Speculation Looms on Whether WTC Debris was Stolen

Danielle Jackson

New York -- A Wall Street Journal article reported on Sept. 28 that the only parts of the World Trade Center that will not go to the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island are the heavy structural girders, which will be sent to two local recycling companies in New Jersey, and the exoskeleton of the building that many New Yorkers would like to preserve as a monument.

But reports by Reuters and others cite that some people may have stolen the ruins of the World Trade Center, even pointing a finger at local organized crime families as the culprits. The Reuters report quoted New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as saying that organized crime families may have taken the stolen materials to three area dumps -- two in New Jersey and one in Long Island. Kerik revelead that there is an ongoing investigation being conducted by the organized crime control bureau and the trade waste commission.

According to the Reuters report, the steel and metal from the girders still are part of the crime scene and are supposed to be sent to Fresh Kills.

On the same day, the New York Post reported that more than 250 tons of crime-scene material was diverted from Fresh Kills.