Veteran detective turns in his badge

By Martin B. Cassidy
Staff Writer
November 13, 2007

Helping investigate crooked Greenwich financier Martin Frankel and helping to found a joint arson task force with the town Fire Department are two career milestones that stand out for Detective Edward Zack, he said yesterday.

A week before retirement from the Greenwich Police Department, the 51-year-old said he would miss the collaborative efforts with other current and retired town detectives which have helped break cases big and small.

"Over 29 years, you work with some unbelievable people who have great strengths in certain areas," Zack said. "Over time, as you go along, you wish a particular person was here because they were so good at something."

Saturday the Greenwich native will work his last day for the town. In early December, Zack will continue his detective work as an inspector with the State's Attorneys Office in Bridgeport, investigating cases for prosecutors before they are taken to trial.

Zack said the desire for more professional satisfaction and additional income as his two teenage sons approach college age drove him to this decision.

"My personal feeling is I've been here 29 years and it's just not fun here anymore," Zack said. "You know when it's time to go."

Detective Sgt. Thomas Kelly, Zack's supervisor, said his colleague's experience and skills as an arson investigator as well as a state-certified forensic computer investigator have been critical.

"His experience and knowledge in here will be greatly missed," Kelly said. "I wish him luck in his new job with the state."

Zack attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., graduating in 1973. His nephew, Thomas Zack, is a deputy chief at the Greenwich Fire Department.

"We have deep roots in town," he said.

Zack said he and other detectives began investigating Greenwich financier Martin Frankel in 1997 following the suicide of Francis Burge, who was found hanging from the back deck of Frankel's Greenwich mansion.

Police efforts played an important role in Frankel's 1999 indictment and conviction in 2002 on federal charges of racketeering, conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud for defrauding $200 million from insurance companies.

"We knew right away after the suicide it was not a normal situation and something was wrong with Marty Frankel," he said. "We did what we could to pursue it."

In March 2002, as Danbury Police searched for 13-year-old Christina Long, Zack performed a forensic analysis of Dos Reis' computer, which helped Danbury Police determine that the Greenwich man had met with the eighth-grader the night she disappeared, he said.

Confronted with the e-mail evidence, Dos Reis admitted meeting the girl for sex and then choking her to death, Danbury Police have said.

Dos Reis was convicted on state and federal charges in 2003 for engaging in sex with and strangling Christina after meeting her over the Internet.

In 1998, Zack, then a state-certified arson investigator, co-founded Greenwich's Arson Task Force with then-Fire Marshal George Hannigan, teaming police detectives and fire inspectors to improve the investigation of suspected arsons, Zack said.

"I think it has helped solve some of the cases which otherwise might not have been solved," Zack said.

Zack's dedication and experience will be missed on the joint investigative team, which includes two additional detectives and two fire inspectors, said Fire Inspector John Fronio, a member of the team.

Most recently, Zack has been working on an automobile arson case from last month in which a new car was abandoned and set on fire on King Street, Fronio said.

Investigators believe it was a case of insurance fraud and will result in charges against the owner, Fronio said.

"Without his knowledge and abilities with investigation, I hope the other members of the squad on his side pick up where he left off," Fronio said.

Zack said it will be difficult to leave behind decades of personal connections at the department, but he is looking forward to jumping into working a large number of cases running the gamut of crime alongside a prosecutor.

"Ever since I was young, I wanted to be involved in law enforcement and helping people," Zack said. "This is a new phase of my career in law enforcement and I still don't like to leave a case unsolved. What might seem like a small case might be a huge case for the people involved."