|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interview with a 1970s greaser: Chicago Greaser! Read about Greasers in the 1970s and 80s in the book "Lords of Lawndale". Portrait of a Delinquent, by Barbara Levine“Johnny,” a 15 year old delinquent who comes from the Lower East Side slums. He is the son of a worthless father and a hard-drinking mother. The boy is the president and the toughest member of the Third Street Gang. After noting that Johnny had joined the gang when he was 12, the writer went on: “Now let us view a typical day in his life.” “He comes home from school at 3 o’clock. He meets his gang at the clubhouse. When he arrives, the members are discussing ways of fighting their enemies, the Second Street Gang. “It is decided that the fight will be waged with clubs. They will sneak up and take them by surprise. They arrange to meet at 7 o’clock. “The appointed time arrives, and we find Johnny and his gang ready to fight their adversaries. Slowly they tread along until they come to their foe’s clubhouse. Johnny gives the signal for attack. The Second Street Gang is unprepared for the melee, and so it is an easy fight. The victors destroy the clubhouse and trash the vanquished. “Johnny goes back to his home late that night and finds his parents are having a argument about their lack of money. Under this tension he goes to bed and finally falls asleep.” "Student Sketches Gang Delinquency" New York Times (1857-Current file); Feb 1, 1957;page 10. "I heard the Horsemen were Busting out, bopping the gang on the next block so I went and had myself a look! It was a rumble for real with zip guns, jackhammers, the works!" From the movie: The Young Savages, 1960. "We're going to have to bop our way back!" "What are we waiting for?" "The train would help. Unless you want to get japped on an open platform!" From the movie: The Warriors, 1979. "Gang Slang" By PHILIP BENJAMIN New York Times (1857-Current file); Oct 20, 1957; pg. SM28 |
|
|
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
THE BRONXMap of Old School Bronx Gangs |
Mount Carmel Candy Store Home of the Best New York Egg Creams621 East 187, Bronx, NY 10458 |
The baldies were not bald. They got there name from a guy named Gerbaldy, or from the Bald Eagle. The older members were the FORDHAM DAGGERS. The Fordham Baldies had many brutal rumbles with the Harlem Redwings. "I knew the older Baldies from Jennie's Luncheonette, where they hung out. |
The East 187th and Belmont Egg Cream |
Also the younger Daggers and the Baldies from Piggy's Candy Store. The time period was 1954 through 1965. Do you remember the shooting at Piggy's in 1954 or 55? It was the Harlem Redwings retaliation on the Baldies for an incident that day at Orchard Beach." The Fordham Baldies were one of the gangs featured in the movie "The Wanderer". Turns out he was an innocent bystander. Unless this was a separate incident, the gang was not the Redwings, but the Sinners. I remember them strutting their stuff on the boardwalk dressed in black bikini bathing suits with red piping. They all wore sleeveless tops with Young Sinners on the back. The front had the letters YS and an image of a young devil sucking on a baby bottle while holding a pitchfork in his hand. Hard to forget. The skirmish happened in the water. A Baldy broke a beer bottle over a Sinner's head and stuck the glass in his thigh. The Sinner took his revenge at Orchard Beach with a semi-automatic that he made in shop class. Violent ingenuity!
The Duckies got their name because the original guys hung out at the Duck pond in the Bronx Botanical Gardens and shot at the ducks with slingshots, therefore, they eventually called themselves "Duckies". A Retired member described the Duckies, a gang featured in the Movie "The Wanderer": "The Ducky Gang (not just boys) lol. Not embarrassed to say I was a member and yes, they were very real. The balcony on 204th and the 'tunnels', and the whole area surrounding Twin Lakes was our turf! Was a wild time growing up, some bad, some good, but many learning experiences came from those times. The Ducky was not predominantly irish or anything else, but yes, we were certainly a 'large' group. On any given weekend night, as you reached the 'balcony', you started the Ducky 'whistle'. This let anyone down in the park know you were coming. We also used the 'whistle' as an all clear after the cops had given up chasing us around and it was safe to come back out. We burned fires in the tunnels in the winter to stay warm, and we went swimming in the Bronx river when it was hot. On weekdays, there was always some 'ducky members' to be found playing hooky." "I was a member of that Ducky gang, did some streetsmart growing up with them. I've watched the movie The Wanderers each time it's been on, and still get a kick out of how the Ducky gang was supposed to be represented. lol" Another former gang member from the Garrisons had this to say about the Duckies: "If you were planning to visit the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx you needed to concern yourself with the "Duck(ie)s." Legend has it, if you are visiting the Bronx Botanical Gardens and blast out a 'Duckie Whistle', Duckies will show up to greet you till this day!
A retired Garrison member had this to say: "Part of the crew I ran with decided to take on the 'Garrison' name because we all wore Garrison Belts and we liked the way it sounded."
Their turf was between the FORDHAM DAGGERS and the IMPERIAL HOODS. The Young Lords started as a gang, but many will remember them as an activist, civic group known to have been the starting point for such persons as Felipe Luciano and Geraldo Rivera.
the Imperial hoods took their name from the Imperial Farms Milk company.
From JHS 22 in the late 50s. They all wore green and black sweaters with a big DL on the front and Destination Lords on the back.
Started as a softball team in the late 1940s. They were from 150th Street & Morris Avenue, and became a gang during the 50s
The lightnings had members all through the south Bronx not just on Stebbins ave. At one time(late 40s early 50s) we had as many as 200 members. Our main rivals at that time were the Rockets from the Brook ave. area. One of our leaders Teddy S. was killed by a Rocket after leaving a dance. Our club jackets were black and gold reversable.
"That was a great group of guys, The Guinea Dukes. Sally Ga Ga was one of us. Probably not many left."
Slicksters, Commanches, and Apaches were from Paterson Projects, and many went to Clark JHS.
Hung out around the P S 103 area (East 229th Street and Carpenter Avenue). To get into the "gang" you had to steal a T-Bird emblem off a car and wear it like a necklace.
"I lived on 150th and Tinton Avenue from 1956 to 1967. During that time I belonged to the Barons SAC (remember that? SAC= Social Athletic Club, which was in small letters under the "club" name on the back of the sweater... lol), but there were also the Bachelors from Concord and Jackson Aves, the Social Dukes from nearby, the Blazons from 151st St, the Barbarian Knights, the Phoenicians, the Imperial Crowns, the Seven Crowns. Then over by Brook and 140th, I remember the Cypress Kings, the Senators, and several others. I would love to hear from any former members of any gangs who still have their sweaters. I have pics of myself in a sweater of a gang I wanted to join, but never did." (concourse)Mt Eden to 163rd Street, Jerome to Sherman Avenue(big area)
All the above were in to stickball, baseball, softball and football weren't considered gangs.
Hawks and the Trojans were from the University & Morris Heights areas.
Who were the younger kids of the Lincoln Lords from 133rd Street and Lincoln Avenue.
All form the South Bronx from 150th south. "It was a wild time in those days. I remember a lot of gang wars between the Crowns and Kingsmen because of gang sweaters and who had the right to put a Crown on them. I lived on 137th street and Willis from 1944 to 1967. The best years of my life. I was associated with guys from Beech Terrace, and sang on the corner with groups like the Vocal 5, and the Evoniers. Beech Terrace is located just back of St. Ann's, near St. Mary's Park. "
"Hung out around Olmstead & Ellis Avenue and Castle Hill in the 40's and 50's. My friend's older brother, FK, was the 'head' as I understood it. I never saw any fights but he sure has some reputation. Most of the other older guys in this gang were Italian."
The Rebels, Willis Dukes, the Devils, the Crusaders, and the Assassins all the gangs had Debs, Tims, Tots, and such
Highbridge was a very unique area. You had a lot of gangs, who at times may or may not have gotten along with each other, but if there was a threat from outside of Highbridge all the Highbridge groups became one.
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
They originated in Brooklyn but had chapters throughout the city. The Mau Mau Chaplains were a black gang. There leader was called "Tarzan" and they got a group of Irish guys (in the Bronx) that came from Tolentine to join them.
(enemies of the PHANTOM LORDS and allied with the MAU MAUS in 1955 to fight the PHANTOM LORDS) from Williamsburg.
(I think there were at least two Joker's gangs. One from Coney Island area and one from Greenpoint)
These were all pretty much in the same area and were all converted store fronts with bars. Girls drank free. I have very fond memories of all the people I met there. Can't remember all their name and only some of their last names. This was 1960 through 1962.
Members: Freddie, Jeanette, Loretta, Marty, Ziggy, Joe, Don, Maureen, Mary Ann, Eddie, Sal, Tony, Vinnie, Bobby, Louise, Barbara, Sara, Johnny, Ruthie, Paulie, Doc, Richie
Danny,Billy, Vinnie, Carmen
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
Included the LITTLE ENCHANTERS, BABY ENCHANTERS, BIG ENCHANTERS, and the LADY ENCHANTERS. The general feeling in among the Corona Enchanters was that the guys sharing our name in Astoria were cool and the Gents were our enemies too.
In 1961, a battle for control of Newtown High School took place, with the Enchanters and Chaplins temporarily putting there differences aside, combining to fight the Dukes. The outcome of the main melee around the high school was considered a victory by the black clubs but the Dukes thought differently. The Newtown High fight signalled changes to come.
The Saints are said to have started in the late 1940's and had lasted up until the 1960's.
They had a clubhouse just off 108th St. that was a finished basement in a house. They were sharp dressers and had nice cars. They operated south of Roosevelt Ave. and had the area around Newtown High School sewn up. The Dukes scared a lot of people and supposedly even intimidated white gangs from distant neighborhoods like Astoria's Park Side Gents.
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
Leader was Dracula. Responsible for "The Capeman Murders" August 29, 1959.
Legend has it, that in the movie "The Young Savages" (starring Burt Lancaster and Deana Merrill, 1960), The Italian "Thunderbirds" were loosely based on the "Italian Redwings". There was Pepsi, Stretch, Moochie, to name a few. The Young Wings were the Midgets, and were initiated into the Red Wings when they got older. The RED WINGS and the DARLING DEBS were known to hang around 120TH and Pleasant Avenue in the area of the Wagner Projects. Red Wing hangouts included: Shep's Candy Store on the corner of 115th and Pleasant Ave. right across the street from Franklin, Artistries on 118th St. and Pleasant Ave, the Night Hawks on 119th St and Pleasant Ave and Osies Candy Store on 116th St. between 1st and Pleasant Ave.
Italian Harlem consisted of Italians mostly of the poorer southern provinces of Calabria and Sicily, who settled in the area east of 3rd Avenue, between 110th-125th Streets, known as "Dago Harlem." During the 40s, 50s and early 60s, a street gang known as the Harlem Redwings controlled this turf. Their main rivals in East Harlem were the black Dragons and the Enchanters, a few Irish gangs from Irish Harlem, along with the Puerto Rican Viceroys - who controlled 86th Street - (Remember the beginning of the "Young Savages" movie, the first scene was a wall that was tagged "Thunderbirds", "Horsemen", and the "Viceroys"). They also fought vicious turf wars with two powerful Bronx Italian gangs, the Golden Guineas and the multi-generational Fordham Baldies.
An Ex-Italian Harlem resident had this to say about East Harlem:
"Italian Harlem as an Italian American enclave was devastated by the building of Franklin Plaza. The residents were sold out by the local politicians and property owners. It was truly a stake through the heart of the neighborhood. Many people promised apartments there never got them. A good portion of East Harlem's displaced residents settled in Throggs Neck between the years 1955-1965. Most of the neighborhood where I lived was leveled, though oddly enough the building I lived in on First Avenue between 108th and 109th Streets is still standing. I travel up First Avenue every month and ride through looking to see what's missing now."
Italian Harlem today, which was located on Manhattan’s east side between 96th Street and 125th Street from Lexington Avenue to the East River, and was known as one of New York City’s “Little Italys": Still home to fifty thousand Italian Americans, Italian Harlem was largely intact in 1950. By 1960, fewer than sixteen thousand Italian Americans resided in East Harlem. The 1990 Census shows only 918 Italian-Americans living in Italian Harlem. Most of these predominantly older residents are clustered around Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, where in a ten-block area (stretching from East 114th Street to East 118th Street and from Second Avenue to Pleasant Avenue) the remaining typical social clubs and business still operate.
The Bronx | Brooklyn | Queens | New York | Staten Island
|
Stone Greasers - From the 1950s Through the 1980s |
| Browse Archives at groups-beta.google.com |
| Links: |
|
New York Greasers
|
The History of Stone Greasers
|
