Carmine the Snake: Carmine Persico and His Murderous Mafia Family – Frank DiMatteo and Michael Benson

On October 23, 2022 By Genyc79In Mafia, New York City, Organized CrimeLeave a comment

carmine Infamous gangster Alphonse “Al” Capone (1899-1947) famously quipped that “once you’re in the racket, you’re always in it”. The seasoned gangster knew the pitfalls of a life of crime and conditions that apply. He was convicted on October 18, 1931, of tax evasion and sentenced to eleven years in prison. On November 16, 1939, Capone was released from prison due to effects of Syphilis which had spread to his brain. The disease continued to cause deterioration in the mobster and on January 25, 1947, Capone did in his sleep. It was a sad ending for America’s most famous mobster but less violent than the grisly fates met by other gangsters “in the life”. Carmine “the Snake” Persico (1933-2019), a former Colombo Family boss, also escaped a grisly fate but remained in prison until his death on March 7, 2019. And with his passing was the end of another era in New York City history. In his prime, Persico was one of the City’s most notorious figures and implicated in scores of mafia-related crimes, including the murder of Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia (1902-1957), revisited by here by Frank DiMatteo is a Brooklyn native raised in the Park Slope neighborhood controlled by the Persicos, with whom his father was affiliated. This is the story of Carmine Persico and the terror his mob family unleashed on the City of New York.

Readers familiar with Park Slope might be surprised to learn how saturated the area was with mobsters in the past. Today, the area has changed significantly but remnants of the old days still exist there as they do in other parts of New York. The early part of the book focuses heavily on the Park Slope area where the budding gangsters are getting experience on the gritty streets of Brooklyn. The crimes are petty and routine, until Carmine and older brother Alphonse Persico (d. 1989) have a fateful encounter with a friend turned rival named Steve Bove. At this point in the book, the writing is on the wall that Carmine is destined for a life of crime. From this point on, the schemes become more daring and the violence deadlier. Yet, Persico always manages to slip out of tense situations, earning him the nickname of “the Snake”.

Though Matteo is writing about Persico’s life, a bonus is that the book is filled with information about mob events that shocked the city. Sadly, there are no “smoking guns” that have not been previously revealed but he does offer information that might explain why the events happened. In particular, the murder of Joseph “Joe” Colombo (1923-1978) remains controversial. The assailant Jerome Johnson, was shot and killed immediately by one of Colombo’s bodyguards but the woman he was with, masquerading as a reporter, has never been found along with a second man in their group. The hit has never been fully explained but has been blamed on Colombo’s rival at the time, Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo (1929-1972) and his brothers at odds with Colombo and the family’s prior boss, Giuseppe “Joe” Profaci (1897-1962). DiMatteo discusses the Colombo murder, and it is possible that Gallo was telling the truth when he stated he had nothing to do with the shooting. As the author shows, Colombo was respected by not well-liked, and the list of people who might have wanted to see him removed was long. The truth about the crime may be lost to history. But there is no question regarding the bad blood between the Gallo and Colombo factions, a simmering animosity that caused division within the family. The feud between them became so infamous that a part of it was reenacted on screen in The Godfather Part II. I won’t go into detail here, but if you have seen the movie and read this book, you will know which scene it is. Also provided is a satisfying amount of inside information about the production of the Godfather films and the filmmakers’ interactions with real-life gangsters including Persico. DiMatteo does mention other notable crimes in mafia lore such as the Air France Cargo robbery in 1967 and the Lufthansa Heist in 1978, both of which are depicted in Martin Scorsese’s mob classic ‘Goodfellas‘. The crimes are well-documented, so the author does not devote too much of the book to them, but they are discussed in relation to Persico’s story and the state of the mafia at the time.

Hollywood eventually moved on, but as we see in the book, the mob was getting stronger, and more blood was spilled on the streets of New York City before peace was established. But the difference is that the next war was within the family. With Colombo in a comatose state, the grabs for power kicked into high gear. And at Persico’s side was notorious hitman Gregory “The Grim Reaper” Scarpa (1928-1994). Scarpa’s reputation in mob history is cemented as someone not to cross. The section about Scarpa is not a biography but readers unfamiliar with him may want to read Peter Lance’s ‘Deal With The Devil: The FBI’s Secret Thirty-Year Relationship With A Mafia Killer‘ and the account by Scarpa’s daughter titled ‘The Mafia Hitman’s Daughter‘. Scarpa was a dark figure and the battles between the Persico faction and the soldiers loyal to acting boss Vittorio “Little Vic” Orena feel like a story out of the motion picture industry.

The story takes a significant turn at this point and is nothing short of wild. Combined with the inter-family wars brewing, Persico is also on the radar of the U.S. Government and was indicted multiple times as detailed by the author. Franklyn, it seemed that as soon as he was released, he was back inside yet again facing more charges. The unbelievable story as told by DiMatteo highlights the lengths to which federal prosecutors were willing to go in their mission to dismantle the Italian American mafia. The introduction of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as the “RICO Act”, signaled that the end was near for the mob. The legislation drafted by attorney G. Robert Blakely became an invincible tool in the Government’s arsenal that is still used to this day. As the convictions piled up, mobsters facing RICO charges knew the only options were to make a plea or face life in prison. Persico ended up with life in prison and had to live with the fact that his sons “Allie Boy” and Michael also followed their dad down the path of no return.

The sad fates of the major players compose the concluding section of the book and there are no happy conclusions. Death, incarceration, and financial ruin decimated the mobsters who found themselves targets of the Government. DiMatteo finished the story before Persico’s death resulting in the epilogue not containing mention of his passing. However, the sentence Persico received made it clear that he would die behind bars and that is exactly what happened. At the time of his death, the power, fame, and money he enjoyed on streets was gone but at his height, his life was one heck of a ride that even Hollywood could not have scripted. This is a fascinating look at the mob and the reality of life in it.

ASIN: B077WW4W1T

The Strike That Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis – Jerald E. Podair

On August 18, 2022August 29, 2022 By Genyc79In American History, New York CityLeave a comment

New York City is famously known as the “Melting Pot” due to the diversity among the residents that call it home. As a lifelong New Yorker, I can attest that the city attracts people from every part of the world. However, what is often neglected is that diversity and assimilation are two very different concepts. That is not to say that the entire city is divided. In fact, my neighbors hail from places both domestic and abroad. My father has told me stories of his childhood in Brooklyn and his neighbors who had emigrated from Eastern Europe. He has fond memories of the Italian woman who cooked breakfast for him and my uncles and the Jewish neighbor who made fresh breads and other dishes they loved. But that all changed when my grandmother moved the family to a different part of Brooklyn and the Government began to de-segregate public schools. The pushback from the middle class was swift and in May 1968, tensions came to a head at P.S. 271 in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Brooklyn, when teachers engaged in the first of several strikes that changed New York. This is the story of those strikes and the people whose actions changed New York City politics.

Readers should be aware that any pre-conceived notions about New York City being a liberal mecca will be challenged by this book. 1968 has long passed and may seem like ancient history to the youth of today but older readers will recall the turbulent atmosphere of the 1960s. Social unrest, war, revolution and assassinations marked the decade as one of the deadliest in history. New York City’s public school system had long attracted Jewish professionals and college graduates from white middle class backgrounds. In Ocean Hill-Brownsville, the local community had come to see this as an issue and on May 9, 1968, Community Board administrator Rhody McCoy (1923-2020) sent a letter to 19 white teachers informing them that they would no longer be allowed to teach at the school and would be reassigned. The impact was enormous and the fallout is on full display at Podair takes us through the events.

The response by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) was predictable and swift. Union President Albert Shanker (1928-1997) saw the move by McCoy as nothing short of absurd and before long, the UFT and the local community became locked in stand-off that showed the dark side of New York City and questioned the meaning of liberalism. It is hard to put into words the scale of the tragedies contained within the book. The strikes are only one aspect of the story. Other regrettable components are the changed in racial dynamics, political affiliation and the ultimate failures by those who believed in their cause. Sure, there are winners and losers in story but the price paid by the local community was higher than anticipated. Podair simplifies the events even further by stating:

“The Ocean Hill–Brownsville school controversy, which began in earnest with Rhody McCoy’s letter to Fred Nauman on May 9, 1968, was at its core the story of black and white New Yorkers who spoke different languages to each other, like strangers. “

The question that readers will ask is how did New York City reach that point? The Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act had both been signed into law but the reality is that the problems of Black Americans were far from gone. Economic and social advancement remained out of reach for millions of blacks. And an ugly truth is that Congress cannot legislate acceptance. Consider this fact by the author that sheds light on what black students faced in the 1960s:

“Residential segregation led in turn to educational segregation. By 1964, the average black student in New York attended a school that was over 90 percent nonwhite. While the central Board of Education did not shortchange black-majority schools in terms of funding, spending as much on them as on white schools, two crucial characteristics distinguished the two: the number of experienced teachers and class size.”

It should be pointed out that there were teachers who did want to make a difference. Fred Nauman, one of the central figures in the story believed in the ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) and found McCoy’s actions unbelievable. The sentiment was shared by others. But what they didn’t expect was the reaction from the local community which wanted their children to be taught by teachers who come from the same places that they do. And this idea serves as the issue that stoke the fires raging in the book. As the tensions mounted, sharp divisions began emerge and the racial incidents in the book are disheartening. As I read I could feel the charged atmosphere and see the long-term effects of what was being said and done. Readers should know that the story gets ugly at times with no punches being pulled. The rise of anti-Semitism made me cringe and I am sure you will have the same response. On the teacher’s side, we also see ugly displays of racism from teachers thought to be “liberal”. Quite frankly, the strike revealed more than meets the eye. Podair is even more direct:

“The third Ocean Hill–Brownsville strike was the most bitter of all. It drew in the rest of the city. The strike divided the city in two important respects. First, by pulling blacks and Jews apart, and bringing Jews and white Catholics together, it reconfigured New York’s social landscape in sharp, defining shades of black and white. Second, it brought long-simmering class resentments to the surface, arraying poor blacks and corporate, government, media, and intellectual elites against the teachers and their allies in the city’s white middle-class population.”

City Hall was not oblivious to the matter and several mayors had to confront the strike issue, social unrest and financial peril to varying degrees of success. Former Mayor Robert F. Wagner (1910-1991) found himself directly in the line of fire personally attempting to diffuse the situation. His actions and role are discussed thoroughly as are the roles of mayors Abraham Beame (1906-2001) and Edward Koch (1924-2013). I took note of the sub-story of New York City’s near bankruptcy and its relevance to the UFT and issues plaguing the city. Childhood memories of graffiti-riddled trains, vacant lots and burned out cars came flooding back to me as I read through the account of how close the city came to disaster.

By the time I finished the book, I could not help to feel that those who lost the most were the students. Shanker and the UFT survived the strike but also paid a price. A short term success was achieved in exchange for unintended long-term results. As for the local community in Brownsville, it found itself politically isolated, devoid of teachers and necessary social programs. Further, the relationship between the Jewish and Black communities deteriorated and those tensions later culminated in the Crown Heights Riots after Galvin Cato and his cousin Angela Cato were struck on the sidewalk by a car being driven by Yosef Lifsh on August 19, 1991. The next morning, Yankel Rosenbaum, a University of Melbourne Student conducting research for his doctorate was attacked and later died of his injuries. For several days after the accident, rioting occurred in what would become one of New York City’s darkest periods.

Throughout the story, I found that I could related to the local community and their goals but questioned whether the end justified the means. In what could be described as political suicide, the strike helped formerly distant groups solidify political unity leaving black communities isolated. And not even the most liberal of mayors could rectify that. I also thought of the teachers I had as a child, all of whom I remember fondly. And most importantly, I thought of the late Sister Margaret “Peggie” Merritt (1937-2016) who served as the principal of St. John Neumann Roman Catholic School in one of New York City’s worst neighborhoods. I cannot recall the number of times she walked my brother and I home when it was late. Her actions and those of other teachers showed the devotion they had to the young kids growing up in a warzone plagued by crime, drugs and poverty. When they left at night, they drove home to their neighborhoods far removed from East New York but I have no doubt that they took with them the realization that the streets outside the school were waiting to devour those who fall victim to their seduction. If they were biased, they sure picked an interesting place to use it.

New York City has come a long way since 1968 but still has some distance to travel. This story can serve as an example of the divisions that can be found in cities across America even today. And if we are to prevent or rectify what is wrong, the first step is learning from mistakes of the past. If you have an interest in New York City politics and its history, this is must-read. Highly recommended.

ASIN:‎ B0014CL72S

Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City – Jennifer Toth

On April 7, 2019 By Genyc79In New York CityLeave a comment

Mole People A subway ride through the underground portion of the New York City Transit system can reveal far more than most might anticipate. And if you find yourself on a train passing through lower Manhattan, you might pick up images of abandoned stations or long-lost passages through the windows of the subway car, forgotten with time as relics of the City’s storied past. The system itself is truly is a modern marvel that continues to be renovated and upgraded. But there are still many parts that remain hidden, known only to workers of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and possibly others who have dwelled in prohibited areas far removed from the sight of strap-hangers. In the 1980s, the City saw a rise is the number of people living beneath the sidewalks, in crevices, tubes and tunnels buried far below the surface. The total number of underground dwellers will most-likely never be known. But their existence is a telling sign of the extremes some people go to when living on the streets. Jennifer Toth, stepped into this world, largely unknown even to those that live in New York City. Some may call her foolish and others may feel that she was courageous. I believe that she had a mix of many things as she covered the lives of those she met as she explored a completely unknown and different world that could only seem to exist in fiction.

There is a section in the book where one city worker describes the dwellers as a CHUD or Cannibalistic Underground Humanoid Dweller. The name sounds ridiculous but was probably taken from the 1984 B-grade horror film of the same name directed by Douglas Cheek and starring the late John Heard (1946-2017) and a young Daniel Stern. In the film, a court injunction has prevented the removal of radioactive material currently sitting under New York City. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is unable to transport the material out of the City. The homeless soon become exposed to the toxic sludge and are transformed into cannibalistic monsters that come above ground at night to hunt. Highly imaginative and campy, the film is a fun ride for those who are aficionados of 1980s horror films and the movie holds a place in my own collection. The majority of the film is purely imagination but the people who lived underground was quite close to reality. And in this book, Jennifer Toth shows what the movie did not explore for obvious reasons.

Some of the people she interviewed for the book gave their real names while others preferred a pseudonym. Geographically, their locations were spread out across the city with the majority of the scenes taking place below Penn and Grand Central Stations. Seville, Black, Brenda, Blade and Bernard are just some of the many dwellers that Toth encountered in the course of her research. Other figures who cast a darker tone are mentioned briefly in passing sections. Shockingly, some of them came from good homes, graduated from college and possessed advanced degrees. Abuse, drugs and dysfunction at home proved to be the common link between many of them and fueled their decision to go underground where it was “safe” from above. In the interviews they are highly articulate, aware of their surroundings and should be productive members of society. And even more surprising, some of them preferred to live underground. But there also exist, another group of people, who ended up underground as an escape from lives that could be classified as hell on earth.

Each person has their own reason for moving underground but what emerges in the book, is an underground network of tunnels, caves and passageways akin to a city of its own where surface dwellers are not welcome and those who come down below are seen with the highest level of suspicion. It is a world many of us could never imagine living in, let alone raising a child in as can been seen in the book. The descriptions of the tunnels are graphic and those with a weak stomach will need a strong resolve to make it through some chapters. Life underground is gritty, dirty and beyond dangerous. It is not for the faint at heart. But miraculously, Toth was never seriously injured while conducting the interviews. She may have had someone watching over her combined with an unusual amount of good luck or perhaps she did on the one thing that many above ground could never do for the people below and that is to simply listen. Whether some of them embellished their tales is a strong possibility. Drug addiction and mental health issues are largely prevalent in many of them and could possibly have played a role in the accounts that they give. But what is accurate is the former existence of a large number of underground dwellers beneath the City.

The book was completed in 1993 and to my knowledge, there is no follow-up to the story nor would I expect there to be. Her experience with Blade as detailed towards the end of the book is beyond enough to make anyone think twice about returning. Some of the characters may still be alive today while others may have left the tunnels or died along the way. In recent years, I cannot recall any discussion of the mole people and most of them have probably been relocated by City officials as the tunnels were cleaned up and the underground squatters permanently removed. Some of them may still live underground, firmly hidden from prying eyes, but the number is probably far lower than the 1990s when the epidemic reached its height.

The book is revealing and sure to leave many readers in a state of shock. New Yorkers unaware of the mole people of the 1980s and 1990s will find this book to be eye-opening about the city they call home. The book shows the ability of humans to adapt to nearly anything and the lengths people will go to in their efforts to survive. This is a haunting look at life in a city beneath a city.

ISBN-10: 155652241X
ISBN-13: 978-1556522413

Betrayal in Blue: The Shocking Memoir of the Scandal That Rocked the NYPD-Burl Barer, Frank C. Girardot, Jr., Ken Eurell and Kevin Pierce

On April 30, 2018December 6, 2018 By Genyc79In New York CityLeave a comment

Blue Nearly twenty-six years ago, New York City Police Officer Michael Dowd was arrested by the Suffolk County Police Department in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for the possession and distribution on narcotics. His arrest, trial before Judge Kimba Wood of the Southern District of New York and testimony before the Mollen Commission solidified Dowd’s reputation as the dirtiest cop in NYPD history. Arrested with him were other officers, drug dealers and other participants. Ken Eurell was retired at the time of his arrest but during his active tenure, he patrolled the streets of the Seventh-Fifth precinct with Dowd and embarked on a path of corruption that is still unbelievable to this day. The duo recounted their life of crime in the 2015 documentary The Seven Five. Undoubtedly, Dowd is the main focus and his recollections are backed up by Eurell and the other former officers. This is the story from Eurell’s point of view about how and why he found himself more deeply immersed in crime with Dowd.

Eurell starts off by explaining his family history and how he joined the NYPD. Hi story is relatively straightforward and certainly non-eventful until he crosses paths with Dowd. Corruption had already existed and as Eurell points out, it was quite widespread throughout the department. Incoming officers were forced to learn on the quickly and those who made the decision to inform on dirty cops often faced a career derailed from being ostracized. Dowd is not just corrupt but takes everything to the extreme and is blessed with a mind geared for exploiting every angle possible. It does not take long for Eurell and Dowd to begin to pull off numerous capers and form a working relationship with two of the biggest drug dealers in East New York.

I lived five blocks from the 75th Precinct and remember when the story broke. Prior to Dowd’s arrest, there at had been stories of arrest at other precincts of cops that engaged in corruption of all sorts. Most of the people in the neighborhood were not surprised as most of the officers from the “75th” were considered to a bunch of cowboys. Having read this account by Eurell and that of Internal Affairs Investigator Joseph Tromboli in his book Good Cop, Bad Cop, the moniker of cowboys is a huge understatement. They were nothing short of out of control and Dowd was on a mission to self-destruct and might have succeeded in the end if not for Eurell’s decision to cooperated with authorities.

The book is shocking at times but I do think Eurell and the authors were right about what East New York was like during the 1980s and 1990s. Having lived there at the time, I can say with all honesty that the neighborhood looked like a war zone. Poverty was rampant, murders common and the police struggled with containing the constantly increasing criminal elements. But what happens when the cops are part of the element? Through participation with Adam Diaz and Baron Perez, Dowd and Eurell had crossed a line from which there was no safe return. East New York, described by officers herein as the “Land of F*ck”, was hell on earth and the problems that plagued the neighborhood extended far beyond the reach of the NYPD and led directly to City Hall. Today, those days are long gone and the landscape bears no resemblance to what it used to look like. Vacant lots have disappeared, crack-cocaine is no longer the drug of the street and the faces of the NYPD are now more diverse. But the 75th is still there at 1000 Sutter Avenue and for older residents, the place that was once the source of the dirtiest cops in all of New York City.

Today, Ken Eurell no longer lives in New York, having relocated to Florida as he attempted to put his life back together again following the fallout after Dowd’s final downfall. As he tells his story he is candid about what he did, how he was seduced by the lifestyle and the pain he inflicted upon his own family. He does not ask for sympathy, freely admits where he went wrong and never portrays himself as a victim or hero. This is simply his part of the story and I think a good supplement to Tromboli’s book and the documentary. I would go as far as to say that if you have watched the film and read Tromboli’s book, then his is another piece of the puzzle. Some of the information is revealed in other places but I do think Tromboli’s book contains a bit more because it is told from the side of Internal Affairs so he is able to convey what was known about Dowd and when NYPD brass knew it. Some readers might be tempted to ask how did they get away with it for so long? The answers are in the book and they just might surprise or even shock you. But this was New York City in the 1980s and 1990s, when it was one of the most dangerous cities in America before gentrification arrived.

I often think about my childhood and early adult life in East New York. Many of my friends have long left the neighborhood and I no longer live there myself. But we all carry many memories and they will remain with us for the rest of our days as I am sure they will for Dowd and Eurell. The East New York they knew is different today and if the City is successful, it will be unrecognizable to them in just a few years. But no matter how much transformation occurs, the dark history of corruption within the Seven-Five will remain in its history.

ISBN-10: 194226674X
ISBN-13: 978-1942266747

Fort Apache: New York’s Most Violent Precinct, Special Anniversary Edition-Tom Walker

On April 13, 2017December 9, 2018 By Genyc79In New York CityLeave a comment

fanypd Today it is hard to imagine that less than fifty years ago, New York City was once considered one of the most dangerous cities in America. Rising crime, poverty, budgetary mismanagement and police corruption combined to turn the Big Apple into a city that took more than it gave. The New York City Police Department was tasked with maintaining order in the concrete jungle in the face of budget cuts and incredibly layoffs in the late 1970s. The officers who survived those dark years carry with them endless memories about their time on the streets of New York City. Tom Walker, who retired in 2004, spent several years of his career at the 41st Precinct in the South Bronx, nicknamed by the officers as “Fort Apache”. The name sounds heroic but as we learn in the book, it was for darker and more tragic reasons that the station was referred to as a fort. Outside the walls of the precinct existed a world that bordered on the surreal and gave a glimpse into what hell must really be like.

The story begins as Walker is a newly appointed Lieutenant assigned to the 41st Precinct or simply, “The Four One”. On his very first day, he quickly learns that his new home is anything but welcoming. He is instantly introduced to the infamous Fox Street and its surrounding walkways that prove to be nothing short of deadly. Readers who are natives of New York and remember the era in which this book was written, will recall the sense of disparity and anger that consumed many of New York City’s poorest residents. Walker addresses this in the book and clearly shows the link between poverty and crime. And the scenes that he describes throughout the book reinforce that lack of hope that often consumes the ghetto. While many of the officers finish their shifts and go home to the suburbs, the residents of the Four One could not leave, reliving a nightmare every day of their lives. As a former resident of East New York, Brooklyn, I can relate to Walker and the people of the South Bronx for my own neighborhood resembled the Four One except that for us it was the Seven-Five.

After finishing the book, I asked myself how Walker was able to do that job with a wife and five children at home? The constant threat of death on every shift and the traumatic experiences placed upon the officers could have doomed his marriage or taken his life. Yet he perseveres through the book and even talks briefly about the struggle that some cops face in maintaining a health marriage. What is evidently clear is that to be a New York City Police Officer during that time was literally gambling with your life. Today the streets of New York City are much safer although the threat of death still exists albeit on a much lower scale of risk. The City has a stable budget and the department has consistently filled its rank adding more officers to patrol the streets. In hindsight it seems nearly criminal that the Four One was understaffed, under-supplied and even neglected by higher-ups in the chain of NYPD command. Sadly, there are several instances in the book where there are no cars available to respond to police dispatches.

Many years have passed since the book was published in 1976 and the South Bronx has undergone a dramatic transformation. Fox Street and Southern Boulevard have been improved and no longer look as if they’ve been hit by an explosive device. The gangs such as the Savage Nomads are lone gone and only live in the memories of others. Some of the residents are undoubtedly still there advanced in their years but others have moved on in life leaving the Bronx behind. And other officers, like Walker, have since retired and moved on with their lives. But they all share a bond from the time they spent in and around Fort Apache. Walker’s story is an interesting step back into time and an invaluable account of the darker times in New York City history.

ISBN-10: 1935278398
ISBN-13: 978-1935278399

Good Cop, Bad Cop: Joe Tromboli’s Heroic Pursuit of NYPD Officer Michael Dowd-Mike McAlary

On June 4, 2016December 10, 2018 By Genyc79In New York City1 Comment

good-cop The arrest and subsequent conviction of former NYPD Police Officer Michael Dowd highlighted the perils of decades long corruption that plagued many precincts in the New York City Police Department. Dowd and several other officers had engaged in a multitude of crimes ranging from narcotics trafficking and possession, armed robbery and accessories to murder . Several had even violated department protocol by appearing for work under the influence of alcohol or narcotics or sometimes both. When the scandal in the 75th precinct made headlines, a whole city was stunned and for many, it confirmed many of their beliefs about the NYPD being a corrupt agency full of crooked cops. The fallout from the scandal would force Mayor David Dinkins and Police commissioner Lee Brown to act quickly. The Mollen Commission was created to investigate the pattern of police corruption that had been plaguing the City of New York. Its final report was published in July, 1994 and remains freely available for those interested in one of the darkest periods in New York City history.

One nagging question that never went away was how was Dowd and the other cops allowed to operate for so long without being noticed? The official story was that their activities were well hidden from prying eyes. However, the late Mike McAlary (1957-1998) who worked for the NY Daily News for 12 years, brings us the story of retired officer Joseph Tromboli who pursued Dowd for several years before he was apprehended by Suffolk County detectives in a separate drug trafficking case. And what we learn in Tromboli’s story sheds light on the repeated failures of the Internal Affairs Division of the NYPD to remove Dowd from the NYPD and formally charge him with the many crimes he had been freely committing. A seasoned investigator and no-nonsense officer, Tromboli dedicated his life to catching down and in the process sacrificed his own happiness and many important parts of his life. His efforts however, were not in vain and upon the publishing of the scandal in the City’s newspapers and the Mollen Commission that followed, Tromboli would be vindicated as the cop who had tried but was prevented from bringing down the most corrupt cop in New York City history. This is his story and the good, the bad and the ugly side of the blue wall.

Sleep My Little Dead: The True Story of the Zodiac Killer-Kieran Crowley

On May 3, 2016December 10, 2018 By Genyc79In New York CityLeave a comment

When Heriberto “Eddie” Seda was apprehended on June 18, 1996, the residents of East New York, Brooklyn and the detectives tasked with finding him breathed a sigh of relief. For six years Seda terrorized East New York and the City of New York in a murderous rampage intended to mimic the infamous Zodiac Killer that terrorized California in the 1960s. When Seda was arrested, I was 16 years old and lived several blocks from the 75th Precinct, which was tasked with patrolling the neighborhood that had become recognized as one of the worst parts of Brooklyn. The shootings became the topic of discussions among my father, friends and classmates in school. We had been warned by our parents to be vigilant and report anything we saw or heard that was out of the ordinary. Kieran Crowley, a former reporter for the NY Post, was assigned to cover the story and spent hours in East New York interviewing witness and countless more hours reviewing documents and articles. He has put together the only account of one of the most heinous killing sprees to terrorize New York City.

The book was written in 1997, roughly a year after Seda’s capture. And at the time it was published, Seda was still waiting trial. Since then he has been tried, convicted and is currently incarcerated at Great Meadow Correctional Center in Comstock, New York. He will not be eligible for parole until 2081 and will never again roam the streets of Brooklyn.. For the younger generation of East New York, Seda’s name is unknown but to the older generation, his name conjures up memories of a dangerous time in East New York to which they never hope to return. Crowley’s investigative report is the definitive account of the crimes and Seda’s life and the wave of terror he inflicted. The dysfunction and mental instability and degrading relationship between Seda, his mother and sister are covered in detail providing the necessary back story to the infamous crime spree that gripped a neighborhood. Many years have passed since East New York was paralyzed with fear but Seda’s reign of crime remains with us reminding us of the many horrors that once plagued New York City.

ISBN-10: 0312963394
ISBN-13: 978-0312963392

How East New York Became a Ghetto-Walter Thabit

On January 24, 2016December 10, 2018 By Genyc79In New York CityLeave a comment

It’s been several years since I lived in the East New York section of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is considered to be one of the roughest in Brooklyn and is the target of the DeBlazio’s administration’s plan for redevelopment. The area purchased by John Roberts Pitkin in 1835, is one of the most misunderstood areas in the City of New York. I still vividly recall memories of my childhood, both good and bad as if they happened yesterday. I and many of my friends no longer live in the area. Some of them still live in the city, but others have moved to other states and abroad. They are now fathers, husbands and wives. But no matter where we go in life, we will always trace our roots back to this unique and tragic neighborhood.

Lately I’ve been curious about the history of East New York and decided to give this book a read after seeing it in my list of recommendations on Amazon. The late Walter Thabit, a community activist and urban planner who was instrumental in the creation of many low and moderate-income housing, tells the story of how East New York, the area once filled with prosperous European immigrants became a low-income war zone filled with drugs, poverty and death. And it is a story that is shocking, appalling and infuriating. President Kennedy once gave a speech about the differences in the chance of success in life between white and minority babies at birth. It’s as if he was looking straight at East New York when he said those words. Governmental neglect of the social and economic issues, white flight and racial discrimination set the stage for the transformation of East New York from a promising area to a ghetto.

The 1968 amendment to the Federal Housing Authority which allowed the government to control mortgage contracts in the area, resulted in the foreclosure of homes across the area and paved the way for the destruction of many blocks which had nothing but flat open space on most of the blocks. The centralization of the public school system combined with the power and influence of the UFT continued the systematic policies that had an adverse effect on the education of minority children throughout the city making East New York was a place in which hope did not exist and quality of life was an unheard of concept. In recent years, the area has seen a turnaround with new buildings and improvements. It’s darkest days are in the past, but they should never be forgotten and serve as reminder of a place and time which we never wish to revisit. The efforts of Walter Thabit, Leo Fiorentino, Rev. Johnny Youngblood, Granville Payne and many other residents to bring peace, equality and success to East New York are examples of what can happen when people work with each other as opposed to against each other.

ISBN-10: 0814782671
ISBN-13: 978-0814782675

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Category: New York City