feel safer up there than I do downstairs. I grew up in a crane yard, through DeFilippis Crane Service. That was my uncle and my father. When I was a kid, the yard was in Flushing Airport in College Point, and I used to climb up the booms in the backyard and watch the planes take off and land.

NYC: Do you have a message for the construction community or the city?

WR: I want to thank the support of the industry. I felt somewhat like the Verizon commercial when the guy has all the people behind him. “Do you hear me now?” I had a lot of support in the industry, which was very important. I hope there’s more interaction between the city agencies and the men actually doing the work. More of a realization that what we do every day should not be taken for granted, and the tower crane industry and all of its workers are an underappreciated group of dedicated, hardworking and safe workers.

– Interview by Adam Klasfeld