Today was my wife's ( during week) day off & we were considering were 2 go for a late lunch after she had some routine bloodwork done & took care of some other errands, so..after some discussion we decided on either the Reading Terminal Market or East Passyunk( south philly),,so she said South Philly...we hadn't been down there in a while..y not?? ..East Passyunk is really comin up w/ some nice restaurants lately so I said lets find a parking spot @ the end of the Passyunk & get some excersize & start walking up north of the ave. .....plenty of restaurants 2 choose from....also, as a mob sleuth I knew exactly where I was...I told her before we parked that Joey Chang Sr. hung out in front of a place called Stogie Joe's..& then forgot about it...we found a parking spot coincidentally near the storefront which was a candy shop back in 84' now a nail salon,that Salvie Testa was killed in ..I showed my wife discreetly..then , as we started walking north ,,my wife says "there's Stogie Joes"..I was like ..where??sure enough 4 stores ahead of us before I had time 2 swallow the lump in my throat..we were at his table outside w/ another man I didn't recognize..my wife said "hello" & he smiled nicely and said "good afternoon"...she was slightly ahead of me but I held her hand ....I proceeded w/ "Hey Joe"..& he gave me a befuddled look,,b-4 I could keep going ,he said , " do I know you"?..I stopped dead in my tracks & could feel the Becks beers I was drinking on I- 95 on the way down hitting me (my wife was driving) I said My father used 2 do business w/ ur older boss Mr. Bruno. at the Keebler Cookie factory in north philly ..my old man was a union guy on the loading docks"... with that he smiled & said "that was along time ago ,that joint shut down ( which is true)..I said I had a picture of him in Methodist Hospital from 1964 in a wheelchair (which I do)..& he just laughed & said " I used to box back in those days..I & my wife told him 2 have a nice afternoon & he said "U do the same kid & ur pretty Irish wife too"...now ,I don't know how he knew Kathleen was Irish..maybe by her red hair & freckly irish nose ..but he was very nice & cordial 2 say the least...by the time we got 2 eating, all my wife could say was "did u c the giant diamond ring on his finger??" which I did not 'cause I was so awestruck...I told Kathleen ..."Do u know how much power that man u just met has in the palm of his fucking hand? in his little pinky??I went on over his life as well as his son's lives @ dinner..she knew about my former connections but she has never met anyone so validated as Joey Chang Sr. sorry we couldn't take any pics....what a fuckin' day. Hoodlum 6/4/2018
