It was 1965, a restless time in East New York. We were hanging out at Murray's Pool Room on
New Lots Ave. and we got word that there was going to be a massive "gang war". I rounded up a few of my friends. Sandy Sick had told me everyone from New Lots Boys and S & V ( Stanley and Van Siclen), were going to meet at the Library Park on New Lots Ave by the old Dutch Church.
It was expected that about 200 tough kids from George Gershwin Junior High School were going to
come to fight. So me Fuzzy,Mooney, Eric, Mousey, and Ronnie went to the park. Gershwin let out at 3, and we were at the park. The four of us with sticks , pipes, and knives. Only 4 of us, where were the New Lots Boys? New Lots Boys were tough. A couple of them were portrayed in the movie Goodfellas. Joe Pesci played Tommy D, and Tommy Stabile was mentioned. NLB were tough and crazy, and we were waiting for them to join us. The 200 or so guys from Gershwin ( actually from Brownsville) were going to kill us 4 skinny kids. I was getting nervous, but ready .. We were all ready. we all had "heart'". A term used to describe the stupidity of ready to fight or maybe die for a "cause" or a "group" or a neighborhood. You knew your boys, had your back. But where were these guys who we were joining.
we began to see in the distance , huge numbers of these Gershwin people. They were already near Hegeman Ave. we were ready with our weapons. No NLB to be found. All of a sudden a cop car with blazing siren pulls up. it was from the 75th precinct. They screech to a halt. Two cops get out with guns drawn, and tell us drop our weapons. They tell us , "hands on the fence", and they search us. throwing our switchblades, pipes and sticks on the ground. One cop says to me, "what are you doing here", I say " i'm doing nothing". He takes his huge foot with hard shoes on and slams it down on my foot. My big toe I was sure was broken. The cop then had a backup vehicle arrive, and they cuffed us and threw us in the cars. They took us to the precinct house. We were pissed off. I told them my father was a Detective, and Eric told them his father worked for Hogan's office ( the District Attorney at that time). The cop called me a Philadelphia Lawyer. I didn't know what that meant , but it was probably something to do with not answering his questions. Eric's father got us off without getting a criminal record for weapons, malicious mischief, who knows what else.
The reality of the situation was, if the cops showed up 5 minutes later, we probably would have been killed or hurt beyond belief. They saved our lives. 5 dumb kids, ready to fight 200. We were brave and stupid. Thanks to the 75th precinct I am still alive to tell the story. Fuzzy and Eric have since died, but that's a whole nuther story. Also the 75th precinct, which was located on Miller Ave near Blake Ave. had to move because the neighborhood got so bad. They used to steal police cars that were parked right in front of the station. They moved to a better area, i think in 1966.
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