The DEA Honor Roll
Official Line of Duty Deaths
George Caccavale
Rank: Detective
Shield Number:
Command: Transit Bureau
Date of Death: 06/26/1976
Cause of Death: Shot - Robbery
On Friday, June 25, 1976, off-duty New York City Transit Detective George Caccavale was shot in the chest, thigh, and legs during a robbery of the Van Dam Check Cashing Corporation in Long Island City. Det. Caccavale was working this second job at the facility to support his wife and two young children. The hold-up had been planned for weeks and the three robber/killers — Richard Payton, Percy Moore, and Claude Holland — knew Caccavale was a Police Officer from the placard he kept in his car window. That knowledge did not deter them from stealing thousands of dollars while gunning down Det. Caccavale in cold blood. On Saturday, June 26, 1976, Det. Caccavale died from his wounds at Greenpoint Hospital. He was 33 years old.
Caccavale was a devoted husband, a loving father, and for eleven years an able young Transit Officer. The perps, who first met in Stateville Penitentiary in Illinois while serving time for previous crimes, fled to other cities with clothing, cash, and transportation provided by Claude Holland, but were eventually caught and convicted of second degree murder. They received 25 years to life.
It should be noted that, according to his late co-hort Richard Payton, Holland also participated in a home invasion and robbery in Short Hills, NJ, the robbery of a liquor store in Brooklyn, and the robbery/murder of a couple in Chicago. The perps have been consistently denied parole.
Richard Payton died in 2007. Percy Moore died in 2009. Holland is still incarcerated.
Det. Caccavale’s widow, Nancy, passed away in 2010.