After his son quit the EMS in one of the fastest shaming-to-resigning implosions since "Craigslist Congressman" Chris Lee quit the House of Representatives, FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano issued a statement insisting he is offended and simply has no idea who taught his son how to tweet this racist stuff. The man in charge of the notoriously racist FDNY says:

I am extremely disappointed in the comments posted online by my son Joseph, which do not reflect the values—including a respect for all people—that are held by me, my family and the FDNY. I have worked hard for many years, as have so many people in the agency, to make the FDNY more diverse and inclusive.

There is no place — and I have no tolerance — for statements that would harm the good reputation we enjoy due to our honorable service to all New Yorkers. As a parent, this is very painful for me, but I believe my son has made the right decision. I love him very much and, with the support and love of our entire family, we will get through this together.

It's unclear if Cassano is so disappointed in his son that he'll throw the 23-year-old out of his Staten Island house, but we're guessing no. (The Commissioner begged the NY Post yesterday to respect the family's privacy last night outside his home.)

To be sure, The Vulcan Society—the city’s black firefighters’ association—isn't so easily placated. "Our commissioner, if I do recall, said not long ago he’d never been exposed to or witnessed racism or racist practices in the Fire Department in his 40 years," said John Coombs of the Vulcan Society. "Well, that lends to a question, I wonder where young Cassano got such thinking from? I wonder where he found the courage to tweet what he tweeted, to make comments about people he was supposedly serving.”

In case you missed it, Joseph Cassano's since-deleted Twitter feed included such aphorisms as "News flash to half of the island, ur white! Stop talking like ur a shwoog," and "I like jews about as much as hitler. #toofar? NOPE." (A shwoog, we learned yesterday, is a racial slur toward black people.) The Post, which can't stop/won't stop milking a racist scandal teat (not that we blame them nom nom!) also dug into the archives and found some more racist tweets that Cassano the Younger exchanged with his sister Theresa:

In September, Theresa, a fifth-grade Catholic-school teacher, shared in one of Joseph’s racist posts after he wished her well on her first day of the new year in her heavily minority school. “Good luck today with all the little shwoogs ms cassano,” Joseph tweeted from his account, @jcassano15, on Sept. 5 — using a derogatory term for black people.

His sister replied, “hahaha want to be my para?” referring to the para-professionals who back up teachers in classrooms. “I wish I could but I would just sit there and make fun of the kids,” Cassano responded, adding that the school principal, Joe Bollini — whose Twitter handle appeared in the post as well — “would fire me in 5 minutes.”

Bollini then tweeted, “Stop it joe ur sister lasted this long at least give urself 20 mins."

Theresa Cassano tells the tabloid she had no idea what shwoog meant, adding, "It was a joke, a dumb exchange between a brother and sister." Yes, just innocent sibling banter broadcast over THE WORLD WIDE WEB. For his part, Joseph Cassano issued an expanded apology to make up for his initial non-apology apology yesterday. To his credit, he made it through the whole thing without saying "swhoog" once! Progress:

From the bottom of my heart, I’m truly sorry and I apologize for my offensive remarks. My intention was never to hurt anyone, or any group, and these tasteless comments do not reflect the person my parents raised me to be. Working for the FDNY requires that you conduct yourself in a dignified manner, reflecting the highest standards of the Department and accepting the incredible responsibility to the City of New York. I clearly did not do that and I take full responsibility for my comments.

I know my actions have hurt and disappointed many people, especially my family. I would like to move forward, learn from my mistakes and continue to grow as a person with the support of my family, friends and loved ones.