Chris Nicola

Following his birth in England, Chris and his family immigrated to the US and settled in Massachusetts. In 1956, they relocated to New York City, where, with the exception of the time he lived in the Washington, DC as a police officer and labor union organizer, he has remained a resident to this day, and in 2013 retired as a Senior Investigator for New York State. Other jobs have included that of a bar manager and bouncer, adjunct lecturer, bodyguard, undercover investigator in the NYC schools, and civilian operative for the FBI. Having returned to school some 17 years after having dropped out as a teenager, he has earned undergraduate degrees in Criminal Justice, Physics, and Forensic Psychology; an MA in Criminology; completed post-graduate work while enrolled in a Criminology PhD program, and as of 2015 was pursuing a Forensic Science MS and Film BA. He also conducted 2 years of ethnographic research while living among various motorcycle gang members. As a graduate of 3 state police academies and recipient of specialized training from the FBI and NYPD his law enforcement career has spanned 40 years. In the Mid 70's he began his life as an explorer by scuba diving in the caves of central Florida, in conjunction with 10 years of ocean diving, spending many hours on the wrecks off of North Carolina. To date, he has participated, organized and/or lead over 40 caving expeditions in the Former Soviet Union, the Americas, Oceana, Africa, Asia, Arctic, Caribbean and Europe. Today he spends most of his time caving, being a public speaker, and further developing a story that he first heard as a rumor in Ukraine 20 years ago; a story of how a group of Jews survived the Holocaust by living in a cave for over a year. To date, he has confirmed the story by locating 14 of the original 38 cave dwellers, co-authored a book, the "Secret of Priest's Grotto" and brought about the making of a documentary, "No Place On Earth", about their experiences, and runs the Priest's Grotto Heritage Project; a genocide awareness project in which the grandchildren of those who lived in Priest's Grotto Cave during the Holocaust are working hand-in-hand with the grandchildren of those who lived above the cave in building an exhibit to honor what those courageous 38 did so long ago, and hopefully, by keeping this story alive for future generations, prevent such genocides as the Holocaust from ever happening again. Further details can be found online. Ver: 01/26/16