Schreckengost Bryon - A goodfellas guide to New York: your personal tour through the mobs notorious haunts, hair-raising crime scenes, and infamous hot spots

To the law enforcement agencies in the tri-state
area who made this all possible and to Barbara
Abegg for her intelligence and patience.

Special thanks to Jerry Kalajian; David Richardson and Andrew Vallas; Peter Doyle; Brett Schreckengost; everyone at Humble Productions for their invaluable assistance; my wife, Kelly, and son, Julian; Bob and Stephanie Pick; Ray and Kathy for their support; my brother, Joe; Bill Adams; John Valentine; Nick Pileggi; Gus Russo; Al Guart; Brian Fischler; Kenny from Queens; Brian Rhodes; Dave The Duke Hill; Howard and everyone at the Howard Stern Show; Jerry Capeci; Dave Porter; John Capp; Ed McDonald; Scott from the FBI; Rob Stone; Michael and Gayle; Leslie Conliffe; Tommy Peters and Bill Correll; CPH Jr.; Priscilla Davis; Scott and Johnny Newman; Judy Decker; Shawn K. Waters; Calamaris Squid Row; Steven Bauer; Chris Motorman Robert; CarrieLynn Reinhard; Drew Ferrier; Tammi Land; Craig Ley; Scott Wartham; my spiritual adviser, Rabbi Mark; and especially anyone we forgot.

New York City. The worlds greatest. Filled with beautiful parks, grand structures, the finest theatres, and historical landmarks. And mobsters. I was one of them. They made a little movie about us: Goodfellas. Check it out if you havent seen it. Youll get my point of view then and nowbecause let me tell you, the mob still exists. Anyone that says it doesnt is either a schmuck or a gangster himself.

To this day, there isnt a street in New York where something mob-related isnt going on. Someones cookin the books, controlling the rent, or shaking someone down. The wiseguys are embedded in every form of commerce. From the fish markets to the stock market. Seeing a show at Carnegie Hall? In my day, those instruments didnt get lifted off the trucks and appear on stage unless someone got greased. Every foot of piping, every inch of wire, even the concrete youre walking on, has been taxed by the mob. They tax everything. Dont like it? Sorry, thats just the way it is.

The city is divided into five boroughs and five families. All the families do business in every borough. Im going take you through each. I know the best places to eat, sleep, and drink. The spots wiseguys dine. The spots wiseguys die. Sometimes the same spot. Well check out gravesites, the ones that are legit and the kind no one cuts the grass for. The famous mob hangouts and sites of famous mob shootouts, past and present. Faces and names may have changed, but the games still the same. Tread lightly.

So as one of mine used to say, Grab your sac and watch your back. Im about to show you a New York you have never seen. My New York.

Just dont tell em I sent you.

H eres some shit you should know before we get started. The capital of New York State is Albany, the capital of the world is New York City. The state song is of course I Love New York. Who wrote it? Dont worry about it. New York is the best city in the world. Its the only city in the world. New York never closes, at least for us guys. We run it from sunup to sundown and all times in between.

When most people think of New York, they think of the island of Manhattan. Originally named New Amsterdam by none other than the Dutch. History claims some jerk, Peter Minuit, bought it from the Native American inhabitants for about twenty-four bucks in worthless, weird crap. Hell, Peter could have worked for us. The only thing similar between New Amsterdam and Manhattan today is the prostitutes and the drugs (although neither are legalized here). Damn. New York got its present name in 1665 after those damn redcoats seized it from the Dutch. The pompous jerks renamed it in honor of their boyfriend, James the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II.

Why is it called the Big Apple, Henry? Conflicting reports. Some say back in the 1920s and 1930s, Jazz musicians used to refer to New York as the Big Apple. Others claim that stable hands up from New Orleans had big aspirations and regarded the New York racetracks as the big show. Even some historian stiffs believe guys in suits sold apples for extra dough on the streets during the Great Depression. How stupid. I say who gives a shit. Its a big place and we always took a juicy bite out of it. Dont like it? Move to Nebraska.

I was born in Brooklyn. It was originally a settlement called Brooklyn Ferry (hey, we used to call a guy that), back in 1816. By the mid-1800s it combined with Gravesend and Flatbush (no comment on this one) to form what is now known as Brooklyn.

Queens is not for queens. Historians point out it was once farmland. Id like to point out that most cities used to be farmland. Farmland is a natural step in the settlement process, unless its Vegas. (The late Bugsy Siegel pulled Vegas out of no-mans-land.) The 19th century brought immigrants to Queens to fill up the now densely populated residential community.

The Bronx is the only mainland borough. Initially populated with Irish and Italian immigrants, it is now full of all kinds of folks. Some guy in the 1600s with the last name of Bronck had his farm here. Broncks farm. Get it?

Staten Island was officially owned (according to the conquerors) when the Dork, I mean Duke, of York wasted it as a prize to the winner of a sailing race. Sailing, for crying out loud. Those wusses never heard of poker? Lots of wiseguys lived and live out there in Staten Island, especially the higher-ups. Theyre close enough to the city but far enough away.

Manhattan is the skyscraping metropolis you see on all the postcards. Its where a huge chunk of the folks living in the other boroughs work. All five boroughs are connected by an elaborate subway system and bridges and tunnels. All five boroughs are connected in another way because, hey, its New York City.

For everything you dont find in this book, which means most non-Mafia-related sights, there is one place I highly recommend you visit: The Official New York City Visitor Information Center on 810 Seventh Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets (212-484-1222).

The five boroughs of New York City are some of the most populated areas in the world.