The Raid on Fishers Island

As it usually does, the knock came at two o’clock in the morning. It was a loud, rattling knock and it was accompanied by an officer shouting that the door, which was locked, must be opened immediately. The noise woke everyone. But no one went to the door. This raid, fully documented, took place at one of the most exclusive locations on eastern Long Island six months ago.

Although the officers had guns with them, they did not use them. Instead, they used a crowbar they’d brought to destroy the lock. And with that, they burst in.

“Everyone up. Everyone up.”

In short order, everyone was assembled in the living room where they were told they were to gather their things. They would all be leaving the premises. Immediately.

Some objected. They were told to do as they were told. And to make their point, the officers began to forcefully remove those who objected. And so the deed was done.

Fishers Island, which is the most easterly part of the Town of Southold on the North Fork, is the summer home of some of the wealthiest families in America. They live in mansions surrounded by grand lawns that landscapers care for. There are tennis courts and swimming pools, docks and putting greens. Several golf courses are available  on the island. It seemed amazing that an operation such as this could take place on the island, particularly since less than 2% of the local population — about 800 residents who serve the summer people — are Hispanic. Nevertheless, considering President Donald Trump’s exertions to remove all undocumented immigrants from American shores and send them mostly to places in Spanish-speaking Central and South America, it seemed entirely possible that this is what happened anyway.

It wasn’t. Those forcibly evicted from that home that night were employees of the Fishers Island Ferry District, an entity created by New York State in partnership with the Town of Southold. It operates the ferries to the mainland and back as well as the airport where visitors fly in and out in the summertime.

And the officers? No, they were not ICE. They were members of the Southold Town Police Department, the service that keeps the peace on the island. They wanted the employees of the ferry service to vacate the premises so the police could use it. The ferry service employees had not done so. And so, 30 miles away — more about this later —  the Town Board of Southold held an emergency meeting and voted to instruct the police department to remove them.

It seems that the town might have continued to negotiate with their tenant. Tenants have rights. But taking a cue from ICE and Trump, who chooses a more direct method for those who disagree with him, they didn’t.

It is unclear where those employees went when they were rousted in the wee hours. But they had ferry boats that offered alternatives, such as motoring to the mainland at that hour.

Indeed, this was all kept quiet for a considerable time. But on May 29, the ferry district filed a lawsuit with the Suffolk Supreme Court demanding $2 million in damages from the Town of Southold for those affected.

“We had no choice but to go to court, because we can’t allow this usurpation of their rights to continue,” Keith Corbett, the attorney for the ferry service told a reporter for the Suffolk Times in June.

From Southold Town’s perspective, they did what they had to do. The town owns the building at 357 Whistler Avenue, in a section of the island where mostly local people live. They also own another Whistler Avenue property that was used as the headquarters and barracks of the New York State Police which kept the peace on this island for many, many years. Two years ago, the State Police, stating that where they lived was filthy and uninhabitable, withdrew from the island, thus creating the need for Southold to have its police department take over, which they did.

And that created this huge problem. The Southold police, with the other house uninhabitable, needed a place to stay on this faraway island so as to properly patrol it. And so they needed the ferry district employees to move. Immediately. And the ferry service refused to do that, preferring to discuss other possibilities. Thus dragging their feet. And thus becoming the target of this raid to solve this very urgent problem.

How could this situation come about? The reason is rather astounding. It takes the Southold police three hours — a ferry to New London,Connecticut then a second to Fisher’s to get to this island. And it can only be explained properly when you know its history.

In 1664, when the English threw the Dutch out of Manhattan, the Dutch agreed to hand over all the islands in the approach to Manhattan to the English. Which English colony should get them? Well, the logical place for these islands, such as Staten Island and Long Island, would be in New York, run by the Duke of York. And that was agreed upon.

But then there was this small island 30 miles to the east of the tip of Long Island known as Fishers Island. Because it was nestled just two  miles from the coast of Connecticut almost at the border with Rhode Island, that island was obviously not an approach to Manhattan, and should have gone to  Connecticut. But back in England, King Charles II held a grudge against the governor of Connecticut. In a court trial, three judges voted to hang his father, Charles I. And the deed was done. Afterwards, the three judges who ordered that were secretly kept in hiding by the now governor of Connecticut so the king could never find them.

Hell would freeze over before King Charles II would allow Fishers Island to be part of Connecticut.

Thus Fishers Island was given to New York, specifically as part of Southold Town. And today, with the New York State Police leaving two years ago, it became Southold’s responsibility to take over keeping the peace.

Why would they need a place on the island? With the long journey to get there, you’d need lodgings for the police to live in overnight. And the house where the State Police had been wouldn’t do.

So now a judge will sort it all out.