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Hours before leaving his office in disgrace, Cuomo commuted the 75 years-to-life sentence to the 40 years of time that self-proclaimed revolutionary David Gilbert has served for the Rockland County murders.
The law enforcement community reeled from the news Tuesday.
Cuomo resigned "because he sexually harassed multiple women," Rockland County PBA President Larry Ayers tweeted. "There acts have spurred multiple criminal investigations into his deplorable acts. [He] belongs in jail with David Gilbert, not given the opportunity to commute dangerous individuals' sentences."
Ayers called on the New York State Parole Board to reject the bid for release that Cuomo's pardon created.
The outraged families of the victims -- Nyack Police Officer Waverly “Chipper” Brown and Sgt. Edward O’Grady and Brinks guard Peter Paige -- agreed.
“I think it’s an atrocity,” O'Grady's sister, Mary Crowley, told the New York Post. “I think it was [Cuomo's] final nod to how he feels about the people of New York.”
O’Grady’s son, US Navy Capt. Edward O’Grady III, called Cuomo “incredibly cowardly … especially in light of the conditions in which he’s leaving his office.
"If you’re resigning for preying on your workers, for doing the terrible things he did, you shouldn’t be able to make this sort of momentous decision on your way out the door," he told the Post.
Cuomo said he granted clemency to Gilbert and five other convicts because they "have shown remorse, rehabilitation and commitment to their communities."
Gilbert's convictions for three counts of murder and four of robbery “were related to an incident in which he was the driver, not the murderer,” the former governor reasoned.
He also said that Gilbert -- who'd been imprisoned at Attica and, more recently, the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, NY -- "has made significant contributions to AIDS education and prevention programs; he has also worked as a student tutor, law library clerk, paralegal assistant, a tacher's aide and an aide for various additional facility programs."
Tell that to the survivors, along with the chorus of law enforcement officers and officials, and local, state and federal authorities who expressed their outrage on Tuesday.
Gilbert was behind the wheel when fellow Black Liberation Army members Judith Clark and Samuel Brown gunned down the valiant victims in cold blood on Oct. 20, 1981.
Paige was shot dead during the robbery at the Nanuet Mall that day. Brown and O’Grady were killed at a New York State Thruway entrance ramp roadblock in Nyack.
The trio was among a group that had robbed several armored cars in the area, claiming it was a means of financing poor people of color and establishing a Black nation in the South.
They were on Broadway in Nyack after the Brinks truck robbery when they crashed their vehicle near Sixth Avenue. There they encountered the late Alan Colsey, a patrol officer who went on to become the chief of the small waterfront village of South Nyack-Grand View.
Colsey, who died last month, kneeled behind his police car and kept his gun trained on the robbers, ignoring a ruse by Clark as she tried reaching for a weapon. Backups arrived soon after and took the killers into custody.
The trio and several others involved in the incident were eventually convicted.
Kathy Boudin, who was convicted of murder and robbery, was paroled in 2003 after spending 23 years in prison.
Judith Clark was paroled in 2019 after Cuomo commuted her 75 years-to-life sentence to the 36 years of time she'd served for triple murder.
Brown, like Gilbert, has been serving a life sentence.
"I did not think that Andrew Cuomo could debase his office or this state any more than he did," Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Tuesday. "My thoughts are with the families of the victims of the Brinks robbery and every person of Rockland County who has been insulted by the governor today."
Ayers, the Rockland PBA president, said Cuomo "added salt to the wounds of all New Yorkers."
"Waverly Brown, Edward O'Grady and Peter Paige aren't here today because this individual was directly responsible for their murders," Ayers tweeted. "Despite their families grief and our community’s deep sense of loss, good old Andrew believes he should be given an opportunity for parole and go free.
"As a community rich in law enforcement this is a disgusting act.
"The Brown, O'Grady, and Paige families shouldn't have to sit here and observe this despicable human being pull such a horrendous act on his last day as the governor," the PBA chief added. "We must all join together in Rockland and across New York State to demand that the Parole Board does not release David Gilbert back into society.
"We will be watching what politicians join in this call."
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