Hello again.

A warm welcome back to Heroes Behind the Badge, brought to you

by Citizens Behind the Badge.

I'm your host, Dennis Collins, joined by Bill Erth and Craig Floyd.

In part one of our conversation with Les Vitale, we heard the devastating

story of his brother Harold, a dedicated 14 year veteran of the  Saugus

Police Department, whose life was tragically cut short on June 18th.

1985 when a 19-year-old suspect trapped his arm in a car window

and dragged him to his death.

We learned how the justice system failed the Vitali family when Harold's killer

received only a manslaughter conviction and served less than 10 years in prison.

But today, I. We're turning to a different chapter in their story.

One of Healing Purpose and Legacy.

Les is about to share how a powerful experience at National Police Week in

Washington DC became the catalyst for an extraordinary family mission that

has now spanned nearly four decades.

You'll hear how the Vitali family has raised over a million dollars

through their Memorial Foundation and supported countless families of

fallen officers and also insured.

That Harold's sacrifice and the sacrifices of other officers are never forgotten.

This is a story about transforming grief into purpose and about what it

truly means to live with Vitale pride.

Let's rejoin our conversation with Les Vitale.

Um, and let's talk about the good part of the story, though.

It, it started maybe I'm thinking, 1986, uh, during National Police Week.

Uh, I believe your family came to Washington, DC to honor the memory

of Harold, to honor all the fallen officers that were being, uh, paid

tribute to during National Police Week.

Um, tell me about that.

Was that, uh, maybe the seed that started you on this, uh, very positive

journey that you've been on ever since?

It was definitely the seed.

Um, I can still recall landing in DC coming off the plane and we were told

when we signed up, all 13 of us went.

Uh, when we signed up, we get off the plane.

What we did not expect at the airport was, uh, full dress,

police uniforms formed a line from coming off the plane off the gate.

To buses that were waiting for us because we were deer in the headlights.

We had no idea we were gonna rent a car, but we kept being told by the

concerns of police survivors group, which had reached out to us, just

show up, get off the plane, and everything will be taken care of.

We didn't really understand what that meant, and we're figuring

we gotta go get luggage at the luggage, carousel, et cetera.

They told us to go straight to the buses.

We had an escort on each arm on both sides.

My entire family.

It was just, I still feel it right now.

The, the, the emotion, the how impressed we were that somebody cared and it was

like, angels came down and lifted us up by, by the arms and, you know, walked

us out of the airport to the buses and they said, we have your luggage.

Your luggage will follow you, and it'll be there in the hotel.

When we got to the hotel and checked in, Susie Sawyer, executive director of

concerns of police survivors was there and there was a lot of us, and we were

the largest family, I guess, that had showed up at, AT registered to sign up.

And when we walked in, we walked in as a group and I can still see it and feel it.

The registration team was there and Susie Sawyer said, holy

shit, that must be the vitalis.

And we're like.

We're looking around.

Like what?

So she came around the table, she hugged every one of us and she

goes, oh my God, this is the Boston family and uh, welcome to dc.

And, uh, we're like, what?

She says, your registration's all set.

The luggage came in.

We had escorts to the, to the reception desk, up to our rooms.

Everything was taken care of.

They gave us an itinerary from that moment that week, everything.

Everything was taken care of.

Everywhere we went was special.

And my brothers and I sat back and my sisters and were

like, how does this happen?

Like, the orchestration to pull this off is incredible.

And then we were so moved by it as we sat around and we, we, we went to

the, the vigil and the, and placing the, the, the rows and the shield

and, you know, we lived through all that, that emotion and trauma.

Every time we had a time, a chance to sit back and talk as a family

about what we were going through.

We talked about organizations like this.

People need to understand are so valuable to a person who's a

victim or a survivor of anything.

And you, you know, whether it's people struggl with cancer or people

you know, suffer the loss of a loved one from a murder or whatever,

you know, who's gonna pick you up?

Who's gonna show you the way, because you're really not capable at that point,

mentally and emotionally of doing it.

That experience, after we get back, we sat around and we talked about

we need to do something to give back and we should do it in Harold's name.

My sister, Laura Eileen was part of the inspiration of that so difficult for

her with her kids, her young kids there, and we talked to her constantly about

how is she doing and what did she want.

I. And it was clear to us, crystal clear that we could do something.

We could turn this around and take something so negative and

try to do something somewhat positive as a source of healing.

I. Whether we started to just brainstorm it and when we went

back, we talked to friends back home and friends had suggested to

us different things we could do.

Well, wow, why don't you run a road race?

Why don't you do all these things?

They were like, well, wait a minute.

We're the victims.

We're the family.

And that's, that's a lot of work.

But it didn't take us long to figure out that the work was worth the

effort, that if we didn't do the work, it sort of occurred to us that.

Nobody else might do the work and that, how do we always remember Harold

and make sure he is never forgotten?

We have to take some of the responsibility for that.

And we created as, as, as Greg knows he's been involved with this, we

decided to create a. We ran a road race and then that was successful.

And then we ran a golf tournament because my sister, Laura Eileen, had

participated in one as a volunteer for another line of duty death.

And she was so impressed by what they did that they raised money and then they gave

the money back to people that needed it.

So we just thought maybe we could do this too.

And that's where the idea, the inspiration was born.

And then lo and behold, the town stepped up and decided they were

going to build a memorial to Harold, which Craig you were a part of.

That when that happened, we, we sat back as a family and

we just said, you know what?

We did the right thing.

We, we can never forget.

From this point forward, we will do everything we can every year as

anniversary to never, ever forget.

So Les, I just wanna jump in and kind of revisit what you just

said about, you know, arriving at Reagan International Airport.

There, there is a literal, literal sea of cops, and they're

all in their dress uniforms.

They're standing at the gate as you exit the plane.

They just lined the airport and when you go outside, there is bus, after

bus, after bus, and there's thousands, I don't know about thousands, but

there's hundreds, thousands of motorcycle cops and maybe thousands.

It's just.

Endless as far as the eye can see are motorcycle cops, and you all get

on these buses and the motorcycle cops escort you to the hotels.

It's one of the most awe inspiring and inspirational things that

I've ever been a part of.

We were doing a documentary film called Heroes Behind the Badge that followed some

of these families and we followed them off the airplane and, and they experienced

precisely what you were just discussing.

And then it goes to all of the events at, uh, the National Law Enforcement

Memorial, and all of the things that Craig and his team at the Memorial did.

And.

I, you know, I wanna ask you this question.

It was up until that point in time, and maybe even since then, has

there ever been something that just absolutely blew you away like that?

Never, yeah.

It's just incredible.

Never.

Watching the, the World Trade Center, watching the rally of the American

people and the first responders.

Um, was police week on steroids it to, to watch how

people came from everywhere, uniformed officers, police, fire that were alive to

reach out to the people, to the victims, to the families to try to find a way to.

Provide some, provide some counseling, some courage, a shoulder to lean on.

It's the most powerful, the most powerful thing that I've ever

experienced in, in, in my life.

I, it is just, it.

It's like yesterday I walked off that plane and.

I still can see my sister-in-law ahead of us with her young kids

in tow, and I've got my, I have a young daughter at the time who was,

who was a baby, she's an infant.

So we have a carriage and you know, there we are, there's 13 of us

and they had us all figured out.

It's like, how did they know we get off the plane that it was us and who we were.

It wasn't a chartered plane with all kinds of survivors on it.

It was a plane out of Boston, Logan International Airport, that

somehow they figured out we were the ones and what flight it was

and they were gonna be there.

And it was amazing.

As we're walking through other people from other parts of the country coming

off on different airlines coming out, and that wall right through Reagan, all

the way out to the sidewalk was a, was a, was a wall of safety and security.

We felt like.

There were loving arms around us all.

It was just, it was just indescribable.

Yeah.

It's just, uh, so awe inspiring and amazing.

And, and Craig knows this story and, and as much as it touched and, and

changed you by experiencing that.

I, I had gotten to a point in my law enforcement career where I

was just completely burnt out.

I was done.

I, I hated everything.

I hated the job.

My whole mentality was wrong.

And I went to the memorial for the first time during police week, and

I was just so touched and so in awe.

Of, of what went on and you've got 30, 40,000 cops from all over the

United States and, and everybody, the honor and the, the memorial, the

memories and, and it was just, that changed my whole career after that.

It was just amazing.

I remember you told me Bill, uh, once that, you know, when you went to

Washington, uh, and were surrounded by tens of thousands of other law

enforcement professionals and, and met the surviving family members

of the Fallen I. You, you said it reminded you of why you became a cop.

Uh, these are the best of the best in the profession.

Uh, the people that care enough every year to come to Washington DC to

be part of National Police Week, to show their support for the surviving

family members and colleagues of officers killed in the line of duty.

And I've never forgotten that.

I mean, I, I realized when you sat down and told me that here you are

a, a grizzled old cop, that that's tougher than, than most, and.

You had a softer side, uh, when you came to police week, you realized that

this is why I became a police officer.

And it helped you because we've had other interviews on this podcast where

people have told us about the traumatic events that every officer goes through

in their careers and how it hardens them and, and makes them, uh, in a

sense uncaring, um, and unempathetic.

Uh.

Right, because they can't appreciate, you know, uh, a feeling for others

at that moment in time because of all the, the terrible things they've,

uh, experienced in their career.

So police Week does make a difference for the family.

As well as for the officers and I, I would encourage any officer, any family member

of the fallen, any citizen supporter.

If you've never been to Washington DC for National Police Week, you need

to go at least once and experience it because it's gonna have a

positive impact on you and your life.

Um, and Les, um.

Every year, I, I, this past, uh, August, I attended your golf tournament that you

put on every year to help raise money for concerns of police survivors for the

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, even for Citizens behind the Badge.

You've been very generous to us as well.

Um, and this was the 30th year.

That golf tournament, uh, uh, went on and you all had, I don't know how many

dozens of surviving family members there, not just of Harold Vitali, but

of, uh, eight or nine other fallen heroes that you honor each year.

It's always different.

Unfortunately, there seems to always be a, a local death or two, uh, that you

will bring their families to your event to let them know that, um, you care

about them and that we'll never forget.

Um, tell us about that, uh, experience.

Um, Johnny Castro was there this year, a Philadelphia officer who actually

did a portrait of Harold and many other officers, and I think we have

a copy of that, that we'll, we'll show with this podcast, but tell me

what that golf tournament has met and being able to bring these other

surviving family members together.

Yeah, sure.

It, it, you know, I need to go back to the beginning and, and, you know, what

was the inspiration and motivation to start, you know, I talked to a few of you.

Folks before we started this interview, some of us are golfers, um, and

several of my brothers are, but, um, you know, my sister-in-law had gone

to a, uh, line of duty death memorial golf tournament as a volunteer.

She was getting very involved with cops.

She joined the, the Massachusetts chapter.

She was on their board.

Um, she stayed very connected to the national scene with Susie Sawyer and

the team, and she started to see all these different events and activities.

That she got involved with and she continued to stay involved

with for quite some time.

And I think she realized that those were a sense of source of healing for her.

Um, and when she came back from one of the tournaments, she talked about what a great

time that she had and we could see that she was happy, which is what we wanted.

And she knew we were golfers and you know, she kind of ran up the flagpole and said.

We've been thinking about doing things and giving back and helping out like

Susie and concerns the police survivor.

You know, you guys golf, what do you think about running a golf tournament?

So we sat around and we said, you know what?

We probably could do it.

Um, so I think it was 1993 or four, we ended up, we did a

road race for one or two years.

Those were pretty good.

We raised a few thousand bucks.

We gave out scholarship money with it, and then we did the golf tournament.

But we talked about.

If we do this, why are we doing it?

And what are we gonna do if we have any success with it?

So we talked about, um, we wanted to be financially successful because

we wanted to give back so other people could have the experience

that we had because it takes money.

It costs money.

We, we thought about how, how much the cost and consequence of the

undertaking the police week must be.

How does all this happen?

So if we could raise a few bucks and give it back as our

thanks, then that would be great.

So we launched it.

We have a lot of buddies, a lot of friends.

Uh, my brother Dick and I, as, as Craig knows, have been in a business

successful business for a while.

Uh, we had a lot of clients and once we pulled it together, they knew our story.

They all signed on and said we'd love to help you out.

And all of a sudden the golf tournament was born.

So the first year we did it, you know, we didn't charge a lot

of money and we were sold out.

And then somehow, some way we raised a couple of bucks and we

gave out a couple of scholarships, a couple of thousand dollars.

So high school students, right?

High school students.

1992, 93 I think was the, the inaugural.

And, uh, I think we gave out two, $250 scholarships with

some of the net proceeds.

The next year we did it, we probably doubled what we did, and after four or

five years, we raised the scholarships to $500 and then we added a couple,

we had a couple of primary schools, school, my brothers and I all, and

my sisters all went to, and then a local school in the saga area.

So we added schools.

We added dollar value.

In our history we've given out, um, I don't have the exact number,

but it's close to 200 scholarships over all these years, totaling

over $200,000 and the scholarships.

Now, last year I think we gave out six scholarships of a thousand dollars each.

Uh, some years it's been as money as seven, uh, probably no less than five.

Uh, and then we turn around and we support.

Concerns of police survivors.

We can support the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial and other

organizations that are for police.

And the, the tournament has become a source of healing on it because

you, as I say to people, you know, you, you, you never overcome this.

I told you earlier, I'm telling you the story of June 18th,

1985 like it was yesterday.

It's that vivid.

So you never forget that, but.

How do you overcome it?

How do you heal?

How do you deal with the emotion?

Doing something positive has been the source of that healing of that solution.

So we've done an unbelievable job at the golf tournament to the point that

we've raised well over a million dollars.

We've given out God six or $700,000 over the years.

I mean.

You know, it, it, some of the things we do, we scratch our head and we say, how

did we do this this long and this well.

But we have a village of people that apparently thought about and cared

about Vitale pride, which I know would make my brother Harold proud

is that, you know, we, we wanted to carry on and, and do it with a sense

of pride and a sense of purpose.

And while we do it and we touch other people.

It was at the golf tournament and Johnny Castro painted the portraits, and eight

or nine other families came and we gave them portraits of their loved ones.

What that feels like for my sister-in-law, for myself, for my brothers, feels

so good to see the joy in their face.

And we know that they hurt like we hurt, but you realize that they need it because

nobody should forget their loved one.

And that night in August.

We get a chance to remember nine families in the room stood up and

gave a standing ovation to every one of those surviving families.

You know, I still get goosebumps when that happens.

And it's just, it's a, it's an awesome thing.

And every one of those families, usually when an officer goes down the line of

duty, there's usually a memorial fund that's set up every time it happens.

Our memorial fund makes a donation to the family, a private donation,

and lets them know and understand.

We stood in their shoes.

We're here to help.

Call us if you need us.

And those people have become, from the Massachusetts area in

particular, have become our friends and they attend the tournament.

And it's just, it's gotten every now and then, we think it could

have an end, a shelf life ending.

It continues on and it is just, it's, it's mind blowing.

I'll, um, I'm gonna turn things over to Bill, uh, for closing comments,

but, uh, I'll share one last story.

Um, Les and his family helped organize a run from Boston to Washington, DC when we

were raising money to build the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, and

we called it the East Coast Memorial Run.

Uh, these were police officers, surviving family members of officers who died other.

Supporters who basically one by one would run six, seven miles and then

trade off to the next guy or gal and then they'd run and they ran 300 miles to

Washington, DC and the other family, uh, that I'll never forget that was involved

and that was, uh, the Griffith family.

Uh, they were honoring their brother, Sherman Griffiths, who was killed in

the line of duty in 1988 in a drug raid.

Um, two tributes came about for those two fallen officers.

They, they raised $60,000 to build the memorial during that run.

But then, uh, about five years after Sherman Griffith's death, um, four

of his brothers who were in other careers, uh, in the middle of their

lives, uh, gave up their other careers and became Boston police officers

so they could carry on the service.

Uh, that Sherman, uh, was doing.

And unfortunately, his service was cut short, so they wanted to carry

on Sherman's service and, uh, that was one of the greatest tributes I've

ever heard of for a fallen officer.

I can't imagine a greater tribute.

And then the Vitali family, uh, here we are.

40 years after Harold's death, and we're still telling the story of Harold Vitali.

Not just how he died, but how he lived, who he was in life, the people he touched.

Um, and, and I think that's an incredible story, uh, an incredible

tribute to a fallen hero.

Uh, and that's why I was so pleased that, uh, you joined us here today Les to, uh,

help us better understand who Harold was.

And what you and your family have done to keep his memory alive.

Uh, uh, I consider that to be a real hero behind the badge.

And I thank you for joining us here today.

Well, it's been an honor for me and I can't thank you enough for reaching

out and giving me this opportunity.

As I said before, it's uh, it's something that I never wanna forget.

Um, Harold's, you know, I've got his portrait probably hanging,

you know, he was 42 at the time.

I was, uh, you know.

10, 11 years younger and I was a deer in the headlights.

And, um, you know, my big brother.

And it's one of those things that as, as I learned how to talk about him, I, the

sense of pride came out and I begin to welcome the opportunity to tell the story.

So the story of Art Tous, you know, we've had, this has all of our

paraphernalia, it's our logo, and people will look at it and say, what is that?

And that's the cue.

Um.

I wear these shirts and these hats everywhere I go and it, it's

amazing to me because a member that was on our golf committee

board said, keep the logo simple.

Just have it be a tourist.

It had a police shield around it, and he said, you know, the, the statue

is just spectacular, and you want people to kind of be struck by it

and make them ask you what it is.

That was the best advice we got in.

Every time I wear one of these shirts and these hats, somebody would say

to me, where is that golf course?

Where is that and what is that?

And, and then I get to tell the story.

And, uh, I do it with a, a great sense of pride and by tally pride,

and I know that every time I do it, I know that Harold's looking down and

he's, he's pretty happy with what his kid, brothers and sisters all did.

Les, one last thing.

Would you, uh, share a website that people can, uh, check into your foundation?

And, uh, thanks for sharing the story.

Give that website and we're gonna let Dennis take this out.

Absolutely.

So it's, um, by telling memorial fund.org and, uh, that's, that's what it is.

Short and sweet, pretty simple.

And, uh.

There's some pictures of some of the road races in the golf tournaments and

certainly stories about my brother.

And, uh, one other thing, I guess while, while we're at that, every

year if we're honoring another officer officers, we don't update the website

often, but every year there is, uh, a line of duty death that's local

and near, near dear to our heart.

We post that story on our website and we usually will make a

donation or create a linkage.

I. To that family's cause.

So the Boston Marathon bombing being a case in point years ago, Sean

Collier, the MIT officer who was killed, uh, during that bombing, Sean's

family has been to our tournament.

We've honored them and uh, we had, uh, a linkage on our site to their site.

They have now gone on and created their own memorial fund doing

an unbelievable, amazing job.

And we've become friends with their family.

So it's a. It's a community.

We all say as survivors, you don't really want to be part of, but you'll

never find a community of survivors stronger than law enforcement survivors

or, or, or first responder survivors.

They're just as tight as tight can be.

And that's something that we're really proud of.

And, uh, these folks deserve to be honored and remembered and never

be forgotten, and we never will.

Les, uh, what can I say that you haven't said?

Uh, except Thank you.

Uh, thank you for sharing this amazing story about your brother Harold.

You and your family are truly vital, ally proud, vital ally, strong.

You know, we rarely get to hear what happens to the families.

Of line of duty deaths.

We hear about the officer.

Obviously we, we, the trials and all that, that gets a lot of publicity, but we

don't hear what the family goes through.

And I don't know that you could have done a better job of vividly describing, uh,

from a family member's point of view.

How it affects everybody.

It's not just the officer and his immediate family.

It's the entire family, and, and we rarely see the dedication

that you and your family devote to the memory of your brother.

Um, I'm sure he is proud of you.

Uh, we are thankful and grateful to you to share this.

It's not always easy, but you've given us insights that we couldn't have had.

Because none of us have ever had this happen to us directly.

Um, you've created, you and your family have created an amazing

legacy, uh, to honor your hero Harold.

So thanks to you and your family for bringing the story.

Thank you for Heroes Behind the Badge.

Everything you, you folks continue to do, uh, because it's gonna take

a village and it takes H, you know, C, B, B, and it takes the National

Law Enforcement memorial and it takes concerns of police survivors.

It takes all of the organizations that rally and make sure

that the world knows you.

You should never forget and.

Well, as you know, that's our mission.

And we'll never forget, we'll never forget.

Um, so this podcast that you've been listening to, I hope you liked it.

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