‘Eww!’ Where Scarface wed
‘Capone nups’ church tests toxic
A famous church that once hosted Al Capone’s wedding and 20 other sites near Brooklyn’s toxic Gowanus Canal are in need of one hell of a clean-up after testing positive for dangerously unsafe air, The Post has learned.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation in April uncovered cancer-causing vapors seeping from polluted soil into the basement and rectory of St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Carroll Gardens.
“This is coming from God knows where,” sighed the pastor, Monsignor Guy Massie. “We’re doing the best we can right now, but this has been a big shock.”
There was a saving grace: The air in the 173-year-old house of worship — where the Brooklynborn Capone married wife Mae in 1918 before moving on to rule
Chicago’s gangland — came back clean. So did test results for the private International School of Brooklyn next door, which rents space from the church.
The state in September quietly began investigating some 100 blocks in and around the canal, where thousands of people live and work, to determine how many properties were contaminated, The Post reported last week.
On Thursday, the agency confirmed it has tested 131 of the 626 properties targeted during the ongoing first phase — and 21 had air levels of hazardous chemicals above “acceptable” levels.
School’s ‘all-clear'
Joe Santos, the school’s administrator, told parents the school “was given the all-clear” but “elevated levels” of tetrachloroethylene, a dry-cleaning chemical linked to cancer, were discovered in parts of the rectory and church.
The DEC refused to identify the sites that tested positive, but the church was identified in a letter sent to parents of pupils at the school.
A DEC spokesman said once all data from testing are collected and validated they will be shared with property owners and tenants.