Marcos Quinones, who is the NYPD’s retired expert on the occult and cults, has died of cancer related to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He took his expertise to other law enforcement agencies throughout the world.
According to the New York Daily News, Quinones was 65 years old. He was considered the “NYPD’s top expert in religious cults and the occult,” and the cause of death was September 11-related cancer, his family told the publication.
He died at the hospital.
Here’s what you need to know:
Quinones Was Guided by His Christian Faith
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Quinones’s wife Lynette Cedeno told the Daily News that he considered police work a “calling” and was guided by his Christian faith.
“From the age of 15, he knew what he wanted to do, because he had a message that was given to him, that he should read the Bible. He lived by that, he lived by the Bible,” she told Daily News.
According to CapStat, Quinones started with the NYPD in 1982. His last year listed on the job was 2018, and he was listed as a detective third grade.
His career once inspired a TV movie, Religion News Blog reported.
Quinones Was Called in as an Occult Expert Around the World
According to the New York Post, Quinones “earned a master’s degree in religion” and began investigating the occult and cults in 1986. More than 200 law enforcement agencies asked for his help for satanic and other rituals, the Post reported.
In 2014, USA Today reported that headless goats and birds were found in New York; local authorities called in Quinones.
The article says the detective “has been helping law enforcement agencies worldwide sort through clues to determine what type of practitioners were at work — and what they might have been seeking.”
“I eliminate what’s normal,” he said to the publication. “If I’m left with occult aspects, is that a ritual of some sort?”
He added: “Ultimately, you have to dissect it. The symbols within a ritual are a road map for the entity you worship, they tell what you want the entity to do for you — for someone or against someone, or a group of people.”
Quinones was also an author. He wrote a book called Goddess of Death. The book blurb on Amazon reads,
“The Goddess of Death is about NYPD Occult expert Detective Mark Moreno battling a drug trafficker involved in La Santa Muerte religion spreading his deadly drugs, black magic, and ritual murders in New York City. It is a battle between the Forces of Good and Evil; a battle that begun in Heaven.”
The book also gives biographical information on Quinones, saying,
Marcos M. Quinones, Ed.S. is a detective for a large metropolitan police department with over 31 years of experience. Since 1986, he conducts occult and cult research, analysis, training, and investigations for federal, state, city, and international law enforcement, and intelligence agencies. As a Christian, he believes that his law enforcement career is a calling from God to address the issue of crime, the occult, and Satan’s involvement with those incorporating crime and the occult.
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