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........
