James William Thompson of Sag Harbor died on March 24 in The Villages, Florida. He was 74.
Mr. Thompson, known to most as “Jim,” was born on August 17, 1941, in the Bronx, to Marguerite Kinnaird Thompson and Joseph Thompson. He and his family moved to Lindenhurst in 1959, where he met the woman who would become his wife of nearly 53 years, Eleanor Thompson (nee Timko). After graduating from Lindenhurst High School in 1960, Mr. Thompson served in the Army National Guard.
Mr. Thompson joined the Suffolk County Police Department on April 15, 1963. He started in the 1st Precinct and quickly became an undercover narcotics investigator. He was promoted to sergeant in 1970 and became a detective sergeant in the narcotics division in 1971.
In 1974, Mr. Thompson was instrumental in forming the Long Island Drug Enforcement Agency Drug Task Force, in which he supervised Suffolk and Nassau detectives and DEA agents. His mission was to interdict and arrest defendants involved in smuggling drugs into the country for sale on Long Island. His tenure at the task force lead to the largest seizures of drugs and the most significant drug arrests in the history of the county.
On September 3, 1981, a Colombian trawler was intercepted off the coast of East Hampton. The task force team, led by Mr. Thompson, resulted in the seizure of 40,000 pounds of marijuana and the arrest of six organized crime figures, six Colombian nationals and an additional 21 defendants. They were all convicted.
In April 1978, the president of the outlaw motorcycle gang, the Pagans, was arrested by Mr. Thompson and his team, with the seizure of millions of dollars of amphetamines and an arsenal of assorted weapons.
In January 1979, his team seized five kilograms of heroin in Ronkonkoma, whereupon five Mexican nationals were arrested.
This is just a small sample of the war on drugs fought by Mr. Thompson and his team. Narcotics enforcement at this level is not without risk and, in January 1981, three defendants tried to rob an undercover detective during a buy operation. This resulted in a high-speed chase on Old Country Road with Mr. Thompson in the lead pursuit car. Twenty shots were fired and three defendants were arrested. One defendant was shot in the shoulder, but no police were injured.
One case had a profound impact on Mr. Thompson: In executing a search warrant in Brooklyn, two members of the team were shot. Both made a full recovery. Mr. Thompson cried that night.
Survivors said that Mr. Thompson will be remembered by the members of the Suffolk County Police Department as a boss who cared about the men and women who worked for him, who cared about getting the job done and who always did the right thing. He left this world a better place than he found it.
Mr. Thompson and his wife, known as “Ellie,” had three children, James W. Thompson Jr., who predeceased him, June Ellen (Thompson) Haynal of Sag Harbor, and Susan Marie (Thompson) Peterson of East Hampton.
After retiring from the Suffolk County Police Department, the family moved to Sag Harbor where they opened a family restaurant, Jim’s Anchorage, in Noyac. Mr. Thompson was a volunteer for the Sag Harbor Ambulance and was a board member for St. Andrew’s School in Sag Harbor. Upon selling the restaurant, he established a successful private investigating business and served as the supervising investigator for the New York State Insurance Fraud Agency.
Survivors said, Mr. Thompson was always known as someone who would do anything for a friend. His greatest pride was his family and nothing put a smile on Jim’s face more than seeing his kids, grandkids, nephews or extended family come to the house or see him at a reunion he orchestrated. His number one priority was always his loved ones. He enjoyed nothing more than pulling up fish onto his boat with friends or taking a family picnic on his boat, out into the middle of Noyac Bay.
Mr. Thompson is survived by his wife, daughters and their spouses, Richard Haynal and Aubrey Peterson; and grandchildren, James Haynal, Aubrey W. Peterson, Lucinda Haynal and Finn Peterson. He is also survived by a sister, Marie Shavaat of Pennsylvania; a sister-in-law, Jean Thompson of West Babylon; as well as many nephews, nieces and their children. He was predeceased by three brothers, Joseph Thompson, John Thompson and Edward Thompson.
Visitation will be at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor on Friday, April 8, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral will be held on Saturday, April 9, at 10:30 a.m., at St. Andrew’s Church in Sag Harbor.
Memorial donations may be made to the Sag Harbor Ambulance Corps, Box 2725, Sag Harbor, NY 11963.
on Mar 31, 2016