“If you find a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life.”
About 40% of the cases involve divorce. However, Mr Colucci says he “likes to get into the more juicy criminal matters” and would prefer to spend his time working on cases other than divorce, but due to the high divorce rate in Fairfield County there is a need that must be met.
In a divorce case Colucci is typically contacted by a lawyer representing either the husband or the wife. The lawyer will disclose information regarding the divorce, such as a suspected affair or hidden money, and Colucci will then conduct surveillance and try to uncover some information that will help the husband/wife.
He also gets called to solve possible insurance fraud. His company is contacted by an insurance company who will convey details about a suspected bogus claim. Colucci will then do what he can to look into the claim to see if it is legitimate.
Then there are the missing persons' cases. In his hunt to track someone down, Mr Colucci ideally needs to know simple facts, such as when the last time someone saw this person, where he/she lived, their age, date of birth and social security number. With any of this information Colucci uses search engines that are more useful than the average Google search. He has a 75% success rate.
Then there are the high-profile celebrity cases that have made him a nationally-recognized figure. Mr Colucci has been involved with cases near his residence in Stamford, such as the murder of con man real estate multimillionaire Andrew Kissel of Greenwich, as well out of state in the manslaughter case that involved NBA star Jayson Williams in New Jersey. He has even worked on a very important case in Darien: the Father Michael Jude Fay investigation. Mr Colucci helped expose Father Fay and his boyfriend’s financial misconduct, which resulted in a loss of $1.4 million to St John’s Parish. Fay is currently serving a three-year sentence in a Massachusetts prison.
Mr Colucci’s involvement in such well-known cases has led him to appear on more than 400 TV and news shows. He has made appearances on “60 Minutes”, CNN, Fox News and Court TV, as well as writing his 2008 book Inside the Private Eyes of a PI.
Colucci is called to make on-camera comments on current investigations - many cases that he is actually not booked to solve. Colucci draws from his experiences in the field to give insight regarding suspected criminals, crime scene evidence and the validity of a suspect’s alibi. Mr Colucci prides himself on not always siding with the police, which allows him to view events and evidence in some cases in different ways than the cops.
Mr Colucci’s celebrity status has made him very well known and busy, which is why he was scheduled to speak at DHS nearly six months in advance when Ms. Wilkins approached him last spring and first made the request. His talk was well worth the wait as his experiences were very impressive and informative.
Private Investigator Speaks at DHS
By Lizzie Kirst - 01/09
NEIRAD enilno edition | printer friendly
Nationally-known detective Mr. Vito Colucci is helping give Neirad journalists a jumpstart on their budding investigative final projects. The private investigator visited DHS to share tips and tales of his storied career. His passion for his profession was obvious, making his talk even more appealing. "If you find a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life,” Mr Colucci said. The famous P.I feels this is true for himself and enjoys going to the office every day.
Mr Colucci's talk was informative, which featured his experiences and many of the detective's high-profile cases. “It was really interesting for him to come because I learned a lot about what it was like to be a private investigator “ junior Emily Pik said.
Pik and her Intro Journalism classmates were joined by the Forensics and Law and Government students who came to learn about finding and tracking down people; how to process physical evidence and interpret material at crime scenes.
It was at a talk he gave at the Ferguson Library in Stamford last spring that journalism teacher Ms Stacey Wilkins and Neirad investigative reporter Kimberly Russell saw Mr. Colucci speak. Ms Wilkins thought he would be an interesting person to talk to her journalism students to prepare them for an investigative journalism unit.
Mr. Colucci started his career with the law at the age of 21 when he became a cop at the Stamford Police Department, though this was not always his plan. Until age 20, Mr Colucci considered himself a musician, playing the bass and guitar before realizing he would not be able to support a family with that profession. He served at the Stamford Police Department as both a narcotics detective and an undercover organized crime investigator for 20 years before deciding to use his expertise in the police force to become a private investigator.
His years as a cop were well spent, as he was awarded the Combat Cross while working undercover in narcotics in a case that left one man dead and another wounded. (thankfully Mr Colucci and his partner were not injured in this incident)
So why would a highly skilled and recognized policeman decide to leave his job? It’s not because Colucci didn’t like his work; he wanted to use his skills in another area to continue helping people.
His business, Colucci Investigations, was started to provide personal and dedicated services. Mr Colucci, as stated on the homepage of his Web site (www.coluccipi.org), considers his business a “full service private investigative agency covering Connecticut, the nation and the world.” The range of services provided by Colucci Investigation covers divorce, accident/insurance, missing persons, criminal and crime scene investigations among many others.
"Colucci draws from his experiences in the field to give insight regarding suspected criminals, crime scene evidence and validity of a suspect’s alibi. He prides himself on not always siding with the police."
Vito Colucci
