He lived most of his adult life in Malverne, immediately adjacent to his boyhood hometown in Valley Stream.
[citation needed] While in high school, Penza served as a copy boy for Walter Winchell.
[2] Penza graduated from New York University, where he was a member of Alpha Phi Delta, with a bachelor's degree in radio and television.
[4] In February 1998, while covering Pope John Paul II's trip to Cuba, Penza located Joanne Chesimard, who was convicted of killing New Jersey state trooper Werner Foerster twenty-four years earlier.
[1] Penza's coverage of the Pope's visit to the Holy Land earned him an Emmy Award in 2000.