“Haunts Me!” - NYPD Terror Detective on 9/11, Epstein & Interrogation Mastery | Tom Smith • 401
Julian Dorey · 27 Mar 2026 · 3h 4m
Guest: Tom Smith · Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
This conversation traces one man's path from an NYPD detective's kid in 1970s Washington Heights to a veteran counterterrorism investigator who spent seventeen years on the Joint Terrorism Task Force after 9/11. The guest, a retired NYPD detective, describes the crack-era crime wave of the late 1980s and early 1990s, his father's career as an Irish-American detective who worked narcotics and homicide in Manhattan, and his own start as a beat cop in one of the busiest precincts in the country. He recounts a 1993 shootout in upper Manhattan in detail, describing the sensory distortions of a gun battle, and later moves into how he built rapport in interrogations, favoring conversation and dignity over intimidation, including a technique of talking sports before easing into a confession. He discusses undercover work as a different psychological discipline from his own investigative role, the emotional toll of the job managed through family and coaching rather than alcohol, and his account of September 11, from the drive into the city through Connecticut to working at Ground Zero. He also describes his subsequent transfer to counterterrorism work, including a trip to Afghanistan on a kidnapping case, and the strain of constant travel that eventually led him to retire. Along the way, he offers pointed views on Jeffrey Epstein, institutional cover-ups, education funding, and current NYPD policy debates.
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Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- NYPD culture then versus now
- Crack epidemic and 1990s crime statistics
- Growing up with a detective father
- Communication skills in detective work
- Interrogation tactics and reading suspects
- 1993 shootout in Washington Heights
- Undercover work versus investigative work
- Jeffrey Epstein and survivor accounts
- September 11 response and Ground Zero
- Joint Terrorism Task Force and overseas work
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“You're not allowed to lose a fight under any circumstances. You cannot lose a fight. So you do everything you can to win that fight.”
“Serial killers aren't famous until they get caught.”