Good Job, Then Bad Timing for Limo Driver

Before turning his life around in middle age, Costas “Gus” Christofi was a petty thief and drug abuser. He went to prison four times during a 12-year period.

During that span, no one would have been surprised if Christofi’s reckless behavior had led to his death.

But he survived those turbulent years and came out a changed man, only to lose his life while doing his job. After a night of driving a group of men from a hotel to a restaurant, Christofi ended up at the New Jersey estate of former NBA player Jayson Williams, who, prosecutors allege, fired a shotgun blast that killed Christofi in the early hours of Feb. 14.

“I never could have imagined in my wildest nightmares that something like that could have happened,” said Sam Nenna, owner of the limousine company where Christofi worked.

It was only by a quirk of timing that Christofi and Williams met at all.

On the night of Feb. 13, Christofi, 55, was not working but stopped by the limousine service to drop off paperwork and check his schedule. Minutes later, a dispatcher got a call from Victor Santiago, Williams’ adopted brother, asking for a stretch limousine to drive Williams and his party, which included several Harlem Globetrotters.

The dispatcher, knowing Christofi was a sports trivia buff, offered him the job.

“He said, ‘Sure, why not?’” recalled Nenna, who imagined he’d hear Christofi whistling the Globetrotters’ theme song, “Sweet Georgia Brown,” the next morning.

“Everyone thought he would have a ball,” Nenna said.

By all accounts, Christofi did. Several of the Globetrotters, among them former Clipper Benoit Benjamin, later told an acquaintance that Christofi had a good wit and had engaged in conversation with the group for much of the night.

“He was an easygoing, funny type of guy,” said Chris Adams, Christofi’s nephew. “He liked to make people laugh.”

Christofi picked up Williams and several other passengers at 10:30 p.m. at the Comfort Suites in Bethlehem, Pa., and drove them to the Mountain View Chalet in Asbury, N.J., arriving at the restaurant about 11:15. The van--a stretch limousine was not available--was so crowded that one of the passengers rode up front next to Christofi, chatting with him.

Getting to know his clients was not unusual for Christofi. Nenna said the driver received numerous requests and had completed 1,700 trips without drawing a single complaint in the 17 months he worked for Seventy Eight Limousine in Pittstown, N.J.

“The people he drove really liked him, and he liked them,” Nenna said, adding that it wasn’t unusual for Christofi to send get-well cards to clients and help stranded motorists whose vehicles had broken down.

That type of compassionate behavior was in sharp contrast to the choices Christofi had made earlier in his life. He had an extensive criminal record that included multiple convictions for burglary and receiving stolen property. He spent a total of eight years in prison between January 1976 and December 1988, when he was paroled for the last time, according to New Jersey Corrections Department records.

Adams blamed his uncle’s troubles on keeping bad company.

“He was hanging around with the wrong crowd,” Adams said. “There was a lot of peer pressure. People said, ‘Let’s do this,’ and he followed.”

After leaving prison, Christofi entered a residential drug-treatment center and later became a substance-abuse counselor. At his funeral, among the mourners were parents who credited Christofi with steering their children away from a life of drugs.

Nenna said Christofi had worked for four years as a substance-abuse counselor before getting the itch to seek another job. Nenna said Christofi talked openly about his past problems when he applied for a driving position at Seventy Eight Limousine.

“We looked each other in the eye, and I told him, ‘I’ll take a shot on you, but don’t let me down,’” Nenna said. “And he never did. He’s still very sorely missed here. Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t talk about him.”

Christofi, a bachelor who lived in a modest home in Washington, N.J., was planning to drive Williams and his party back to the Comfort Suites after they’d finished dinner. But Williams, wanting to show off his 30,000-square-foot mansion that sits on 65 acres in Alexandria Township, took the Globetrotters and the rest of his group to his home, where they arrived about 2 a.m.

As it turned out, that decision cost Christofi his life when he was invited into the house and ended up in one of the eight bedroom suites, where he was shot in the chest. Williams has been charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, which carries a minimum prison term of 10 years.

Andrea Adams, Christofi’s sister, declined to be interviewed for this story. But her son, Chris Adams, said his mother wants Williams to serve “at least 25 years” for a crime that also carries charges of an alleged cover-up attempt, fabricating evidence and tampering with witnesses and evidence.

Williams also allegedly tried to convince investigators that Christofi committed suicide, a theory that family and friends say is preposterous.

“We want to see justice served,” Chris Adams said. “We want [Williams] to pay the price for all his crimes.”