Retired NYPD chief, 75, drowns in Stony Brook backyard pool

A retired NYPD chief who once led the department’s organized crime unit drowned in his backyard pool in Stony Brook Friday evening, police said.

Suffolk Police responded to Anthony Izzo’s home on Malverne Lane about 7:45 p.m. after a 911 caller reported that Izzo, 75, had been found unresponsive in the pool.

Officers and Stony Brook Fire Department members pulled Izzo from the water and performed CPR at the scene before rushing him to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Izzo spent decades with the NYPD, rising to chief of the Organized Crime Control Bureau. Earlier in his career, he served as commanding officer of the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Izzo, son of a New York City policeman, began his law enforcement career in 1968 with the NYPD as a 17-year-old police trainee, QNS.com reported in a 2011 feature about Izzo. His rise through the ranks included commanding officer of the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights and later the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn.

He later served as both the executive and commanding officer of Patrol Borough Bronx, as well as the department’s Narcotics Division.

In 2006, he was promoted to command the 2,100 detectives assigned to the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau.

In a statement following his death, the NYPD said Izzo’s leadership and dedication to the people of New York City left a lasting legacy, and offered condolences to his family and loved ones.

The Detectives’ Endowment Association also mourned Izzo, saying in a statement on social media that he dedicated decades of his life to protecting New Yorkers.

Suffolk Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the drowning — standard procedure in unattended deaths — but police said they believe it is non-criminal in nature.

The 911 call came in just as thunderstorms and heavy winds rolled across the Stony Brook area Friday evening. Police did not say whether the weather played a role, and the cause of Izzo’s drowning remains under investigation.

_{Top photo: NYPD}