Al Capozzi speaks about his mother

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The day after Mary Capozzi passed away, News 4 Senior Correspondent Rich Newberg spoke with Al Capozzi, Mary's son. Mary is remembered for being her son Anthony's greatest supporter, after being falsely convicted of two rapes in Delaware Park.

>>To see Mary Capozzi's funeral plans, click here.

Al remembered his mother's strongest characteristics, "Her strength, her conviction, and her faith, and her sense of family and community. I just really do believe my mom was a wonderful person. I think if there is one word to describe my mom, it's just 'wonderful.'"

"She was the matriarch of our family, and it's going to be really difficult without her," Al explained. "She really pulled our family together, and ya know, we'll stay strong, and we'll stay together, but it's really strange and hard without her. It's going to be very difficult on my dad, especially."

After Al's brother Anthony was falsely convicted of rape, his mother Mary always believed in him. "I think her faith played a major role in him getting out, and I think that's what she gave to Anthony. It was the prayer, and the love, and the motherly love that he needed to see him through all those years, to let him know that she believed in him, and that she was praying for him and she was always going to be there for him. She was his biggest support and she left all the legal aspects to the rest of us to deal, and she dealt with all the faith."

Al was asked, "Remember the kiss and hug your mother gave to Anthony outside the church on Easter day?"

"It's very difficult for me to see those things right now, cause I remember her so lively...it's very tough," Al answered, "I can't even watch anything with my mom right now.

All Mary Capozzi wanted, was her family to be together again. "It was never about the money. She doesn't care about that stuff, just wanted to see my brother live a good life, the life that he should have lived, and she just wanted us to be a family, she doesn't care about the money. She would never take another (family) picture until we were all together, and that picture still stands right in her livingroom, and that's where she sat in her last days. Her chair faced that picture. "

Al described that day his mother learned Anthony would be a free man, "I was there. I was at my sister's house when she knew that he was going to be a free man. To see her face, I really do believe that her heart stayed strong up until that point, and then she...I think her heart couldn't take it any longer, but she was just happy to know that he was free, and that he was going to come home. I just remember that day, all of us kissing and crying. That really, I think was one of the best days of her life...moments of her life.

Mary's son Al believes she left a legacy, "Just think she left a legacy of, you don't have to be a scientist, or somebody real bright to really play a significant role in other people's life. I just think through her simple love and devotion and non-elfishness, I think she's touched peoples' life and she showed people a renewed sense of their faith, and that through praying and through just love, things can come true...and just really, she, I don't know, there's not one person who doesn't have respect for my mom."