Bureaucratic bungling by the Police Department prevented the widow of a murdered Bronx businessman from offering a $25,000 reward for the apprehension of his killer.
But after a call to the mayor’s weekly WABC radio show yesterday, the problem — which hadn’t been resolved in five weeks — was straightened out in five hours.
In an incredibly polite call, Faith Smollen phoned Giuliani to ask if he could get the NYPD to post the $25,000 she put up for information about the Oct. 21 cold-blooded murder of her husband, Elliot.
Elliot Smollen was gunned down in a botched robbery of his Hunts Point frozen food distribution firm, Patti-Tyme Meat Packing, as his brother looked on in horror.
Mrs. Smollen said she put $25,000 in escrow on Oct. 25 as instructed by the NYPD and “to this day nothing has happened as far as posting that reward.”
“I just wanted to know if there’s anything you could do,” Mrs. Smollen asked.
“I’ll get it expedited right now,” the mayor responded immediately.
By 5 p.m., the $25,000 reward was official — as was an extra $10,000 reward put up by the city.
Marilyn Mode, the NYPD’s spokeswoman, explained that “administrative confusion” was responsible for the delay, but that the problem was “rectified.”
Anyone with information leading to the conviction of the killers can claim a reward that now totals $36,000, including the $1,000 offered by the police hotline, 577-TIPS.