Nearly a quarter-century after his father and uncle were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, an NYPD officer with a storied family legacy earned a new badge Monday, rising to the rank of sergeant.
Joseph Vigiano Jr., 33, has built his own career in the footsteps of his father, decorated NYPD Emergency Service Unit Detective Joseph Vigiano Sr., who was one of the first responders who raced into the World Trade Center as the terror attacks unfolded and never returned.
“[My dad] was brave. There’s countless stories of his heroism,” Vigiano Jr. said, standing with his 4-year-old son, Joey, close at his side — a little boy who already dreams of someday flying police helicopters.
“My dad loved this job, and I’ve never heard anyone say that he didn’t like the work and doing the type of work that he did,” he said. “And I found that I also enjoy the career as well. It’s a great, fulfilling, rewarding career, and I work with great people.”
Before his promotion, Vigiano Jr. was most recently serving with ESU Truck 7. Since becoming a detective, he had proudly carried his father’s shield number, 4511, keeping a deeply personal piece of NYPD history with him on the job.
At the promotion ceremony inside 1 Police Plaza, Commissioner Jessica Tisch honored that legacy as Vigiano joined 99 other NYPD members elevated to sergeant.
“After an unthinkable loss, the Vigiano family chose service again and again,” Tisch said. “They knew its cost more intimately than almost any family could, and still they continued to answer the call.”
The elder Vigiano’s record of bravery stretched well beyond 9/11. During his NYPD career, he survived two shootings in the line of duty and received the American Legion Police Post No. 460 Medal for Valor, according to the Detectives’ Endowment Association.
The newly minted sergeant also remembered his dad as a family man with a sense of humor.
“I remember going to the Boy Scouts with him, sporting events, camping trips,” Vigiano said. “He liked to play jokes, and he was a member of our community. He was a volunteer firefighter.”
Vigiano is also following in the footsteps of his uncle, John T. Vigiano II, of FDNY Ladder 132, who lost his life in the South Tower.
“I remember going over to their house for picnics with my family and having a good childhood,” he said.
He said both men, who gave their lives to save others, would be “proud” of his achievement.
Vigiano also has blue blood on the other side of his family — his mother worked in Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct.
“Holidays, barbecues, birthdays, we spent with them, and I wanted to be part of that camaraderie,” he said.
Vigiano will now attend sergeant school at the NYPD academy before being assigned to a command. He said it’s “bittersweet” to leave his Truck 7 family.
His wife Jenny, who also stood by his side, said it’s “such an honor” to see her husband recognized for “doing what he loves the most.”
“He’s like the hardest worker I know, and just puts everything he has into this job,” Jenny said.
