Desperately Seeking Tony

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Irish Voice News

Desperately Seeking Tony

December 13, 2007

By April Drew

FRIDAY, November 30 was a typically cold November evening in New York City. At six o’clock the streets were bustling with shoppers and tourists.

People were pouring out of their offices; others were setting their tools down on construction sites. Some took the train home; others met friends for dinner or a drink.

The latter was the choice for two Co. Roscommon men. James Anthony Devine, or Tony to his friends, and Andy, Tony’s childhood friend, arrived in the Irish bar the Galway Hooker on 36th Street between Madison and Fifth Avenues at 7 p.m. to meet some friends. The drinks were flowing and the night was young.

By 9 p.m. the friends left the others behind and headed across the road to another Irish bar, Slattery’s Midtown. Still thirsty they had a drink.

At 10 p.m. Devine made a call to his friend in Yonkers. Reception was bad so they didn’t speak. Andy got a taxi back to Yonkers where he lives.

Devine had another drink and struck up a conversation with two females at the bar. It was just before midnight when Devine left the bar alone. He disappeared into the chill of the night.

Eleven days later Tony Devine is still missing. Devine, 29, has never disappeared before.

According to his brother Martin this is totally out of his character. “We just have no idea where he could have went. It’s a mystery. It’s like he vanished,” he said.

Now a $50,000 reward is being offered for information on his whereabouts.

Martin first called his brother on Saturday morning to arrange to have breakfast together. Tony’s phone went straight to his answering machine. Andy also called Tony at 9 a.m.; he also got the machine but he wasn’t worried.

But by Sunday afternoon when several of his messages weren’t returned and his phone was still going straight to voice mail Andy began to panic.

“Tony goes nowhere without his phone. He is the type of lad that never gets off it. He loves chatting,” said Andy.

Worried, Andy called Martin and, to be on the safe side, they contacted the police to report Tony missing. Police took the report but told the boys not to worry, that Devine was a 29-year-old man able to look after himself.

On Monday the boys and some friends took time off work and began to search themselves for the missing man. They started with the local hospitals. They went from department to department and asked hospital staff if they had seen the 5’10” Roscommon man.

No one had, but maybe he was in another hospital. They continued to search. It became disheartening after a while.

On Tuesday, December 4, Martin knew he had to call his parents back in Roscommon to inform them their son was missing. They were devastated.

Tuesday afternoon Martin and Andy enlisted the help of Orla Kelleher from the Aisling Irish Community Center on McLean Avenue. She immediately called the Irish media in New York to run a story in an effort to find information on Devine’s whereabouts.

Later on Tuesday evening, while Devine’s friends continued the search of the hospitals, Martin and Andy relived Tony’s last moments in the Galway Hooker bar.

They watched him leave the bar with Andy at 8:53 p.m. on security cameras. They saw him say some words to the doorman but the doorman doesn’t remember speaking or seeing them.

With a little further investigating, the boys discovered from the barman on duty that Friday night in Slattery’s that Devine left the bar alone. That is where their trail ends.

The boys, along with some friends, continued their search long into the night. They visited several other bars in the area that Devine might have gone to. No one saw him.

On Wednesday, a group of 12 continued the search. They visited several police precincts with Tony’s picture and details. They plastered missing person posters on every available pole in Manhattan.

It still wasn’t enough.

On Wednesday afternoon Martin and some friends met with detectives in the Yonkers Police Department. They went through everything they could think of.

Questions were asked. Possibilities were thrown on the table, but no one was still any the wiser.

Detective Anthony Occhiogrosso began working on the case immediately. His first stop was a visit to Devine’s house.

The house, where Tony lived alone, was empty. Devine hadn’t been there since he left for work that Friday morning.

Knowing that the police were unable to cover everything, Martin, Andy and a group of friends gathered together in the Aisling Irish Center on Thursday morning and hatched another plan. This time it was to visit every taxi depot in the five boroughs, and that is exactly what they did.

The response was good. Some taxi drivers stuck up the missing persons poster in their cabs. Others expressed their concern and said they would pass it around to their colleagues.

Frustrated that there was still no word on the whereabouts of his brother, and it was a week already, Martin organized for several of Devine’s friends to get together and spend Friday afternoon and evening outside the bars on 36th Street, where Tony was last seen.

Friends came out in force. Wrapped in warm scarves and gloves, the group broke up into small clusters, and together they lined the streets asking every passerby within a block if they had seen the missing man. No one had.

It wasn’t long before various New York media outlets had the story. Martin appeared on several news channels including Fox 5 News and New York 1 in an effort to locate his brother. He publicly pleaded with anyone with the smallest bit of information on the whereabouts of his brother to come forward.

Over the weekend Martin announced that the Devine family were putting up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of their loved one.

“I’m hoping that by offering a substantial award like this someone who might know where Tony is will now come forward,” he said. Any information that will be given to Martin or the police will be kept confidential.

On Monday evening a meeting was held in McKeon’s bar in Yonkers in an effort to enlist more volunteers to help locate Tony.

“Everyone has really been wonderful in helping us out. If it wasn’t for all of Tony’s friends who took time off work and went into the streets in the freezing cold we wouldn’t have covered the ground that we have covered, so we are very grateful to them all,” said Martin.

The search continues. Yonkers detectives are working around the clock to do the best they can.

Martin, Andy and friends have taken another week off work to continue with the search, and hundreds of Devine’s acquaintances are doing their bit to help.

In the meantime the mystery deepens.

A Mass for Devine’s safe return will be held on Thursday, December 13 at 8:30 p.m. in St. Barnabas church on Martha Avenue in Yonkers.

Martin and Andy are asking for volunteers to help distribute posters in the Midtown area on Friday, December 14. Anyone with a few hours to spare should meet up between 3-6 p.m. at the Galway Hooker Bar at 7 East 36th Street and Fifth Avenue.

Devine, who hails from Tulsk in Roscommon, has been living in the United States since 2001. He last was seen wearing jeans, construction boots, a brown Carhartt jacket and a white striped polo shirt underneath.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call Detective Occhiogrosso at 914-377-7725 or Martin at 914-469-7303, or call toll free number 914-668-4058. All information and calls are totally confidential.

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