Howard Beach in 2014

Remember reading a post recently where NY guys like PB etc were saying Bensonhurst, a previous mainly Italian neighbourhood had greatly changed (as had mob influence.) Same for Howard Beach? Used to be a Gotti stronghold. I vaguely remember reading also of an incident there in the 90s where a black man was beaten to death and the media made it into a white Italian on Black crime. Some kind of racial incident anyhow.

That's what happened in Bensonhurst in the late 80's with the black guy Yusuf Hawkins. I grew up in Bensonhurst. I can tell you now that Howard beach is still to this day more Italian and still has more of a mob presence than Bensonhurst today for sure. Sad to say but Because other nationalities and immigrants from different back grounds are moving into Bensonhurst now and have since the late 90's, 3rd and 4th generation Italian American families are moving out as well as some of the mob guys who were born and raised there. Since the 80's and 90's, mob influence has been declining. But 1st and 2nd generation Italian Americans ain't going nowhere. They too stuck in their old ways. That's how my grandparents are. They not moving out of Bensonhurst for nobody even if Bensonhurst became like east New York Brooklyn lol
lol dyker heights now is what Bensonhurst use to be 25 years ago... Mostly Italian and still mobbed up. The same with Howard beach.. Only black people won't get killed or beat up anymore if they walk through the neighborhood

Thanks for the info Vinny! Very interesting! I confused the racial thing with Howard Beach. How is Bensonhurst to live today? A safe neighbourhood? So say in the 90s it was still strong Italian?

You welcome pal. Anytime ok so the Bensonhurst now is smaller than what it was 20 years ago. Now, It's only from 16th ave to still well ave straight across and from 62 street to about 86 st. That is it. Now the Bensonhurst I was born and raised in which was in the mid 80's was way bigger... Like if you lived in dyker heights, that was concidered Bensonhurst. Bath beach was concidered Bensonhurst. Gravesend was also concidered Bensonhurst. But ever since Yusuf hawkins was killed by racist cusgines in the late 80's, the third Colombo mob war of 91-93 ( I lived through that ) and the demographic changes that's been happening ( just to name a few events ), neighborhood real estate developers and each of the neighborhood counsel representatives have been trying to separate their neighborhoods from Bensonhurst. Dyker heights don't even associate themselves with Bensonhurst and the people there won't go to 18th ave anymore. Bath beach has turnt into a slum. Looks like shit now. Gravesend has also separated themselves. They won't go to 18th ave either. Back than, everybody went to 18th ave. So to answer your question, Bensonhurst now is not so safe like it use to be. Now there is drugs and drug addicts, gang bangers, ghetto people, and poverty. It ain't the slums yet but it's getting there in some parts. Still have a lot of nice homes but the Chinese own them now... Most of them anyway. I would never want to go back to live. 90's Bensonhurst was the last decade of traditional old school Italian and Italian Americans who still lived there and the neighborhood was good but after the third Colombo war ended, families started leaving ASAP. When the late 90's came, white flight really begin. The most recent racial situation in Howard beach was in I think 2005, where three black guys were beat up with baseball bats. But it wasn't a racist attack. The media ate that shit up. The kid convicted... Nicky Minucci was a neighborhood street guy who had black friends, dressed hiphop, listened to rap and talk slang. He was far from racist even tho Howard beach is known for racism. The reason those three black kids got beat up was because they were trying to steal a car. They were walking around in the neighborhood for about two hours and aroused suspicion from the Neighorhood old timers. So phone calls were made and here comes fat nick and his crew. They drove around lookin for the three black kids, found them, an argument happened and next thing they all are fighting. Fat nick got a bat from his truck and went to work on them. It wasn't racist what they did. They were protecting the neighborhood. One of the black guys had a low jack in his pants. If that isn't for stealing cars, I don't know what is. Now it's a white on black thing. Now fat nick doing 15 smh. That's what really happened

Very interesting insight Vinny thanks!! This article I found may interest you, I wonder what you think, same views today in Bensonhurst? Also their saying in the year 2000 the Italians were still 65%! http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/race_class/cops_benson/bensonhurst.htm

Thanks Nicky I read the article. That's a great find. I mean the article was published in 2002. yeah... I can believe the percentage of Italians by 2002 was 65 even 70 percent. But No fucking way it still 65 percent now, not in 2014. It's less than 30 now for sure. I think about 20 percent give or take. Now dyker heights is about 65-70 percent for sure. But in the 80's, all of Bensonhurst was 89-90 percent and blacks knew better than To come over here. it just the truth and it's proven history. I seen it with my own eyes. but that's not the case now. They can come and they even chill there and nobody says nothing. Laws have changed. see what happened to fat nick Minucci and he is soooo farrrr from being a racist. He has lots of black friends. They will say that he is MADD cool... But Don't fuck around with him. He use to protect the Gotti grand kids... Frank, Carmine and John ... Victoria gotti's kids. Fat nick and his boys use to crack heads if anybody tried to run up on them. They all grew up together. But most Italian young kids today... Growing up in neighborhoods like Brooklyn, bronx and queens listen to hip hop, dress hip hop, Do Hip hop stuff like dap eachother or give each other a pound and they talk slang. Some people would concider them wiggers but that's how it is now. Black guys date white girls now and nobody can do a thing about it ... Even Italian girls got black boyfriends. but even up to the late 90's, that was still frowned upon. Couldn't do that when I was growing up unless the black dude had a death wish and the white girl had a banish for life wish lol

Vinny did you grow up and were a similar age to the guys who killed the black guy in 89? Must of been a crazy time in Bensonhurst afterwards. Were any of those kids from connected families if they were trying to act like tough kids on the street? Reminds me of the Sopranos and the kids AJ hangs with before he tries to kill himself. Patsy's son etc.
I know most tourists when the go to NY see the usual sites, if and when I go I would rather stroll around Bensonhurst, Howard Beach etc just see the places I always read about in mob books lol

Howard beach i think is kind of a base for gambino drug trafficking. Members of the luchesse crime family were also running a crack cocaine ring in bensonhurst during the early 90s.

You could say the likes of Lester, Kern, Ladone, Minucci, Fama and Mondello were just kids but all you have to do is listen to their parents and relatives talk to know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I have been reading up on all this stuff and racism in the working class was endemic back then. Things needed to change.

Moe... You absolutely right about these kids parents. They were bazzare with their racial slurs. But I know for a fact that nick Minucci wasn't a racist because guys I grew up with knew people in his circle. For those three black kids who got beat up, it was wrong place wrong time. But it's still sad. Now his life is ruined with a 1st degree criminal felony assault and attempted murder, serving 15 years prison. Smh

And guys from the bonanno's as well like the guys from the bath avenue crew.

Vinny c,I remmember my uncle telling me that in the late 60s,a black guy was found betten,and stabbed under 20th ave,close to the metro station or something like that.Zou know anything abouth that?He is 61 today,he remmebers the stories.

I was 9 years old when Yusuf Hawkins was killed in 89. So now you prolly can guess my age. But i was just a kid. Keith mondello, Joey fama and those guys were older kids ... Teenage cusgines... I am guessing in their 17's and 18's I believe but I am not too sure about their exact age. Everybody knew eachother or of eachother back than so knew who Keith mondello and Joey fama was before 89. They used to all hangout in front of pino's pizzeria on 18th ave with their crew. But keep in mind Growing up in Bensonhurst especially in the 80's, there were plenty of Keith mondello's and Joey fama's running around causing trouble, starting fights and being bullies but most of them weren't killers. From what I heard as I got older, Yusuf was banging an Italian girl in the neighborhood who happened to be either an ex girlfriend or lover of mondello. When he found out, he was upset but when he heard that the guy was black, he completely lost it. Yusuf's only reason in the first place for coming to the neighborhood was to buy a used car from a used Car lot close to where the white girl he supposedly was fooling around with lived. Too close for comfort. And sure , there were plenty of kids I grew up who's families were connected. Some of them real assholes and arrogant. Some were attention junkies... Wanted the whole world to know. Some were humble and kept it to themselves about it .... The ones who played tough were punks really, wanna be gangsters. They use to get their ass Whipped when fights broke out at the Italian feast ( st Rosalia ) on 18th ave. The soprano kids if they were real wouldn't survive one bit in Bensonhurst especially in the 80's and 90's. They were suburban wanna be tough guys. I knew kids like that from Long Island. Even the Gotti brothers ( growing up Gotti reality tv kids ) frank , Carmine and John ( Victoria gotti's kids ) were punks. Guys like fat nick use to protect them. Other kids didn't care that their family last name was Gotti but it's actually agnello after their father carmine agnello.

Check your pm, Vinny.

I fuked kids like that in the ass in the can i fuked em!...Fukin break up my party....Fuhgettaboutit

fat nick still locked up?

Yup cheech. He won't be paroled until 2019 only for good behavior Tho.

One reason Howard Beach hasn't converted as much is because it is a nicer place to live and more expensive. It is also much smaller than Bensonhurst. A beach community that is more long island than new york city.

I don't remember that exact story But bad things use to happen like that when I was growing up. when I started going to high school, if you wasn't from the neighborhood ( you know what I mean ) you would have to be careful. Some kids would leave school early before 3 pm so they can make it home safe. I got stories from family members and the old timers who use to tell me about certain people being chased out the neighborhood as early as the 60's and 70's. It was one hell of a crazy time I tell you that. At the end of the day, I never participated in any of that nonsense.

yeah i guess so,chek your pm box

@ 2:00



Remind me to never go to Bensonhurst.

Plus, there are very few apartment buildings.

The same applies to the Throggs Neck and Country Club sections of the Bronx. And there's no subway service in Throggs Neck and Country Club, which is a HUGE plus in terms of keeping the trash out. Because generally speaking, if someone can't afford to keep their driver's license current and hold on to even a cheap car, you probably don't want them for a neighbor.

That's not politically correct, but tell me I'm wrong .

I think you got young men in every community that want their own gangster culture. Certain Black kids use gangster rap and street gangs. Certain Italian kids have the goombah racist mobster image that fufills that need for them.

"Fuckin A " Pizzaboy, you had to be a sociologist in a past life..lol seriously, thats a great point.

You could use a certain "W" word to describe the majority of HB youth today.

Funny enough Fat Nick and Joey Fama of Bensonhurst fame are friends in prison. No joke.

I'm 55 years old, but I'm guessing wigger?

The wannabes of my generation are the wiggers of today. Times change, but it's the same principle.

Pizza-Man you didn't rock the Sean John Velour ENYCE or Akademiks in the late 90s ?

Funny thing is PB the wannabees of your generation are/were 100x more tougher and capable of the wanabees of today

I was too nice to point that out, Tiger .

My wannabees can beat up your wannabees.

Absolutely right Scorsese!! Every race and nationality has their own bad guys. yup

Remember Chris rocks show on HBO he went to Howard beach and asked people to put a Malcolm x or milk boulevard they all said no then he's says what about a john gotti street everyone like yaeh

Gotti's goons extorted my parents and killed my Uncle. Let's name a street after him. YEAH!

moe its chris rock he was being sarcastic but people in howard beach really loved gotti. this show was in the mid 90tys to so he was still in peoples mind.

also remember gotti had a no mob hit rule in that hood. like you couldn't kill anyone there but I think he let willy boy get killed there to deflect attention off him

how far is ozone park from h beach?

Ten minutes. It's just on the other side of the Belt Parkway. Different world, though .

If that statement lacks anything in political correctness, it more than makes up for it in accuracy.

You hang around the East Bronx for 55 years, you pick up a thing or two .

Howard beach is surrounded people building mansion that ain't gonna be worth much in a few years. Ozone park is little Guyana. And willy boy got killed in mill basin.

And there's no beach in Howard beach

at one time HB had three bosses blocks from each other

I am guessing Joe Massino was one boss, john ( Gotti ) the second boss. Who was the third?

Four, if you count Frankie Russo .

Russo's on the Bay!! I should have gotten married there but there was an over 2 year wait at that time. Even for me. Grrrr

I should have fucking known you'd be the first to get that reference .

Pmac, Willie boy was killed In flatlands (mill basin), Brooklyn in 88. bonanno hitters clipped him as a favor to john ( Gotti )

lol You know it. And I'll never get over it. Ha. The guy let me down big time, I ended up getting married at Cotillion freaking Terrace!

Marina del Rey for us. It was either there or Alex and Henry's, which was still pretty popular at the time.

But we dodged a big bullet because my father-in-law was insistent on Leonard's of Great Neck, and I hate that place. Thank God he got into a screaming match with the manager five minutes after we walked into the place to talk about scheduling. True story .

amuso

cotillion..must have had the caleps..

yeah yeah, it was all the same shit, different party back then. I wanted a DJ but was "told" that DJ's are only for engagement parties, had to be a band for a wedding. I barely had any hand in planning my own wedding but that's another story.

You got that one right about HB and Ozone park

My aunt and cousin live there, in the 80s it was a lot of Italians but it seems all Hispanic now. I thought I had it rough being in hudson county nj but my other cousin grew up in Uniondale Long Island and I can count at least 5 times me and him got jumped by the brothers . Poor kid had to work FT from 14 on just to pay for private school so he didn't have daily jumps , but I went back there the last few years and it seems a lot of Indians reside there now and seems alright.

Now in the 80s and 90s an Italian man should not of been living in Uniondale and heaven for bid Union was beefing with Hempstead and those made for some scary walks home at night .

The irony is they left Italian Harlem after like 50 u
Years there to move out to the burbs , but by the 80s Uniondale was no typical burbs

Loads of Middle Easterners, too. They don't call it Ozone Pakistani for nothing .

Its not like black people would agree to a cesar chavez street in black harlem. They would agree to al sharpton street though

I was wrong on the willy boy I think it was joe scopo the coloombo guy was killed innhoward beach and the new ran it like if gotti was on the street this would have never happened around there. think the shooters where spraying shots all over the place.

That's true, pmac. But I don't think the reasons for the non violent approach were entirely altruistic. Sure, they lived there, and didn't want it in their neighborhood. But back then a lot of wiseguys (and Italians in general) also lived in Ozone Park, where there was never any hesitation when it came to whacking a guy.

I think the difference with Howard Beach was that so many skippers and eventual bosses lived there. Same goes for Country Club here in the Bronx. That Meldish guy got popped right around the corner. Twenty years ago that never would have happened here. But then again, I've never been convinced that the Meldish hit was mob related (or sanctioned). Because those guys had enemies from here to Florida.

Scopo was killed in howard beach in the early 90's by that young wannabe kid from jersey living out a mob fantasy. If its the same guy.

[quote=Belmont]Scopo was killed in howard beach in the early 90's by that young wannabe kid from jersey living out a mob fantasy. If its the same guy.



That was ozone park.

Vinny,

You have some good knowledge about Brooklyn in the 80's and 90's. Two of my best friends in the 90's were from Canarsie (Jewish and Italian).

Can you tell me where the various crime families fit in to the picture nowadays, by neighborhood? I'm especially curious where the Colombo family maintains a presence, since Bensonhurst and Bath Beach are no longer Italian.

Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge seem like the only areas that remain somewhat Italian, like you said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLU2WobERig#t=16

Hey flushing. Bensonhurst still has about 30 to 40 percent Italians left....maybe less. Just not the 90 percent they were 20 years ago. After the Colombo war of 91-93, a lot of families moved out. They were disgusted about the disregard for the families and children who lived there and played outside. These guys were having shootouts in the street and guys were being clipped in public in broad day light. Remember, wise guys usually put in a piece of work quietly and not for the world to see. Red hook went through the same thing in the 60's with the profaci / gallo war. Those guys were really cowboys lol but I can tell you one thing for absolute sure. Both the Colombo's and the Gambino's remain a major presence in Bensonhurst as well as dyker and bayridge. Big Georgie Decicco, Gambino capo still hangs out in his old neighborhood bath beach. His Nephew Georgie "butter" Decicco, a Gambino soldier still runs a social club there even tho the neighborhood has changed demographically wise. His cousin bobby Decicco was shot and almost killed on bath ave in 07 in a hit gone wrong. And the Gambino brothers from the Gambino's Sicilian zip faction .. John, joe and Sal still run a social club called cafe giardino ( formally cafe Valentino ) on 18th ave. Frank Cali and Dom cefalu... Boss and underBoss now of the Gambino's use to live in Bensonhurst and had social clubs on 18th ave as well. I don't know the name tho. But about babyridge, there are two sides now in bayridge. You have Beirut ridge and than you have the original bayridge. Beirut ridge is all Arab now Which use to be Italian and Irish from 4 and 5th ave from the 60's to 86 st. Maybe a little further up to like 88 st. The Arabs run all that now. But the original bayridge is From 3rd ave to shore rd and from the 60's up to 101 st where the belt parkway is located. That over there is mainly Italian, Irish and Greek but more Italian and Irish than Greek. Now 3rd ave is still to this day where most of the wise guys hang out. All the mobbed up bars, clubs and restaurants still remain there on 3rd ave.

vinny you know george?

Everybody knew who George "butter" Decicco was because we all grew up in the same neighborhood and he was an old timer to us kids. His brother frankie d ( Frank decicco ) who was blown up on 86 st in 86 was also very popular in the neighborhood. Their uncle big Georgie Decicco played a part in keeping the neighborhood safe from outsiders. The whole family was known.... And respected and Most of them became gangsters. But that's it. Only by name, reputation and observation.

vinny ,i think you are mistaken..

Check your pm, buddy.

pizza ,help him out a little.lol

I'm trying .

lol..ask him where george is now ,today

I said he was from the same neighborhood I grew up in, I didn't say I was his wife smh funny guy

are we still talking about george vinny?

No my friend.... We not. We moving on

if you ever want to know, i can help you ..like to hear some bath beach stories..

Beirut Ridge that's funny, but it is also true. Remember the Alpine theather it's in the middle of them. I still go to the movies there once in a while. I hope one of them will try to rob me so I can fuck him up where they breed.

I hang out on 18 ave at the Brooklyn Italian club house some times. I do that to scare I guy named Lucio he runs them now. I dislike that guy when I show up he leaves that's why I go there. I used to help run them at one time. I tried to get Lucio fired, but I did not have enough pull to do it. He had a lot of friends there even when I coached their senior team.

Where is that on 18th?

Beirut Ridge and Ozone Pakistani. Speaks volumes .

Pb i send you a pm.check it out

Interesting stuff. The Colombo's are intriguing because they never really bothered to branch out of Brooklyn much. There was the guy in LA who dated Elizabeth Hurley, and the guy in Boston who got arrested. They have some strip clubs in Florida and a graveyard in Farmingdale.

Outside of that, they are south Brooklyn all the way.

How visible are the Lucchese's and Bonanno's in south Brooklyn?

Unless you are an old timer ... Older than 50 to 60 years old plus, than maybe your right I am a 80's baby, born and raised there so I know a thing or two about things. But bring the stories on lol pm me first. We don't want the wrong names posted

hello Vinny, i'm in my 70's, if i remember do you live by 14th ave and 86th?

did you find out where georgie d. is now? come on vin this is easy.L.O.L