A Westchester man is suing a St. John’s University dean he claims is his father, saying he cruelly rejected him — but the alleged papa insists he’s not related.
Michael Monaco, 30, of Thornwood, says in court papers that he spent his youth pining for Harold Broderick, a Staten Island man he claims fathered him during an affair with Monaco’s mother, Linda Campanelli, in the early 1980s.
“Questions about why his father would abandon him had been planted in [Monaco’s] mind during young adulthood, leading to psychological and social problems,” says the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.
He asked Broderick, an ex-NYPD cop, for a relationship in 2012, the suit says.
A few months later, Monaco’s lawyer sent a letter asking Broderick to help him get into and pay for St. John’s, where he is an assistant dean at the College of Professional Studies.
Broderick, 65, balked at the $37,000 tuition and denied he was his son, but Monaco transferred to St. John’s anyway, court papers say.
Broderick called him a “stalker,” the suit says.
“You are not my son. You are a bastard . . . and I don’t want you here, Michael,” he allegedly said. “You could get hurt . . . If you do decide to go to school at this location, you will be escorted out of class by police.”
The suit says the “nightmare” ended with Broderick filing false police reports and Monaco “abandoning his educational dreams.”
Monaco, a truck driver, was arrested in July on harassment raps, which were tossed. His suit accuses Broderick of defamation and seeks unspecified damages.
“Being able to say he was Dean Broderick’s son would have represented great value to Michael,” it says.
Testing was not done, but Monaco has “evidence” the dean is his dad, says his lawyer, Daniel Szalkiewicz.
Broderick, a widower, declined to comment on the suit. Asked whether he was Monaco’s father, he replied, “I would say I’m not.”