John G. Scarangella Playground
This playground, bounded by Avenue U, Avenue V, West 13th Street, and Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn, is named in memory of New York City Police Officer John Gerard Scarangella (1940-1981), one of five children born in Brooklyn to Italian immigrants. A graduate of the adjacent Lafayette High School, Scarangella was an avid participant in Police Athletic League programs as a child. In 1969, John G. Scarangella joined the New York City Police Department, as did three of his siblings.
Known familiarly as Jerry, Scarangella lived in Nassau County with his wife, Vivian, and their four children, Gina, Julie, Tommy and Gerard. Over the next twelve years, he served in the 60th, 67th, and 113th Precincts and was awarded two commendations, two Meritorious Police Duty Citations and five Excellent Police Duty Awards. On April 16, 1981, while on duty in St. Albans, Queens, Scarangella and his partner, Richard Rainey, were shot thirty times by two gunmen after the officers pulled over the van the men were driving. Rainey survived, but Scarangella at 42, died on May 1, 1981. Three days later, thousands of officers assembled for his funeral at the Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church. They remembered him as an officer who cared deeply about his family and about his fellow policemen, easing their extraordinarily difficult work with constant jokes. The two gunmen were caught, tried, and convicted.
This park was recently renovated and looks so much better now. It has a nice turf field now. The playground, which includes a grassy ballfield, timber-form climbing equipment, swings, and picnic tables, is lined with London planetrees, a hardy species known for its ability to grow in harsh urban environments.
