New York- The basement room in the Bronx fire station dubbed “Animal House,” where three firefighters lined up to have sex on grungy, stained couches with a fire groupie, was a dingy den of depravity, a city report revealed yesterday.
The threadbare room featured a department dress shirt covered with lipstick stains and a pin reading “Bubble Girls Rock” hanging from a nail in the corner, and a bumper sticker on the door blaring “Just Suck It.”
A wall in the windowless room sported a picture of a naked woman in a cage, next to a dangling noose and graffiti screaming “Animal House 4 Ever.”
The report, put out by the city’s Department of Investigation, describes in painstaking detail how the woman took turns engaging in sex acts with each of the three Engine Co. 75 men in the firehouse while their supervisors slept early last Aug. 20.
“They are watching porn on the computer, drinking, and bringing the woman in to have sex with her in the firehouse,” said DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “It really sullied that firehouse.”
The scandal came to light when the 34-year-old Staten Island woman reported to police that she had been raped. She later changed her story and said the sex was consensual but has since filed a notice of claim against the city alleging rape.
The three firefighters at first either refused to cooperate with investigators, or denied having sex with the woman.
One of them, Christian Waugh, 31, was fired in December for refusing to cooperate with authorities.
The other two, Tony “T.J.” DeLuca, 34, and Anthony “Luigi” Loscuito, 27, who at first denied having sex, but then changed their tune, were reassigned to administrative posts. Both face departmental charges.
While Waugh and DeLuca had no prior disciplinary record, Loscuito had been disciplined for a marijuana bust in 2003. He had also had a drug conviction prior to joining the FDNY, raising questions about how he was hired.
Department policy requires an applicant to undergo a special review process before being hired, the report said.
That was bypassed in Loscuito’s case, however, because of a Sept. 21, 2001, memo from then-Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen – whose driver was Loscuito’s father – recommending the younger Loscuito be placed in the fire academy.
A spokeswoman for Von Essen said the former commissioner, who now works for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, had no recollection of writing the memo.
The most scandalous part of the report, though, was the detailed account of how the woman came to be in the firehouse that night and what went on in the basement of the “Animal House.”
The woman, a recent divorcee, told authorities she had a nervous breakdown after the Sept. 11 attack and began having sex with firefighters all over the city because she “felt bad” for them. She also said she suffered from bipolar disorder and was on medication.
She became involved with firefighters at Engine 75 through an Internet chat site that caters to people looking to meet men in uniform. She soon began a telephone relationship with several firefighters in the house, which soon would veer into sexual territory.
The woman called early on Aug. 20, and said she “wanted to come to The Bronx,” after going to a club in New Jersey. On her way there she got lost several times, and called the firehouse as well as 311 and 911 several times for directions.
Once there, she was led to the basement playroom around 4:30 a.m. where she proceeded to have unprotected sex with DeLuca. Afterwards the pair used a pillowcase to clean themselves off.
Then the woman put on a pair of bunker pants that Waugh gave her. They then went into the room, where she performed oral sex on him. The report then stated she spit into the same pillowcase.
DeLuca then told Loscuito that he had “gotten laid,” to which Loscuito allegedly replied: “are you f – – – ing kidding me?”
Loscuito then ran into the room, gave her a glass of water and chocolate chip cookies. He then cut the FDNY patch off a lipstick-smeared shirt hanging on the wall and handed it to her for her collection. She later gave investigators patches she had collected from several other firehouses
Loscuito then dropped his pants, and the two had sex.
Afterwards she asked to sleep at the house, but the men said no. She asked for money for a hotel room, which the men said they did not have, so she left.
While driving home, she called DeLuca and described what had happened with Loscuito and Waugh, who she said made her angry by insulting her. Once back in Staten Island she called police and reported that she had been raped.
Investigators also found that the men appeared to have tried to cover the incident up, disposing of the pillowcase and mopping the rarely cleaned lounge.
The report made several recommendations to the department on how to avoid a similar situation – including additional supervision, and making sure at least one officer was awake at all times.
While the report’s findings have no formal bearing on DeLuca’s or Loscuito’s disciplinary hearings, Hearn said she believed the two should be fired.
Hearn also said the department was unable to determine whether the woman had sex with other firefighters in other firehouses, but was continuing to investigate. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said several of the report’s recommendations had already been put into place and that the others were being evaluated.
The woman, when approached yesterday by The Post, said she had no comment on the report.
At the firehouse yesterday, Lt. John Halpin said the actions of the three men did not reflect the overall attitudes of the rest of the company.