Frank Figliuzzi hosts The Frank Figliuzzi Show on Lincoln Square. He is an FBI Assistant Director (retired); 25-year veteran Special Agent; and author of the national bestseller, The FBI Way, and Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers. Subscribe to his Substack.
Another friend and colleague involved in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks died recently. He passed on July 4, 2026, while our nation marked its 250th year of freedom.
My friend is free now, too. Free from the specific ailments that qualified him for monitoring and treatment in the World Trade Center Health Program because of his protracted and painstaking evidence recovery work. He’s not the first colleague of mine to perish from their patriotism on 9/11, and likely won’t be the last. Twenty-five years after nearly 3,000 people were killed across the three crash sites in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., the death toll climbs. More people have now died of 9/11 illnesses than were lost on the day of the attacks.
On September 11, 2001, over 400 first responders, including police, firefighters, paramedics and EMTs, ran into the twin towers of the WTC to rescue others, but didn’t save themselves.
In the 25 years since, almost ten times that number have died from 9/11-related illnesses including rare cancers and respiratory ailments linked to the toxic mix of jet fuel, metals and debris that poisoned not only those working the WTC site, but law enforcement investigators assigned to evidence analysis locations where debris was transported. The same holds true for first responders at each of the other crash sites.
I’ve written about this phenomenon on past 9/11 anniversaries, and I’m sharing it again because an entire generation born after the attacks needs to know that the sacrifice of patriots continues well beyond that Tuesday morning a quarter-century ago.
The most common cancer found in responders and civilians exposed to Ground Zero toxins is non-Melanoma skin cancer with 18,380 cases. Then comes prostate (13,170 cases), female breast (4,830), melanoma (3,860 cases) and lymphoma (2,560), according to Centers for Disease Control data released this summer. The cancer numbers are far from average — the rates have surged among the group compared to the general population, according to the World Trade Center Health Program.