- What could inspire a man to dump paper in the neighborhood he grew up in every week?
When we think of serial crimes, our thoughts usually turn to serial killers. But any crime can take on a serial nature, not just murder.
Take littering, for example. It might seem harmless, but constantly dumping trash in one spot is a nuisance at best and a health hazard at worst.
The neighborhood of Greenpoint in Brooklyn has been struggling with just such a case for the past four years. Almost every Sunday morning, someone would dump sheets of paper on Greenpoint’s streets.
The strangest part was the seemingly meticulous detail that went into the littering. The pages thrown to the streets were carefully cut out of various printed publications, from Bibles to vintage porn magazines.
For years, local residents, private investigators, sanitation agencies, and the New York Police Department (NYPD) tried in vain to catch the Greenpoint Litterer. But in April this year, the culprit’s identity was finally revealed.
It was John Trzcinski, an NYPD Sergeant and long-time Greenpoint resident.
You’d imagine that he’d face some consequences for his actions, but Trzcisnki has gotten off basically scot-free. Furthermore, the biggest question remains: why did Trzcinski, a supposed environmentalist, keep littering Greenpoint?
We just don’t know.
Modern Art or a Weird Fetish?
The littering in Greenpoint began at some point in 2019. Initially, no one thought much of it — one Sunday morning there was just a bunch of paper on the streets.
Maybe a box of old magazines had fallen off a recycling truck or something.
“It felt accidental at first,” Greenpoint resident Dillon Kraus told Gothamist.
But then the littering happened again. And again. It quickly became clear someone was purposefully messing up the neighborhood every Sunday morning.
The source of the thousands of paper sheets didn’t provide much of a clue. Some publications the pages originated from included 1970s porn rags, Bibles, the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and college textbooks.
But what pointed to a premeditated effort was the great care with which each page was cut out. The sheets were always precisely sliced and perfectly flat — never crumpled or wrinkly.
As to why somebody was dumping paper all over Greenpoint, the locals had no idea. Some thought it was a bizarre modern art project, while others suggested it could be a “weird fetish” for littering.
Busted in the Act
For four years, the serial littering mystery went unsolved. That wasn’t for a lack of trying — Greenpoint locals filed numerous inquiries into the matter, and multiple agencies tried and failed to catch the culprit.
But things changed in early 2023.
One local resident, fed up with the constant littering, set up a surveillance camera at her home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the culprit. And sure enough, that’s what she did.
The footage she recorded showed a dark-colored car slowly driving through Greenpoint at around 5:30 a.m. The person sitting in the driver’s seat was seemingly releasing sheets upon sheets of paper onto the street.
So, locals now knew how the paper was spread. A further break came when another resident — with connections to a private security agency — pulled some strings to arrange multiple overnight stake-outs.
As a result, the agents were able to catch the litterer’s license plate number. After that, it wasn’t hard to find out who he really was.
A Slap on the Wrist
The litterer turned out to be John Trzcinski. He was an NYPD Sergeant and — as it was revealed later — had a close connection to Greenpoint.
Trzcinski grew up in Greenpoint at a family home that was sold in 2016. His parents had inherited a house in the area in the 1970s and settled there to raise Trzcinski and his two sisters.
So, after his identity was revealed, NYPD punished Trzcinski, right? Well, yes and no.
Police records show that he lost one vacation day for his actions. He has also reportedly been moved to work in the NYPD auto pounds command — famed for being an assignment for officers who aren’t exactly in NYPD’s good books.
He got off easy, though. NYC Department of Sanitation has, for some reason, not charged Trzcinski with littering, which could’ve seen him slapped with fines ranging from $75 to $400.
That’s partially because the sanitation department is bound by rather strict rules. They can’t issue fines unless a sanitation department worker personally catches the litterer in the act.
Trzcinski also can’t be charged with illegal dumping, as that requires one cubic yard of garbage to be discarded at a single time. He’s lucky in that regard — an illegal dumping charge carries fines up to $18,000.
But Why?
Ever since Trzcinski had his identity revealed, no more paper has appeared on Greenpoint streets. In a sense, the locals won.
Yet, no one can answer why Trzcinski began dumping paper in the neighborhood.
He moved out of the area about 25 years ago and has had little contact with it since. Additionally, his personality seems to be at odds with his actions.
“He’s an environmentalist,” said Ann, Trzcinski’s sister. “He’s the kind of guy who would pick up trash off the street, not leave it there.”
Some locals suspect Trzcinski must’ve been working through some personal problems by littering his childhood neighborhood. However, many have been unwilling to press the issue further as they don’t want to seem like they’re badmouthing the NYPD.
Well, at least they don’t have to worry about a weekly mess in their neighborhood.
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