NYC Mayor Defends FDNY Hiring Ex-Commish's Son

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is defending the FDNY for hiring the son of a former city fire commissioner despite the young man's history of racist and anti-Semitic posts on social media.

According to the Daily News, Joseph Cassano -- the son of former fire commissioner Salvatore Cassano -- entered the FDNY's academy on Monday, sparking condemnation from elected officials and the Vulcan Society, an organization representing black department members.

"I have a respectful disagreement because I believe in redemption," de Blasio said, citing his work to make the prison at Rikers Island a place where people can turn their lives around. "I can't say it for one group of people and then say, well, it's not okay for another group of people."

Asked if he'd hire someone with Cassano's history, the mayor said he would.

The younger Cassano resigned during his probationary period as an EMT in 2013 after his inflammatory tweets surfaced. Cassano tweeted that he liked Jews about as much as Hitler and that Martin Luther King Jr. could "kick rocks."

"I don't want our firefighters working with somebody who clearly has very serious issues with people who are not like him," Controller Scott Stringer said.

Cassano eventually met with a prominent rabbi and toured the Museum of Tolerance before returning to EMS, allowing him a fast-track to taking the firefighter exam. Critics, however, say he's getting special treatment.

"The statements in the past were absolutely inappropriate, and there was a stipulated path to make up for that, and that path was followed, and there are no new transgressions," de Blasio said. "That to me is consistent with the notion of you give people a chance to make up for their mistakes."