Officer Down Memorial Page

For Agent John G. Finiello:

The task of enforcing the liquor laws during prohibition truly was not a coveted position. It was an unpopular law and violated even by some in law enforcement itself. But it was the law. And it had to be enforced.

Noble and proud men, like John Finiello, took-up the badge and armed himself to enforce this law. Popular or not. It takes a man to do a job that is both unpopular and almost impossible. John Finiello was that man among many like him.

That he would die enforcing the law makes him a hero. He stood for law and he stood for justice. That is all that matters. Popularity all to be damned. Ridiculous law, perhaps, but legislation is the answer. Not the slaying of law officers.

John Finiello's death is a stain on the collar of all who took a drink during the prohibition. The drink that anyone of might have lifted to his lips was made possible by the individual who shot down John Finiello. Reason if you will, but it is true.

John Finiello surely was not ignorant of this mind-set. He might even have harbored a basic thought that the prohibition might not endure. He was, by all accounts, simply doing a job. Doing what he was paid to do. For this we owe him a debt of gratitude far deeper than any thoughts about whether prohibition was right or wrong.

To him I render a final salute.

Cpl. Ralph D. Fiorenza (Ret.)
Pennsylvania State Police
March 7, 2009

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