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Giovanni Galante | 9/11 Widower Launches Petition to Bar Mamdani from 9/11 Memorial Ceremony · Sid & Friends In The Morning

0:00
Speaker 1: Giovanni Galante, and he's the man that started this petition.
0:04
Speaker 1: I'm on board one hundred percent to keep the mayor
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Speaker 1: away from the nine to eleven Commemoration memorial service coming
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Speaker 1: up this year twenty five years. But I got to
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Speaker 1: tell you, Giovanni, first of all, talking to you yesterday,
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Speaker 1: you sound like a lovely guy. Before I get to
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Speaker 1: the mayor and all that stuff, I want to talk
0:23
Speaker 1: about your wife. I want to talk about you. I
0:24
Speaker 1: know it's painful, I'm sorry, but she deserves it, you know.
0:29
Speaker 2: So i'd like to thank you for having me on
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Speaker 2: the show.
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Speaker 1: No, of course, of course, of course, come on. Please,
0:35
Speaker 1: I'm honored to have you. And it breaks my heart
0:37
Speaker 1: when I speak to people like you. Guys. I'm sorry.
0:39
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be the one crying. You should be, but
0:41
Speaker 1: I just I just remember that day so vividly, and
0:45
Speaker 1: if you don't mind, I'm sorry. I know it's painful.
0:47
Speaker 1: Can you just share what that morning was and your
0:50
Speaker 1: lovely wife, God rest her soul where she was when
0:54
Speaker 1: when all this went down.
0:56
Speaker 3: That morning was tough because I worked in the city
0:59
Speaker 3: at the time when it happened and worked for Connad
1:02
Speaker 3: and we had transformed in that building. So my manager
1:06
Speaker 3: had come up to me and said, hey, I know
1:08
Speaker 3: your wife works at the World Trade Center. Something's going on,
1:11
Speaker 3: And obviously it was something tragic, but we thought it
1:16
Speaker 3: was a helicopter or a small plane. We didn't know
1:18
Speaker 3: at the time. So I kind of took the last
1:22
Speaker 3: train that stopped at Fulton. I was there looking for her.
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Speaker 3: Hopefully she had run out of the building or maybe
1:29
Speaker 3: make it in on time. But my wife was always
1:32
Speaker 3: on time, loved her job, loved the people she worked with.
1:37
Speaker 3: She candif Fitzgerald, Wow, you know she was at cafer
1:43
Speaker 3: Candiford Cheryld. She loved everyone she worked with. Everybody respected her.
1:47
Speaker 3: She was top. I mean everybody asked for, everybody wanted
1:51
Speaker 3: her to be around. She was one of those people
1:53
Speaker 3: that really really made an impact. It was a tough
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Speaker 3: day in and out looking for her because she was
2:02
Speaker 3: She was there as well in ninety three and we
2:05
Speaker 3: didn't hear from her in ninety three until after two
2:09
Speaker 3: o'clock in the morning, and obviously we're all worried, me,
2:13
Speaker 3: her sister, her brother, her parents, my parents, my sister,
2:17
Speaker 3: you know everyone. Unfortunately, what happened, buildings came down huge
2:24
Speaker 3: tragedy for us, huge and just how do you go
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Speaker 3: on and think about things and talking about this mayor
2:35
Speaker 3: that you know wants to be there when he supports
2:38
Speaker 3: some of these people's values that really murdered our loved ones.
2:42
Speaker 3: It wasn't you know, this wasn't an accident that was
2:45
Speaker 3: meant to be.
2:45
Speaker 2: No.
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Speaker 1: And I know a lot of the victims, and I
2:50
Speaker 1: think your wife was twenty nine, the beautiful grace. A
2:53
Speaker 1: lot of them were actually able to call or somehow
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Speaker 1: get through to their loved ones to tell them goodbye
2:58
Speaker 1: or oh my god, this is really bad. Did you
3:00
Speaker 1: have a chance to speak at all to your wife
3:02
Speaker 1: that morning that you go to work and that was it?
3:05
Speaker 3: No, my wife, unfortunately wasn't able to reach out. But
3:10
Speaker 3: I have a cousin that lost his wife and she
3:13
Speaker 3: was pregnant at the time, and he got a phone
3:15
Speaker 3: call from her. And you know, most of these kids
3:20
Speaker 3: today that don't understand nine to eleven, they should at
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Speaker 3: least be a requirement to watch the videos, the pictures, yes,
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Speaker 3: the down bites of all the terror that happened that day.
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Speaker 3: Maybe you know, they'll think about who they vote for,
3:34
Speaker 3: they'll think about what's going on in this world. Maybe
3:37
Speaker 3: they can help, you know, still keep this America, the USA.
3:42
Speaker 3: You know, people come here for a reason. We all
3:45
Speaker 3: want to be you know in America doesn't.
3:48
Speaker 1: Feel that way, and no, it doesn't feel that way
3:50
Speaker 1: these days. Last one on grace will move on. How
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Speaker 1: long were you married at the time when nine to
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Speaker 1: eleven happened?
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Speaker 3: I was married in ninety three.
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Speaker 1: So you are myried for eight years?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, eight years. We were together four years before that,
4:06
Speaker 3: which meter we met through a mutual friend at the time.
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Speaker 3: She worked at Beskin Robbins.
4:14
Speaker 1: Oh, I love that place. Was this on Staten Island
4:17
Speaker 1: or were you guys?
4:18
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, stan Islan Moore.
4:20
Speaker 1: Oh that's great Staten Island Mall. That is beautiful. Well listen,
4:24
Speaker 1: I know.
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Speaker 2: Different today, totally different.
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Speaker 1: Oh, I oh, I know, I know. Believe me, A
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Speaker 1: lot of a lot of the old neighborhoods are totally
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Speaker 1: different today. I'm I'm glad you said that, Giovanni, because
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Speaker 1: I stayed all the time till you know me. I'm
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Speaker 1: fearless and I was actually humbled. And you told me
4:37
Speaker 1: yesterday that when you started this process, that you reached
4:40
Speaker 1: out look and reach out to me. Which I I
4:43
Speaker 1: really was honored by that and humbled by that. But
4:46
Speaker 1: you have started the process and you just made mention
4:49
Speaker 1: moments ago that the mayor shouldn't be there because he's friendly,
4:52
Speaker 1: which is true, and supports people and hangs out with
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Speaker 1: people that think we deserved nine to eleven and that
4:59
Speaker 1: say horrible.
5:00
Speaker 3: Right said, yeah, we've laid it out on the petition
5:04
Speaker 3: as far as you know, his father writing a book
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Speaker 3: about it, him hanging around the people that supported nine
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Speaker 3: to eleven, people that have spoken bad about it and
5:13
Speaker 3: think that we deserved it. All these people that pet
5:16
Speaker 3: you know, that died, that were murdered, they didn't deserve it.
5:20
Speaker 3: They were going to work. They were all going to work,
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Speaker 3: just like everybody else. This wasn't something that you know,
5:27
Speaker 3: was an accident. It was meant to be for them,
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Speaker 3: and they did it for me. I feel it's an
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Speaker 3: impossible task because of how it was done and America
5:37
Speaker 3: being America.
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Speaker 2: But that's a different story. You know. I feel we could.
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Speaker 3: Have maybe helped a little bit more. But he's had
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Speaker 3: situations where he knows the bomber of ninety three. He
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Speaker 3: supports all these people that are running that wipe their
5:56
Speaker 3: face and hands on the flags an you know, and
6:00
Speaker 3: these are things we know that are public. Imagine what
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Speaker 3: we don't know in reality, and.
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Speaker 1: Think about this Giovanni, Giovanni Galante, and what a brave
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Speaker 1: soul you wore because you're out about all that. There
6:11
Speaker 1: is more, there is more, There is more.
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Speaker 2: We don't know about it, but one day we will.
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Speaker 1: We will. But you know who's going to be there too.
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Speaker 1: And I have to imagine that you love this guy,
6:19
Speaker 1: you love him, Woody Giuliani. How can you possibly have
6:22
Speaker 1: the mayor that really he went to over a thousand funerals,
6:26
Speaker 1: he loved all you people. How are you gonna have
6:28
Speaker 1: Voody Giuliani in the same spot as this guy? Could
6:30
Speaker 1: you imagine that?
6:32
Speaker 3: I can't. I mean, Rudy Giuliani should be a little
6:35
Speaker 3: upset about it too, but you know, I understand he's
6:37
Speaker 3: sick and he's older now. And but Giuliani did great
6:42
Speaker 3: things for the city. The city thrived when he was
6:45
Speaker 3: in you know, when he was in office, it just
6:48
Speaker 3: was a different place. It really was, and people, I
6:51
Speaker 3: don't know how people don't see it. I mean I
6:54
Speaker 3: would work I worked in the city day after day.
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Speaker 3: It was safe to get on the train, get on
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Speaker 3: a bus, walk around. I don't feel that same way today,
7:03
Speaker 3: but that's me.
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Speaker 1: No, I feel the same way as you. Trust me.
7:06
Speaker 1: It's not you know, they talk about crime being down,
7:09
Speaker 1: Shootings are down, orders are down. Every other crime is up,
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Speaker 1: including rape and assault and battery. It's a very dangerous places,
7:15
Speaker 1: junkies everywhere and homeless and it's really gross too. It's
7:19
Speaker 1: not just dangerous, but it is gross. Yeah, it's gross.
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Speaker 1: That's why you go to That's why you go to Naples. Giovandi.
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Speaker 3: We've experienced the seventies and the eighties, and when the
7:30
Speaker 3: streets started being cleaned up and money was being made
7:33
Speaker 3: in the city and all buildings were being you know, refurbished,
7:39
Speaker 3: and new buildings going up and higher buildings and more
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Speaker 3: work coming and all the people moving into the city.
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Speaker 3: And now we're going backwards. People don't see it that
7:48
Speaker 3: we're not there, but they should be able to look
7:51
Speaker 3: back in time and understand the difference. That's another thing
7:55
Speaker 3: that kids should really look into that vote today.
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Speaker 2: I mean, you can all be a communist.
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Speaker 3: Till you're twenty years old. After twenty, if you didn't
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Speaker 3: learn anything, then you shouldn't be able.
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Speaker 1: To vote, but that as well said, Hey, Giovanni, I'm
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Speaker 1: just curious, how has the city and the state, in
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Speaker 1: your opinion, just your opinion, treated you and maybe your
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Speaker 1: cousin another nine to eleven victim family. How have they
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Speaker 1: treated you since that project day?
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Speaker 3: When you mean the city, you mean what they do.
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Speaker 1: They reach out to you above and beyond showing up
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Speaker 1: on that day and they read the names, and I'm
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Speaker 1: sure you're part of that ceremony every year. Do you
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Speaker 1: feel like they go above and beyond to never forget?
8:34
Speaker 1: Frank Siller says never forget? And I always say, oh,
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Speaker 1: we forgot. There's no way you can vote in Mamdannie
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Speaker 1: and say never forget in the same sentence. That's ludicrous.
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Speaker 1: We forgot. That's the bottom line. Do you feel like
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Speaker 1: we forgot?
8:47
Speaker 3: I do feel that way. You know, they never forget
8:50
Speaker 3: theme is out there, but people, look this petition we
8:55
Speaker 3: started out with six hundred and something before it went viral,
9:02
Speaker 3: before the Post picked it up. And not only that
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Speaker 3: the family members care about this, but everybody in New
9:09
Speaker 3: York that's seen this position has signed on to it.
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Speaker 3: And I'm glad and happy that it's seen, and I
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Speaker 3: hope to reach more people. I can't. I don't know
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Speaker 3: every member that lost, every family member that lost someone,
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Speaker 3: but if they reach out to me, I hope to
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Speaker 3: have them on the list because the nine to eleven
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Speaker 3: memorial did not help me acquiring a list of people
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Speaker 3: or helping me get the word out.
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Speaker 1: Why not.
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Speaker 3: Because it's they said, it's they don't want to get
9:39
Speaker 3: into it, like you said before politics or you know, privacy.
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Speaker 3: I mean, I didn't ask to say you could tell me, hey,
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Speaker 3: I'll send the letter for you. They send us letters
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Speaker 3: every so often to you know, people that want to
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Speaker 3: read the names and things that are going on at
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Speaker 3: the memorial. But at one point a nine to eleven
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Speaker 3: family member calls you and says, hey, we need help here,
10:00
Speaker 3: We need assistance. We want to spread the word because
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Speaker 3: people don't want the mayor to attend because his values
10:06
Speaker 3: and views and want to change our way of life.
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Speaker 3: So we really need to put a foot forward and
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Speaker 3: get names on here. People that pastel, you know, people
10:18
Speaker 3: that died are going to be you know, I can't
10:23
Speaker 3: even explain to you how bad it seems in my
10:26
Speaker 3: own mind.
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Speaker 1: No, I'm sure, I mean, are you and first of all,
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Speaker 1: two things. Yeah, First of all, how do people get
10:32
Speaker 1: to you to see the petition? And is there a
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Speaker 1: number of people you think you need on that petition
10:38
Speaker 1: to make sure this man is not there?
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Speaker 3: I don't know if there's a number. I don't even
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Speaker 3: if we had a million over I think he had
10:46
Speaker 3: a million votes to be a mayor. Yeah, I think
10:49
Speaker 3: if we oversee that million, maybe maybe that'll work. But
10:53
Speaker 3: I don't know if it will. You know, like you
10:56
Speaker 3: said before, I was listening to your show, he's going
10:59
Speaker 3: to show up. He doesn't have you know, we just
11:02
Speaker 3: ask for a decency, respect and just stay away.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't care, he doesn't.
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Speaker 3: We're asking, we're asking respectfully. We're not you know, we're
11:11
Speaker 3: not demonizing. We're not We're stating facts where you know,
11:15
Speaker 3: we're trying to move on.
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Speaker 2: This is private to us.
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Speaker 3: This is the day that we have private to us.
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Speaker 3: I understand sometimes other politicians come, but they don't have
11:24
Speaker 3: those beliefs. We're not after politicians. We're not after people
11:29
Speaker 3: in general, or Muslims or Jewish people. Where after people
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Speaker 3: that don't have our values, that think that we deserve
11:38
Speaker 3: to get our loved ones murdered on a day that
11:41
Speaker 3: they're just going to work.
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Speaker 1: That's right. So where can people find this petition?
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Speaker 3: Giovanni, I'm going to I'm going to give you my email,
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Speaker 3: which is WTC one nine eleven zero one at aol
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Speaker 3: dot com. One more time, WTC one nine one one
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Speaker 3: zero one at AOL dot com.
12:01
Speaker 1: All right, on the way out here, Giovanni, you're gonna
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Speaker 1: do two things for me. You're can deliver two messages.
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Speaker 1: You're ready even great so far. You and I spoke yesterday.
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Speaker 1: You know you're not nervous. You're you're really authterrific.
12:12
Speaker 3: I am.
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Speaker 2: I am a little nervous.
12:13
Speaker 1: You sound you're not.
12:15
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie.
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Speaker 1: Gee, you sound great. I promise you. I promise you
12:20
Speaker 1: take it from the best. Okay, you sound great, really great.
12:25
Speaker 1: So two messages on the way out and then we'll
12:28
Speaker 1: let you run. This is such a courageous job by you.
12:30
Speaker 1: I love you so much. Will you do? First message
12:33
Speaker 1: is what is your message? If he's listening right now,
12:36
Speaker 1: and if he's not, it will get to him. What
12:38
Speaker 1: is your message to mom? Donnie?
12:41
Speaker 3: We respectfully just asked that he stay away. We don't
12:45
Speaker 3: want the publicity, we don't want the circus. We don't
12:50
Speaker 3: want any of that.
12:51
Speaker 2: This is a day, like I said before, all.
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Speaker 3: Of us get together and we go honor the people
12:56
Speaker 3: that were murdered. That's it. It's a simple one. I'm
12:59
Speaker 3: not asking for anything huge. You know, he doesn't have
13:04
Speaker 3: to be there. He knows that, we know that. But
13:08
Speaker 3: obviously we'll see what happens. There's nothing we could do
13:11
Speaker 3: other than just ask for people to sign a petition.
13:15
Speaker 1: And ask him to uh, you know, to respect.
13:18
Speaker 2: Them, just to respect that wishes right.
13:21
Speaker 1: One more. This is the one that's gonna hurt, but
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Speaker 1: she deserves it. It's been twenty five years. If you
13:25
Speaker 1: had a chance to talk to Grace today, what would
13:28
Speaker 1: you tell her?
13:30
Speaker 3: I would I would say you got me on that.
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Speaker 2: Sorry tough, Okay, okay. She's missed. She definitely missed her parents,
13:47
Speaker 2: her sister, her brother, my family. We all miss her.
13:51
Speaker 2: We all wish we could. She would be the person
13:55
Speaker 2: to be the first call to us.
13:57
Speaker 3: We miss that. We miss her and around the attention
14:02
Speaker 3: that she gives to everyone. It's it's something you can't
14:06
Speaker 3: even put in words. You can't when you meet people
14:10
Speaker 3: that especially, you know, there's not much that you can
14:16
Speaker 3: really emphasize it's it's just a matter. You have to
14:24
Speaker 3: know her to just understand. And people that did, they
14:29
Speaker 3: all say great things. Till today, there's not one soul
14:33
Speaker 3: that says something bad.
14:36
Speaker 1: She was talky to have you. I could tell you
14:37
Speaker 1: that to your honor, she was.
14:40
Speaker 2: A family person.
14:42
Speaker 3: The other thing that I would I would ask, I
14:45
Speaker 3: know we have we have issues with this memorial as
14:48
Speaker 3: far as being national or federal, and I know President
14:52
Speaker 3: Trump would help us. I don't know on his agenda
14:57
Speaker 3: how far we can get, but if he can make
14:59
Speaker 3: it a federal site so we don't have to hear
15:03
Speaker 3: people complaining about there's no money coming in and maybe
15:06
Speaker 3: they want to shut it down, because that would be
15:08
Speaker 3: devastating to all of us.
15:10
Speaker 1: I'll make you this promise. As soon as you hung
15:13
Speaker 1: up in a couple of seconds here, I will send
15:14
Speaker 1: that a promise you. I'll text that to President Trump
15:16
Speaker 1: and I will see him and talk to him. I
15:19
Speaker 1: do occasionally.
15:20
Speaker 2: I like that.
15:21
Speaker 3: I didn't know about this situation, but one of the
15:25
Speaker 3: mothers that lost their son, a couple of them, actually,
15:27
Speaker 3: they brought it up and they said that they're fighting
15:30
Speaker 3: for this, and I had no clue because I really
15:32
Speaker 3: I'm not into politics as you know everyone else's. You know,
15:38
Speaker 3: I know what I know, and I move on. So
15:42
Speaker 3: I appreciate the time you gave me, and I hope
15:45
Speaker 3: people listening understand the you know that this is something,
15:49
Speaker 3: respectfully that we're asking for and we're not seeing anything
15:55
Speaker 3: in a matter of trying to keep people away because
15:58
Speaker 3: of who they are. It's because of the belief. The
16:01
Speaker 3: belief is what hurts us, that's all. It's the values
16:07
Speaker 3: that you bring to the table is what counts at
16:09
Speaker 3: the end of the day.
16:10
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Giovanni, you're a hero. I mean it.
16:12
Speaker 1: I know you don't feel that way, but you are
16:14
Speaker 1: very courageous and I just got to know you. But
16:16
Speaker 1: I love you. I'm sorry for your loss. Grace is
16:19
Speaker 1: very very lucky to have you for the short time
16:21
Speaker 1: that she did, and I wish you and your family
16:23
Speaker 1: nothing but success. And I will fight for you. I
16:25
Speaker 1: promise you. I'm a fighter. I will fight for you
16:27
Speaker 1: every step of the way to get this done. God
16:29
Speaker 1: bless you, Giovanni. Thank you.
16:31
Speaker 2: I appreciate the time.
16:32
Speaker 1: God bless Giovanni Galante right there and say a prayer
16:37
Speaker 1: for his wife Grace.
16:39
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Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here