William Rapetti

Six construction workers and a tourist were killed when a crane collapsed at the site of a highrise apartment building that was under construction. Two dozen people were injured when an adjacent brownstone flattened. The crane was owned by William Rapetti. He was responsible for supervising the assembly of the crane as sections were added and the crane was raised. When the crew was extending the crane upwards and attempting to secure the collar to the building with steel tie beams, the collar fell. The crane fell to the south across East 51st Street. The tower separated into three sections. Records showed that Ed Marquette, a city crane inspector, had inspected the crane 11 days prior to the collapse, but he had not actually conducted the inspection. Cellphone records showed that Marquette had a habit of being at home or at a local bar during working hours.