September 21, 2026 | By: Carey Budzynski, PCC Intern

Albert Garland was born on December 6, 1926, and raised in Brooklyn, New York, in modest circumstances. He was the second of four children, with two sisters and a brother.

After graduating from high school, Albert attended City College before joining the United States Army, where he served for four years and was stationed in Italy. A passionate lover of music, he found time during his military service to work as a DJ. After leaving the army, he entered the family business in a second location of two poultry shops, his on Delancey Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side while his brother and father owned and operated a sister location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Soon after, Albert met the love of his life, Doreen, and they were married on May 15, 1960. They started a family, welcoming three children. Driven by the desire to provide a better life, Albert moved them out of the city to the suburbs in Long Island, enduring long daily commutes to his shop in the Lower East Side.

Albert was a man of many talents – fluent in multiple languages, witty with a dry sense of humor, religious and deeply charitable. A hardworking businessman, he ran his shop six days a week and was known for his honesty and commitment to helping those in need. Customers remembered him for extending credit to those who couldn’t afford to pay, a testament to his kind heart. As a father, he was equally remarkable.

“He supported us in our passions, even when he didn’t fully agree with them,” his son Gordon recalls, fondly remembering his father’s encouragement during his motorcycle racing days.

Albert was a devoted father, husband, uncle, friend, son, and hardworking business owner, but at just 56 years old, his life was tragically cut short when he was fatally shot while closing his shop at 210 Delancey Street on August 22, 1983 at approximately 5:20pm. Investigators deemed nothing had been taken from the shop or Garland, making this crime senseless. Decades later, there have been no suspects in custody and his case remains unsolved. Albert’s son, Gordon, continues to search for answers about what happened that fateful night. Losing a loved one is a profound tragedy, but the pain of an unsolved homicide lingers indefinitely, leaving unanswered questions and a life forever marked by uncertainty. For Gordon, the journey to honor his father and seek justice for his untimely death has shaped his life in unexpected ways.

Forty years after his father’s death, the pain remains raw. The loss wasn’t just sudden it was incomprehensible.

“It’s still an (open) cold case. We don’t know who, what or why,” he shares.

The uncertainty has made seeking justice elusive and has profoundly shaped his family’s life. As the eldest sibling, he carried the heavy responsibility of informing his younger siblings about their father’s death.

“A week later, my sister was to enter her freshman year in college and my brother, still in high school, while we tried to keep the business afloat but it didn’t work out”.

The absence of answers has been especially difficult, affecting everything from major life milestones such as weddings and the births of grandchildren, to the everyday joys of someday seeing his father relax in retirement.

The pursuit of answers has been unrelenting. Over the years, he’s worked tirelessly to bring attention to his father’s case, from NYPD Cold Case Squads, appearances on TV shows, and multiple distributions of reward posters with increased dollar amounts for tips leading to any information. Yet, the trail has gone cold. Initially, there was strong communication from law enforcement, but receiving updates eventually became sparse.

“I just want to know what happened and why?” he says.

The emotional toll of this unresolved tragedy is immense. “It eats at me every day,” he admits.

He’s struggled with PTSD and found traditional therapy unhelpful, instead drawing solace from music, sports, work and supporting newer families of homicide in a local POMC organization. Certain days like his father’s birthday, the anniversary of his death, and even 9/11, as his father’s shop was near the Twin Towers are particularly hard. Yet, he remains resilient, driven by the belief that his father would want him to live fully.

Despite the pain, he has built a life filled with meaning. Married with two special daughters, he has taken lessons from his father’s work ethic while striving to maintain a better life/work balance.

“I’ve made it a priority to attend my kids’ events and spend quality time with them,” he says.

Honoring his father also means living ethically and providing for his family while being present, a way of carrying forward the legacy of a man who was a provider and family man.

To those enduring similar pain, his advice is, “You’ll move forward as best as you can. It never goes away, but it does get better. Your loved one wouldn’t want you to live in mourning forever they’d want you to succeed in everything life has to offer.”

Reflecting on his journey, he acknowledges how profoundly it has shaped his outlook. “The world is complicated, and things aren’t always what they seem. This experience has given me patience and wisdom.” If he could speak directly to the person responsible for his father’s death, he has just one question: “Why?”

Living with the burden of an unsolved homicide is a journey no one chooses. “It’s like being in a club you don’t want to be a member of,” he says. Yet, through his resilience, he continues to fight for justice while honoring the memory of a man whose life, though cut short, left a permanent mark on all who knew him.

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If you have any information on the unsolved homicide of Albert Garland, please contact the New York Police Department at (646) 610-5000 . To remain anonymous and possibly be eligible for an enhanced reward, you can call the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at (800) 577-8477 or Crime Stoppers USA at (800) 222-8477.

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