An Upper West Side soap opera actor committed suicide this week—according to the Post, he wrote in his suicide note that he was wracked with grief over euthanizing his beloved pet dog Rocco. Nick Santino euthanized Rocco this past Tuesday, on Santino’s 47th birthday, under pressure from his apartment condo to get rid of the dog. "Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend," Santino wrote in a suicide note, according to close friend Stuart Sarnoff. "Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn't deserve this."
Santino, whose TV credits include “All My Children” and “Guiding Light” (you can see a self-made demo reel here), had been feeling "harassed" by his building management company, according to his neighbor Lia Pettigrew. His building at 1 Lincoln Plaza announced strict new dog regulations in 2010, including a ban on pit bulls like Rocco. The ban didn’t apply to him, because he was already in the building, but that didn't stop complaints from pouring in. “People were complaining about his dog,” said neighbor Kevan Cleary. “It was open season on him.”
Rocco couldn’t ride in the main elevators and wasn’t allowed to be left in the apartment alone for more than nine hours. Santino was then threatened with a $250 fine for having a barking dog. “The dog was not a barker, but somebody complained that the dog would bark,” Cleary said. “He felt like he was in this battle because he was the only guy in the building with a pit-bull mix."
Santino made a last phone call to a former girlfriend at 2 a.m. Wednesday. Later that day, police found his body in his bedroom—he had overdosed on pills. “He was distraught and remorseful about putting down his best friend,” Cleary said.
According to IMDB, Santino was part of the first team to lead search & rescue on World Trade Center 9-11-2001. He used his ConEdison Engineering ID & Asbestos Certification to gain access. Santino, who was raised in an orphanage and foster homes, previously wrote about Rocco on Facebook: “I did not rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me.”
