Award given in honor of late Lynn state trooper Andrew Palombo

LYNN-The late State Police Lt. Andrew Palombo of Lynn had a reputation for gutsy action, often working undercover to nail outlaw bikers, drug dealers, serial killers and fledgling Mafiosi.When he died in a motorcycle crash on July 4, 1998, more than 1,200 police officers, firefighters, friends and relatives turned out for his funeral. He was 51.Palombo was honored at a ceremony in Boston Thursday at which the first annual Lt. Andrew C. Palombo Award was given to State Police Trooper Carla Pivero, who is assigned to the attorney general’s office. She was recognized for her work in spearheading an arson investigation, which led to locating the arsonist and solving the crime. Other troopers in the unit selected Pivero as the recipient.”My father was a cop’s cop,” said Palombo’s daughter, Cristyn Newhall of Lynn. “The achievement award is given to the trooper who makes the most of his or her own talent. It’s about how you put to use everything you learned at the academy. That’s what my father did.”Throughout his nearly 30 years with the State Police, Palombo took part in many high-profile criminal investigations, including that of Lenny “The Quahog” Paradiso of Revere, prime suspect in the murder of Harvard University co-ed Joan Webster.It was Palombo who burst the imaginary bubble of Robert Hunt, an imposter posing as a NASA astronaut to collect lecture fees and defraud unwary women.A strapping 6-foot-4, Palombo could be an intimidating tough guy, yet close friends knew him as a soft-spoken, compassionate man. He was undeniably a renegade, never more content than when clad in hip street clothes and sunglasses, his ear pierced, hair in a ponytail. An ever-changing succession of cars became part of his trademark ? Jaguars, Mustangs, Trans Ams and Cadillacs, as did motorcycles and boats. It was a lifestyle that suited him, having once described the job to a colleague as “playing Miami Vice,” a reference to the 1980s TV cop show.Toward the latter part of his career, Palombo worked out of the attorney general’s office as a narcotics specialist. He was also assigned to Troop F barracks at Logan Airport where he worked as a customs investigator alongside federal agents. It was at the height of the cocaine epidemic. Ever the sharp eye, the first crack cocaine bust in Boston in the mid-1980s was attributed to Palombo’s surveillance.In 1996, a Vermont man surfing the Internet with intent to hire somebody to murder his wife, ended up in Palombo’s handcuffs instead. Several online pedophiles met the same fate.Palombo died as he lived. En route home from a fireworks display, his Harley-Davidson struck an oil slick and spun out of control on Rock Avenue. His good friend, retired State Police Capt. Richard Downey of Lynn, was at his side when the accident occurred.In addition to his daughter Cristyn, Palombo left behind his wife, Christine Palombo of Lynn, and three more daughters ? Laura Boe of Peabody, Jessica Palombo of Stoneham, and Stacy Caterina of Lynn.