S.A. MILLER, JENNIFER FERMINO and ANDY CAMPBELL
The New York Post

For them, it's personal. The entire world rejoiced, but for those who lost mothers, sons, husbands, siblings, the amazing news of Osama bin Laden's death set off an emotional outpouring of a magnitude they hadn't felt since that dreadful day 10 years ago.

There was utter elation that the evil leader of the feared terror cabal was finally gone - but that was tempered with an aching sadness for those who were lost in the 2001 attack.

"I'm tingling. I am tingling," said Charles Wolf, whose wife Katherine was on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center's north tower.

"I am so glad that this man's evil is off of this earth. You can be sure that God is going to throw this man's soul into the depths of hell. That's hell with a capital H."

A phone call from an old friend upended Wolf's routine last night with news he feared he might never hear.

"My desk phone rang, and I see it's from a business friend from Atlanta. I picked it up. John tells me, 'Hey, the guy that killed your wife, they just got him,' " said Wolf.

He was thrilled - at first. But after the joy, he felt a familiar sorrow for his lost wife, a classically trained pianist. He fell in love with her the moment he first saw her in 1988.

Some relatives got the stunning news from TV.

"I said, 'Wait a minute. Is this true or not? Is he really dead? Do they have the body?' " said Miltiadis Ahladiotis, whose daughter, Joanne, was a Cantor Fitzgerald employee.

Once he realized it was true, he thought of his daughter - smart, funny, always happy, always smiling.

"It's been 10 years since I lost my daughter. Nine months ago, I lost my wife. All these years . . ." he said before breaking down.

Debra Burlingame received a jubilant phone call from her brother.

The sister of American Airlines Flight 77 pilot Charles Burlingame III, she has made countless TV appearances to ensure that her brother's death wouldn't be forgotten. Yesterday she was almost speechless.

"I am in shock. It's kind of hard to digest," she said.

"This is a guy who's been out there not just the last 10 years, but for a long, long time."

James Riches, retired FDNY deputy chief, said he felt a rush of patriotism upon hearing the good news - but his grief for his firefighter son, James Jr., was still with him.

"At least we know that the guy who was responsible for crushing our loved ones to death has been killed," he said.

"It still doesn't change the fact that my son won't walk through the door."

All over the country, Americans took to the streets to express their relief - but nowhere was more joyful than the area around the World Trade Center, forever known as Ground Zero.

An hour after President Obama's speech, about 1,000 people had gathered - chanting, "USA! USA!" spraying champagne, and erupting in jubilation at the site of the atrocity.

A procession of firefighters paraded down Church Street, holding flags.

"My best friend's dad was killed at Ground Zero. We lost a lot of folks," said Pete Brady, a FDNY firefighter who started a small parade to remember the fallen.

"We'll be partying for days," said Caitlin White, 27, who cheered wildly as someone climbed a light pole with an American flag.

By 1 a.m., cops had blocked access to Ground Zero and a large crowd began gathering behind barricades along Barclay Street.

At the site of another spontaneous celebration - in Times Square - Daniel Dunlop, 50, a former Marine from Cincinnati, was thinking of his son, who just returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

"We are celebrating tonight. There is justice," he said.

Tourist Dan Reilly of Florida said, "It took a long time and I am glad they got him. It's about time. So many lives have been lost."

New York pols and officials were also ecstatic.

In one of the most poignant of all the statements, Fire Commissioner Salvatore J. Cassano remembered those lost on the department's darkest day.

"Osama bin Laden was responsible for killing 343 members of the FDNY on Sept. 11, 2001," he said.

"Tonight, in firehouses throughout the city, our members are grateful for the news, and thankful to all the brave members of the US military that had a role in this successful operation."

Mayor Bloomberg - whose first term began three months after the attack - heaped praise on members of the US military.

"We gave our word as Americans that we would stop at nothing to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. After the contribution of millions, including so many who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, we have kept that word," Bloomberg said.

"The killing of Osama bin Laden does not lessen the suffering that New Yorkers and Americans experienced at his hands," he said.

"But it is a critically important victory for our nation - and a tribute to the millions of men and women in our armed forces and elsewhere who have fought so hard for our nation.

"New Yorkers have waited nearly 10 years for this news. It is my hope that it will bring some closure and comfort to all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001."

Sen. Charles Schumer called the killing of bin Laden "a thunderous strike for justice" and a "massive accomplishment" for US military and intelligence.

He said it "sends a definitive message to those who would test the resolve of the people of the United States of America: Do not doubt our resolve. If you do us harm, we will find you, we will mete out justice, and we will prevail."

"New York's heart is still broken from the tragedy of 9/11, but this at least brings some measure of closure and consolation to the victims and their families," Schumer said. "Because bin Laden's evil dogma has poisoned the minds of so many others, we cannot let up in the War on Terror."

Rep. Pete King (R-LI), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, proclaimed, "Today, the American people have seen justice."

He said bin Laden had "gotten what he deserved."

Additional reporting by Carl Campanile, Candace Amos and Bruce Golding

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May 2, 2011