SUFFOLK COUNTY NY – The Guardians of Our Dependents (GOOD) is a non-profit created to honor the life and legacy of Officer Dnaiel Colondona. Their purpose is to support the families, primarily children, of fallen law enforcement professionals to ensure that the stability, support, and love that are often provided by parents do not fade with one’s passing.
GOOD held their Fifth Annual Cigar and Whiskey Night at the Elk’s Lodge in Smithtown on Monday evening, sponsored by the philanthropic firm Miller & Caggiano, LLP.
Each year, two honorees are selected by the foundation. This year’s nominees were incumbent Suffolk Police Benevolent Association (PBA) President Lou Civello and law enforcement legend, Anthony Senft, Sr.
2026 Humanitarian Award – Lou Civello
Before his tenure began as PBA President, Civello started his law enforcement career with the NYPD in 2000. A scion of a law enforcement dynasty, he transferred to Suffolk in 2001, where he would log twenty years as a Fifth Precinct patrol officer. After he was elected a union delegate in 2006, Civello would help establish the PBA’s Political Awareness Committee. In 2019, he would run unopposed for the PBA’s Second Vice President before his 2024 ascension to president.
“Everyone who wears a uniform knows that when they go to work, they may never return home,” Civello told a packed-house crowd that included a bipartisan slate of elected County officials. “That’s why when we go to work and we form these relationships, we’re not just coworkers to one another. We’re not even just friends; we are a family.”
Civello stated that when a family member is lost, greater law enforcement “coalesce[s]” around them.
“We become that support system,” said Civello, adding that the PBA, GOOD, and similar organizations don’t nickel-and-dime as far as on-duty/off-duty technicalities or causes of an officer’s death.
“Fadi Rafeh was working long hours guarding a prisoner, who was sick with the flu. He gets sick with the flu, and feeling unwell, he takes a nap. He never wakes up – two young boys,” said Civello. “Not in the line of duty, according to New York State.”
He also invoked the name of Officer Patricia Espinoza, a Nassau County police officer who was killed last month by a drunk driver in Smithtown.
“She was going to work and the very reckless street thugs who she was protecting the rest of the public from took her life,” said Civello. “Not in the line of duty. That’s not counting the stress and what this job does to you – the heart attacks, the cancer, the suicides.”
“In many ways, those families and children were forgotten about, but GOOD knows failure is not an option,” said Civello. “As long as I am PBA president, we will continue to support the mission of the GOOD Foundation.”
2026 Man of the Year – Anthony Senft
“Anthony Senft is known as the ‘real deal’ for a reason,” Joe Cardinale, a former NYPD officer and 2026 New York State Assembly candidate told The Messenger.
Senft is a retired NYPD Detective. After being seriously injured while dismantling a bomb near police headquarters on New Year’s Eve in 1982, he founded the NYPD Police Self Support Group to ensure that no officer faces recovery alone. He also served as an adoptive father to Danny Colondona, Jr., when Colondona lost his father at the age of 14.
“This [Suffolk] is one of the greatest police departments in the country – no doubt,” said Senft.
The husband of the late Officer Espinoza was also recognized and presented with a $2500 check and toys for his children.
“It’s amazing the support I’m getting not just from my police department [Nassau], but also from Suffolk, and the community,” said Espinoza’s widower, whose daughter is just three years old.
