Victor Vargas
Agency patch
Detective

Victor Vargas

End of Watch August 23, 2022
Age 58
Tour of Duty 10 yrs
Badge 85
Gender Male

Incident

Victor Vargas was appointed to the New York City Police Department on 13 January 1992 and promoted to detective on 3 March 1999. He retired from Manhattan North Narcotics on 31 December 2002.

Detective Vargas died on 23 August 2022 of illnesses contracted during his work in the rescue and recovery effort after the World Trade Center attacks. He was survived by his spouse, two sons and two daughters.

September 11, 2001 - The Years After

Detective Victor Vargas was assigned to the search and recovery at the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001. He was 38 years old that fall.

He died on August 23, 2022 - 20 years and 11 months later - of an illness contracted there. He was 58.

He is one of 600 officers honored here, and one of 451 at New York City Police Department.

The most recent of these deaths was October 24, 2025.

Officers who worked the search, rescue, and recovery at the World Trade Center site breathed contaminated air for weeks and months afterward. Many developed cancers and respiratory disease, and they have gone on dying of it ever since.

Seventy-two officers were killed on the morning itself. Hundreds more have died in the years that followed. They are honored here together, because the same attack killed them all. With some it simply took longer.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, mother, sister, two brothers, and a granddaughter.

In Our Keeping

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Stewardship
Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw
August 2, 2026
Last updated
September 22, 2026

Honored here by 1 tribute.

Are you family? This record can be claimed and maintained by those who knew Victor. Claim this record.

Also honored at requiem.nw, salute.nw — U.S. Air Force. One record, 3 gates. Victor is one person.

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Tributes

You walked into it and it took years to finish the job.
Detective Vargas gave the New York City Police Department 10 years.
Thank you for your service to the New York community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Detective Vargas.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Type Police Department
Location New York, NY
Platform Identity nypd.newyork.ny.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch August 23, 2022
Tour of Duty 10 yrs
Age 58
Badge Number 85
Gender Male
Assignment Manhattan North Narcotics

Incident Details

Cause Illness
Cause Detail 9/11 related illness
Weapon Aircraft; Passenger jet

Military Service

Victor Vargas served in the U.S. Air Force (1984–1988) before joining law enforcement.

View full service record on salute.nw →

The Sacrifice · Illness

Victor is one of 2,028 officers lost to illness in the United States, 7.4% of the 27,552 remembered there.

34,103 officers are remembered on this memorial. Each number below is one of them.

  1. See the roll
  2. See the roll
Compare against
I

Time

In 2022, 135 officers in the United States were lost to illness, the 4th heaviest of 108 years on record. The heaviest was 2021, with 564.

Every year on record · United States
II

Who

Victor was 58. Of the 1,996 lost to illness in the United States whose age is recorded, half were between 42 and 58; the middle age was 51. Victor had served 10 years; the middle length of service was 20 years.

Age at death
Where he stood among them
Age by years of service
III

When

August holds 10.2% of these deaths in the United States; October holds the most, 14.9%. Tuesdays: 13.3%.

By month
By day of the week
IV

How

Illness deaths account for 7.4% of all 27,552 deaths in the United States, the 3rd most common cause. The weapon recorded was aircraft; passenger jet, in 29.5% of these deaths.

Every cause
Weapons recorded
V

His people

New York City Police Department has at least 120 officers remembered here, Victor among them.

Across the years
VI

Where

Detective Victor Vargas

New York City Police Department · End of Watch August 23, 2022

Military Service

Victor Vargas served in the U.S. Air Force (1984–1988) before joining law enforcement.

Visit Victor Vargas’s page on salute.nw →

His full service record — units, decorations, where he served — is kept on salute.nw.

Where the Name Is Cut

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial · Panel 34-E

Also Remembered

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial — requiem.nw →

salute.nw →

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