R.I.P. continued

Newsday.com - Long Island News I really didn't do Vin's memory any justice earlier this morning. I guess I was in shock, and still might be. This kid was a fixture in my house when we were growing up, a third little bro, or more accurately, another cousin of sorts. That smile you see in the newspaper picture is a very familiar smile to me; nearly every memory I have of him contains that smile. What a goofy sense of humor that kid had. Here is something really odd about this whole thing. The last time I saw Vin was at "The Fort" in Fort Salonga. I had the horrible task of telling him that a mutual friend of ours, John Phillips, had died in a car accident a few months back. This testifies to Vinnies's friendliness. . .we both knew John independent of each other. Vin touched a lot of lives. Anyway, Vinny was shaken to the core; this big, bearded, burly Narc/biker almost started to cry. In fact he was so shaken he left, nearly immediately. I felt, and still feel, terrible about being the bearer of bad news to my old friend. Logically I know he didn't hold it against me.
Now, how would I know this? Like I said, Vin Suppa got around, knew a lot of people. A few mos. before I was pulling duty at Bay Shore Ambulance,(and one reason I was actually volunteering relates to John Phillips death), doing some fourth of July holiday duty. One of the people on my crew was a city cop. I started to ask him if he knew some people and he was dismissive; "C'mon , Man, you know how many fuckin' cops there are in New York?" Ias ked a few names and I could see he was getting irritated so I stopped. Then I said something like "Hey indulge me on this last one huh?" He kinda sighed. "The name Vinnie Suppa ring any bells?" He turned suddenly. . ." Vin Suppa!? He's my fuckin partner !"
Now how does this play in to my knowing Vin didn't take my telling him the bad news personally? Well, I spoke of the last time I saw him, not he last time I talked to him. Afterward, I spoke to him over the phone at the ambulance house, when he called his partner. He wanted to hang out at some clubs in Nassau, told me to come along that night, he knew some bartenders, etc, etc. I wish I didn't have plans. That would have been fun I bet. Who knew?
Here is the wierder part. My (Our ) friend John died from his injuries five days after his car wreck and Vinny died in a wreck on the same exact day, seven years apart. Fuck.