JIGGS wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 9:14 pm
Broccoli Rob wrote: ↑Tue Aug 21, 2018 3:56 pm
JIGGS wrote: ↑Mon Aug 20, 2018 10:14 pm
JeremyTheJew wrote: ↑Sat Aug 18, 2018 8:34 pm
Benandjosh wrote: ↑Thu Aug 16, 2018 6:43 am
Jiggs, what was the deal with the meldish brothers. We’re they related to any mob guys or were they just street thugs who were still street dealing in their 50s/60s.
Good skiped over question
I don't know the answer to that question. Although that rings a bell. I think I recall that being written somewhere. Michael being a cousin or related somehow to somebody. Viserto maybe? That fat fuck, what's his name? If they were related to any serious mob guys ( "made") I suspect they would have been put in check long ago. But, again, I don't have the slightest idea.
The Meldisch bros. were not street dealers. You wouldn't find them on a corner drawing attention to themselves, if that's what you mean. They were suppliers. They fed the moolies and the Spanish, while also ripping them off. They were also notorious at one point for kidnapping for ransom. They once kidnapped a controller for a daily out in the Bronx. He was a Jew. They also extorted a P.R. (Tommy Queba or Cubas) who made his fortune off of "H" but ran a legit business. Some warehouse in the Bronx. This same guy also operated an illegal dance club called the 310 & 1/2. Nobody fucked with the club under Joe & Mike's protection but really the only threat was them guys. I also heard they had "kids" working under them. Doing shootings or tune ups for Joe. I'm pretty sure half the "hits" they're suspected of committing were done by others. Only because that's usually the reality and how you stay on the street. The ones he did for sure personally he got arrested for. He was also a half a junkie. I'm talking about Joe. This was all before he got arrested for murdering that kid at a bar up in Yonkers I think it was. he's probably in better condition now than when he was on the street. In turn, Mike was the normal one. But look where it got him? Anyhow they weren't living the glamorous mob life.
Honestly, what the media alleges about them killing hundreds of people I believe is all hype. Not that Joe wouldn't be capable of it but when would he have done 100+ murders? And why? They never touch on that. They just inflate it all to make it all the more dramatic.
JIGGS
Good stuff Jiggs! I hear great things about you from my good buddy The Greek, who introduced me to the forum. Another poster tells me you're from East Harlem. I grew up on a-hun-17 and my father spent more time at the bar on the corner of 116th and 1st then he did at home. Were you from anywhere near there?
What an incredible coincidence. I thought this type of thing only happened on Knotts Landing. I was from 117. Long ago and far, far away. Where on 117 you from? 4th Avenue?
116 & 1st? What bar was that?
Speaking of 116, do you remember the Lucky Corner?
JIGGS
Hahaha! The Italian version of Knotts Landing. I'm from 117th and 1st. Grew up looking directly at the Gulf station from my fire escape and will no doubt develop lung cancer someday from breathing in the fumes.
Not sure when you lived there but I'm thinking the Lucky Corner was before my time. If you're talking about the diner that was on the northeast corner of 116th, it had become The Delightful when I was growing up.
The bar on the southwest corner of 116th and 1st where I'd go if I wanted to remember what my father looked like was officially called Andy's Colonial Tavern, but I think its nickname was Wab's. There was a club next to it that might have been Buckalo's club, or maybe Fat Tony's at that time? I can't recall for certain. A couple of the wise guys would usually hand me $5's and I thought I was rich; which I essentially was for those times!
I used to get my hair cut at Claudio's which was adjacent to the club. Apparently, Claudio was STILL there as of not so many years ago, which would've been an incredible run. I can't recall the exact order of the stores heading west in that little clip, but there was also a candy store called Red's next to the bar, the club and Claudio's. I'm in my 50's now so this would've been in the early to mid 1960s. Again, not sure what years you lived there so it might've been different depending.
A couple years ago I took my 14-year-old son to see the old neighborhood for the first time, and was sad to see my old building had been torn down. We went and had a few slices at Patsy's and I was blown away that it still tasted the same!
Don't know when you may have last visited but there's a frigging Target, Applebees, Costco, etc. where the old Washburn wire factory used to be! If you'd have ever told me there'd be young, yuppie couples with kids in strollers walking on 117th in my lifetime, I'd have said you were 'PAZZ!!!
Greek was mentioning you knew of the Red Wings, so I thought to myself, this guys' definitely legit!
Hope I didn't ramble too much, but sometimes I get going when I start talking about Harlem. Such good memories!
Broccoli Rob
