Former Juvenile Delinquent and Veteran who Overcame Substance Abuse and PTSD to Become an Award-Winning Teacher, Releases his Memoir "By Way of Canarsie"

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Jun 25, 2019, 08:30 ET

LAS VEGAS, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- While growing up in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, New York during the 1970's and 80's, Robert Cuccurullo and his siblings had to endure their father's violent temper. Robert's brother Warren found solace in music, first joining Frank Zappa's band, then co-founding the group Missing Persons, and eventually becoming the lead guitarist for Duran Duran.

Following an encounter with a violent sociopath and witnessing a mob murder, Robert became a heavy drug user by the age of sixteen. By his twenties, with his cocaine use spiraling out of control, he got involved with associates of the Lucchese Crime Family and found himself the target of a corrupt police detective.

Desperately seeking to escape the neighborhood, Robert volunteered to serve in Operation Desert Storm, where he witnessed death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. Suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress, his drug woes continued as he experienced one life-changing event after another. Following a felony arrest and facing eight years in prison, Robert was forced to confront his demons.

Following his medical retirement from the military and seeking the help he needed, Robert went back to school where he received a bachelor's degree in history and education graduating with honors. He became a Special Education teacher in Asbury Park, New Jersey teaching Social Studies to students with behavioral disorders. Robert also coached football, baseball, and girls' basketball.

His baseball team was featured on the front page of the Asbury Park Press Sports section as he completely transformed a program that had been winless for fifteen years. In his second season his team lost only one game and went on to win the league title, the first in the school's forty-one-year history. Robert was also instrumental in helping a female student play on the team when she was told she had to play softball. The story was featured nationally in USA Today which forced the school district to change their tune.

After being let go as part of a reduction in force and unable to find work, Robert decided to move to Las Vegas, Nevada. Only six months into his first year at Walter Johnson Junior High he was awarded the Walker Furniture Teacher of the Year Award, as he was nominated by over forty of his students. Robert appeared on the television news show Las Vegas Now in February 2017.

In 2018 Robert was hired at Coronado High School in Henderson, Nevada where he teaches U.S. Honors History and serves as the head JV coach for both the football and baseball teams. He currently resides in Henderson with his son Robert. The book is available as a paperback or an eBook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble Press, Kobo, and IngramSpark.

Rob Cuccurullo
702-890-0115
[email protected]
www.bywayofcanarsie.com

SOURCE Rob Cuccurullo