The DEA Honor Roll

On May 5, after attending a birthday party and the reunion of a softball team, Det. Ivan Lorenzo, Brooklyn North Narcotics, was driving home with three passengers.  One had to go to the bathroom, so he pulled to the curb adjacent to a bar on Prospect Avenue in the Bronx.  He accompanied the woman into the bar and waited while she headed for the ladies’ room.  She mistakenly chose a door that led to the kitchen but was met at the threshold by a man who harshly directed her to another door.  All the while Det. Lorenzo waited by the entrance.  When she returned he escorted her outside, then he returned alone.  He approached the man at the back of the bar.  “I want to speak to you,” he said.  Without warning the man whirled and fired.  Det. Lorenzo, in the act of drawing his gun, fell to the floor mortally wounded.  The man picked up his revolver and fled.  Police later found fourteen decks of heroin on the floor of the kitchen to which the lady was barred admittance.  Det. Lorenzo’s killer, Harry Richardson was caught and indicted.  Detective Ivan Lorenzo was appointed the NYPD on August1,1966.