FBI 'BIG SHOTS' LEFT OUT
SECURITY SNUB AT BILLY JOEL SHOW
By MURRAY WEISS and JAMES FANELLI
July 20, 2008
Undercover FBI agents assigned to security detail at Billy Joel's
final Shea Stadium concert were left in the lurch Friday night when
NYPD officers working the star-studded show inexplicably denied them
admission p***** and forced them to find their own way in, according
to sources.
The eight G-men were part of a 12-member team from the FBI-NYPD Joint
Terrorism Task Force, which routinely works large-scale events and
spends months planning their detail. The other members, four NYPD
detectives, also initially faced admission obstacles from officers
handing out credentials but were granted p***** after NYPD brass
intervened.
"They showed up. They were told they were not getting credentials," a
source said about the rebuffed feds. "It's a big public event and a
big terrorist target."
The public snubbing occurred near a press and law-enforcement check-in
area and was witnessed by several mayoral officials and concertgoers.
It was the latest chapter in a history of territorial flare-ups
between the two agencies.
"Anytime you keep the FBI out of an event of this magnitude, you
jeopardize the safety of anyone at the event," a source said. "The FBI
is the expert in terrorism."
With the help of Shea security, four of the federal agents eventually
got into the concert, where Joel tickled the ivory and sang with
guests Paul McCartney and The Who's Roger Daltrey.
The remaining agents had to cool their heels outside the stadium,
which will be razed and replaced by Citi Field after the baseball
season.
Federal and NYPD members of the JTTF had worked Joel's Wednesday night
show at Shea without any hitches, according to sources. But the
problems started three hours before Friday's show during a meeting for
all law enforcement working security.
The JTTF team, dressed casually in cargo pants and polo ****rts, asked
the NYPD captain leading the preconcert powwow about their p***** and
were referred to the check-in area, sources said. When they went to
the credentials booth, police personnel told the team that it didn't
have p*****, according to eyewitnesses. After some wrangling and the
officers' conferring with brass in police command post, the four
detectives were admitted.
An NYPD spokesman said the quota for the JTTF was cut to four and
blamed the mix-up on miscommunication.
Sources said the admission mess shouldn't have happened, considering
the weeks of planning to provide protection for Joel's fans.
"There were meetings leading up to it where they discussed the
personnel numbers," a source said. "They were supposed to get 12
p*****."
The JTTF routinely works details at such high-profile events as the
World Series and the US Open that are possible terrorist targets. It
consists of hundreds agents and officers from dozens of agencies.
Frictions between the agencies date back decades, and it took strong-
willed FBI and NYPD officials to create the task force in 1980. Under
Ray Kelly's term as commissioner, federal agents have re****tedly
griped that the NYPD has tried to expand its terrorism role without
including the feds.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment.
murray.weiss@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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