Mike was one of the best characters I've ever met. A real Italian type guy from Staten Island. The first time I met him, I made some smart-arsed comment about the gold chain hanging on his hairy chest visible due to the 3 open buttons on his shirt. He smirked, and moved on. I was left wondering if I was about to get "whacked" by the mob!! Every morning there was always the all important "real man's" handshake, followed by some good conversation or a jibe about something that happened the day before. He made a point about talking us little guys through the new experiences we were about to encounter so we'd be prepared for what was coming up, because he'd seen it all before. He knew every inch of New York City, Long Island, and most of the Northeast, and could always give a minimum safe altitude for a given operation in a given weather condition.
He was more conservative with weather than most in NYC. He always made a point to slow the new guys down from the usual Liberty rush. Even though he had the new guys do most of the work in the mornings, I remember him meeting me at the aircraft one morning as I was about to head into the city. He slowly talked me though what he considered a proper walk-around. It was much more thorough than what I had planned, but each point checked had a good reason and/or story behind why it was incorporated into his walk-around. A friend told me of his inflight habit in a dual GPS equipped aircraft of setting the nearest VOR frequency in standby during every part of a flight, even in clear blue skies, just in case.
Stories! They were his forte. Every situation had a story to go with it. From something that happened at a given landmark in NYC, to what they would do with warm chicken livers in Vietnam! If you shut your mouth long enough to let him speak, you'd always hear some tale from years gone by.
I'll always remember Scarfia as the good humored old cranky guy sitting on the tug, first thing in the morning with a massive cigar and smoke pouring out of his mouth while the snubnosed .38 permanently holstered to his ankle poked out of the bottom of his trousers.
Mike Scarfia, the man, the legend!