This Humble Elevator Technician Ran Two Miles Into The World Trade Center To Save Hundreds Trapped In Stalled Elevators.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, 46-year-old elevator mechanic Charles "Chuck" Costello Jr. was working at a hotel in SoHo, twenty blocks north of the World Trade Center. It was a rare day for the New Jersey father of four to be working in Manhattan, but as a Boeing 767 slammed into the North Tower and hundreds of thousands of people began fleeing Lower Manhattan in terror, Costello did the unthinkable: he jumped out of his work site and ran over two miles straight toward the burning towers. When his coworker desperately urged him to stay back, the humble Navy veteran and devout Christian simply replied, "I'll be fine. Just keep your cellphone on," before disappearing into the thick smoke.
Inside the burning complex, stalled elevators had become horrific death traps, locking hundreds of panicked occupants inside pitch-black shafts filled with jet fuel smoke. While official contractors withdrew their crews from the chaos, Costello voluntarily charged into 1 World Trade Center to offer his technical expertise. Working alongside firefighters and police officers, who quickly came to know him as "the elevator man", he used his specialized tools and knowledge to override controls and manually force open jammed doors, freeing trapped workers line after line. After extricating countless people from the North Tower, he refused to seek safety for himself and instead ran directly into 2 World Trade Center to perform the exact same life-saving operation.
Costello’s tireless efforts saved hundreds of lives before the towers collapsed, but his refusal to abandon those trapped inside came at the ultimate price. On January 5, 2002, search and rescue crews finally recovered his remains deep beneath the rubble in a South Tower elevator shaft, resting side-by-side with a firefighter and a police officer. In his pocket were his driver’s license, union card, and rosary. Today, his son carries on his legacy as both an elevator mechanic and a volunteer firefighter. While the world remembers the overwhelming tragedy of that morning, Chuck Costello’s quiet, self-sacrificing courage stands as a testament to the highest order of human love, serving as a poignant reminder of how easily extraordinary human stories can be overlooked.
A woman who murdered her children — nearly $1 million.
A man who murdered a student at a track meet — over $600,000.
The family of a man who died from cancer caused by his heroism as a 9/11 first responder — $3,500.
America is broken. Give if you can, please.
🚨DISGUSTING!! This was not a mistake. It was a slap in the face of the dead.
Five days before the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the mayor of New York signs an order “honoring” the murdered and then hands the ceremonial pen to a man who once defended an al-Qaeda terrorist tied to a Pentagon hijacker.
I survived Islamic terror as a child. I know what contempt for the dead looks like. It looks like this.
If this doesn’t make you angry, you weren’t paying attention the first time.
1) You're not a platform, Hasan. To quote your buddy Abdul, you're just some streamer from California.
2) You're a Turkish silver-spoon socialist who hates America, celebrates political violence, and mocks the dead.
3) Charlie gave his life to building up America, you profit off of tearing it down. You're a photographic negative of everything Charlie stood for.
You aren't worthy of uttering his name, let alone comparing yourself to him.
Muslim Michigan US Senate candidate @AbdulElSayed Abdul El-Sayed, who has been endorsed by Tucker Carlson, is throwing a Mexican themed fiesta on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 this year.
He is throwing a party on 9/11.
This is your daily reminder of why Muslims should be BANNED from holding office in America.
🔥 BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis just PUMMELED a leftist heckler who disrupted his speech tonight
"Hey — SOROS isn't paying you enough, because you're not very good at this! Pay some better talent instead of having people like YOU show up. This ain't my first rodeo, lady! I've seen it all, and YOU AIN'T VERY GOOD AT IT."
THAT'S MY GOVERNOR!! ☀️
On the day of the Dobbs decision in 2022, "Christian" James Talarico hurriedly drafted a letter to Joe Biden urging him to prop up abortion mills on federal lands and to make abortion doctors federal employees to shield them from state prosecutions.
This man is truly deranged.
Tonight I was honored to earn Governor @RonDeSantis’s endorsement.
Governor DeSantis has done incredible work to make Florida the envy of America.
As your next Governor, I will build on his success and defend the Florida Dream.
🚨 NOW — GOV. RON DESANTIS: I signed a bill banning SHARIA LAW in Florida
*Crowd erupts*
DESANTIS: We have officially designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terror organization. CAIR. And ANTIFA.
*Crowd erupts*
DESANTIS: We're seeing the fusion of Islamism and socialism. If we've designated these groups as FTOs, they do not get benefits.
FLORIDA IS BASED 🔥🔥
🚨DEAR GOD!!!
It has been revealed that the man who broke into a 77-year-old DISABLED woman's home at 4 a.m., ripped her clothes off, and R*PED her while she was ASLEEP in her own bed...
...IS AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT FROM HONDURAS!!!!!
When the woman tried to run, the illegal dragged her back inside by her hands and feet and CHOKED her.
She fought so hard she left him covered in scratches.
This happened in Mulberry, Florida.
Around 4 in the morning, this elderly woman woke to a noise and saw a silhouette in her living room.
The sheriff says the man pounced on her in her own bed and se*ually battered her and then he DRAGGED her around the room by her hands and her feet.
She tried to escape out the front door while he was in the bathroom, but he chased her down, dragged her back inside, and choked her.
This 77-year-old grandmother FOUGHT.
The suspect had scratches all over his body from her fighting for her life and somehow, she got free, ran outside without any clothes, screaming for help.
Detectives found the suspect nearby, in a home with two other men.
His name is Axel Antonio Espinal Herrera.
He's 24 years old and he is an illegal immigrant from Honduras. ICE has now placed a detainer on him.
Pray for this elderly woman today, I cannot imagine what she's going through.
WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!
🚨WOW!!!
A Bronx pizzeria owner saw a woman eating out of his GARBAGE.
He walked outside, took her by the hand, led her in, and pulled a hot slice straight from the oven for her.
She sat down and cried. He said: "Don't cry. Eat. I don't want you eating out of a garbage." ❤️
His name is Daniel Romano.
He owns D'Romano's Pizza in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx.
He didn't shoo her away.
"I grabbed her by the hand and I led her to the pizzeria and I went in the oven and I got her a fresh slice and gave it to her. Sat down and she started crying. I said, 'don't cry, eat. This is not a problem.'"
In that moment, he decided he'd never let it happen to anyone again.
So he grabbed a marker, wrote a sign by hand, and taped it in his window for the whole neighborhood to see:
"To the people eating out of my garbage, I have more love for you than you think. Please come in and tell me you're hungry. I will forever give you a slice and fresh water to drink."
When they asked him why, his answer was simple.
"Right now, I think this world is shot. There's too much hate. Too much negativity. Why not put a smile on someone's face?"
And it turns out this runs deep for Daniel.
It goes all the way back to his mother, Carmella.
"She had a saying in Italian. She used to say, 'a desperate person will always make a better decision on a full stomach than on an empty.'
"It always stuck with me. So I feed people."
A desperate person makes a better decision on a full stomach.
That handwritten sign has traveled way past the Bronx now.
Daniel says people are calling him from Texas, Arkansas, Hawaii, even Alaska, all wanting to chip in and buy slices for hungry strangers they'll NEVER MEET.
"Don't ask me, I didn't even know Alaska had a phone."
It all started with one slice.
One woman.
One man who did something kind.
GOD BLESS Daniel Romano. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸