I worked in this area around 1977. I remember walking by Robert's Lounge, and wondering who would want to enter such a dirty, sleezy looking bar. Occasionally, there would be one or two nasty looking guys hanging out front, who gave passers by dirty looks. At the time, I did not know that it was a Mafia hangout.
I know that vibe. Peeked my head hrough a curtain into a back room card game once when my mother was in line to buy bread at the Italian bakery on Fulton Ave. I'll never forget it.
Wow these are legendary stories youd here on the street growing up in Queens...exactly what kept you very respectful in your daily activities because yes one wrong wiseass move could have gotten you trunked
The neighborhood was about half Italian when we moved there from Manhattan's Lower East Side in October 1970. We lived on the border of Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park, on 124th Street, 7 or 8 blocks from that bar. From the late 70s thru the 80s I hung out on 101st Ave, west of Woodhaven Blvd (75th-85th streets), in Ozone Park. Mostly Italian there. A whole lot going on there at that time. Wouldn't recognize none of these areas today. Largely Guyanese since the 90s. In a million years, no one around then would have predicted that.
9:10 That Key Food has been there since at least the early 1970s. My grandparents were on 114th Street near Aqueduct. As much as I thought I knew about Goodellas, I did not know about Robert's Lounge. Thanks!
Great video! Loved hearing the back story to the characters from Goodfellas. I heard the movie doesn’t come close to showing how many murders those guys were really responsible for. Especially Jimmy and Tommy
One of my cousins drove me by this place back in the 90s right after the movie came out, and laid on some of the creepy BS that might've been in the book, but didn't find it's way into the film...I think it was a restaurant by then too, but can't remember what...Like the old Gemini Lounge over in Brooklyn, this is another infamous mob "Kill Zone" that has a whole lot of murderous lore attached to it... I think there had been quite a few actually disposed of there, but Jimmy Burke was smart about it, and whatever was rumored to have gone on there and wound up getting planted there for a while, didn't stay there...It was also rumored that Theresa Ferraro might've been killed by either Tommy DeSimone or by Jimmy Burke shortly after the Lufthansa Heist because she was believed to be an FBI informant... Her torso was found floating near Barnegat Bay Inlet after she had been reported as missing in early 1979...
Man, was this FUN!! Looks like a rather pleasant residential neighborhood for all the violent actvity that went on there. "Goodfellas" was one of my all-time favorite films. That guy Remo you'd mentioned; wasn't he the pain-in-the-ass compulsive gambler who owned the men's wig shop (Maury's Wigs) and drove everyone nuts? I remember Michael Imperioli played Spider, and I'd thought Spider was kind of intellectually slow which made him easy fodder for the guys to rib. "Take him ta Ben Casey!" Tommy yells after he shoots off Spider's foot! Tommy, OY!! Talk about psychotic!! 😲😲😲
Its years later now and I have been in this area before years ago.. I'm far away now.. I wish I could go back one more time. Your Videos are my way back in to the past Thank you...
Mooney you should start a tour company. Guys like me would pay a lot of money for the privilege of just rolling around New York with you at the wheel. I'd love to see it, but I don't wanna drive, I wanna rubberneck around.
@@MOONEYDashCam you're in for a treat. Culotta was part of the Chicago Outfit and was sent to Las Vegas to protect the Skim. He was a critical consultant to Martin Scorcese and Nick Pileggi for the Screenplay and the Movie Casino. He entered witness protection when the FBI played him the tapes that proved Tony Spilotro was gonna have him whacked.
@@MOONEYDashCam for a great look at the true story of Frank Rosenthal and Tony Spilotro and the skim, find the video "Mob on the Run" hosted by Ned Day. That's a fascinating history of Las Vegas.
The lounge was nicknamed the Sinatra club... very important, there is a very very good book. The author was the owner, Sal Polisi aka Sally Ubatz. A Columbo soldier, originally a stand up dude turned informant. He explains alot of this in extreme detail.
I apologize i did speak too soon being we all know Henry had his own Bar/lounge also... Where the events you mentioned later on in the video did take place. I just spoke before watching the vid in its entirety. Yea & alot of ppl dont know Gotti actually clipped Desimone being they did not even give the slightest hint of this in the movie. What I do know comes from reading at least half of the many books published by a wide array of these guys.
Grew up a few blocks away, I remember going to this bar with my Dad in the early 70's many times. They would serve me Shirley Temples while my Dad did whatever he was doing...we wont go there..lol. I also remember playing hopscotch on the Bocci court when I would get bored inside..
i lived over there for many years i knew allot of mob dudes in the 80s crazy place that use to be now west Indians took over next will be Chinese cause of the new casino
@pdqI dont know anyone really. My family name is Vitale. They lived in Richmond Hill, Howard Beach and Far Rockaway respectively. My Uncle Angelo used to have a Pizzeria, but moved it to the sticks of NJ.
Love your videos. Love the sound of your truck, and your crazy dad and uncle did a live stream driving your truck, I hope you get it back in one piece and Uncle Stunt does not get behind the wheel. Your videos are so interesting to folks that live in blips on a map like Lansing, MI like me. I could do a dash cam around here and show where Ransom Olds drove the first Oldsmobile and where they made the anthrax vaccine, when we thought that was a scary thing at the time, Covid said hold my beer. Thats about it around here, I could show Emil’s, the now closed Italian restaurant where Al Capone stopped on his way from Chicago to Detroit. I could show the corn fields that you see as you drive a few miles out of the city. Keep the videos coming and stay safe
WELL YA HAD MY ATTENTION UNTIL YOU SAID DENIRO AND I CAN'T STAND THAT FAKE MOBSTER WANNABE CRETIN!!! BUT YOUR VIDEO IS STILL AWESOME ANYWAY DARLIN!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND WORK!!!
@@charlespipitone2324 He is our president...not JESUS...wow...its gonna be okay. and he hasn't been doing any acting in the first place- do you have a tattoo of Trump' s face on your chest too?...lol
@@nathanwoods1810 It's not only the disrespect Deniro has shown toward the President and the people who voted him in, He has a very nasty attitude in general. He's had a good life, don't understand that nasty ugly personality he has.
Interesting - but many of the quotes are directly from information from Henry Hill provided to various authors. Henry Hill was shown to be a bit of a fantasist and liar...
Dude you should have taken a few mins to park the car, get out, vlog the scene etc. I do appreciate your knowledge on this though, you did a good job overall.
Just came across your channel and it’s my new favorite! So much stuff, so much drama came out of Queens and Brooklyn! And your telling of events is spot on and so interesting, I’m going thru all the videos now. I’m a former New Yorker, been through all the boroughs, and find all these back stories of the mob fascinating, also must say some things really scared me, hard to think that these people involved were so ruthless and could kill or be killed without so much as a care in the world. Anyway, I commend you for digging up all this stuff and presenting such interesting videos!
We used to live on 90th Ave and 77th St in Queens just off Jamaica Ave. I remember when they were filming Goodfellas at Neirs Tavern around the corner. It was summertime I think and they made it look like winter by shoveling crushed ice everywhere.
good video you can tell that you do put time and effort into all of your videos.im all over the island and learn something I didn't know in almost almost all the videos i watch from you
Lived there decades ago, neighbor was allegedly part of the mob, while not advocating or saying the mob was “good people”, I can say neighborhood crime and quality of life issues were rare. The neighborhood took a real nose dive once they left. Now single family homes are subdivided into 3-4 illegal units. No street parking, drugs, loud music, speeding cars. Terrible.
I am always thinking what everything would look like in say 1982....oh man imagine a tape was found of someone doing like this but1982...I love watching these brother you explain the history and the guys biographies really good and knowledgeable RESPECTS!!!
Correct. Batts welcome home party was at Roberts lounge and that is where he made the crack to Tommy that pissed him off. A couple weeks later at Henry's place "The Suite" DeSimone pistol whipped Batts. They then put him i the trunk of the car, and realized he wasn't dead and beat him to death with a shovel and tire iron.
New York mafia shenanigans is legendary. But for the average guy, it didn’t matter. For the most part, if you weren’t a threat to them, they left you alone. Most of us weren’t even on their radar. Thanks man, another great history lesson!
Like, if you screwed their wife...you were on their radar...if you owed them $10,000,000 you were on their radar. If you didn't pay the protection money, you were on their radar.
I lived around the block from Neirs Tavern when I was a kid when they were filming in summer 89'. They threw crushed ice all over the place for the Christmas party scene to make it look like a snowy winter.
What route did you take to get to Rockaway ? Street name ? Where did you start ? What streets were you passing along Rockaway ? Curious since I passed through ' that area many times many years ago. Had family and friends there. BTW I thought Hill owned the Suite on Queens Blvd not Burke.
Spider was played by Michael Imperiolli from the Sopranos, ONE OF INFAMOUS GIG S BESIDES PLAYING TONY SOPRANOS NEPHEW, THE GUY HANGING AND FROZEN IN THE MEAT TRUCK IS FRANKIE LAJUDICE, PLAYING CARBONE HES ALSO IN THE gODFATHER AND A FEW OTHER MOB MOVIES ,HE GREW UP IN ENY AND DATED MY SISTER.
Bud the whole "Get your shine box" never happened. It had NOTHING to do with Tommy Desimone. When Billy Batts went to prison Jimmy Burke took over his rackets. When Billy Batts got out of prison he wanted his rackets back. Jimmy Burke told him no. Batts went complaining to the Gambino's, so Burke just killed Batts. Honestly, had nothing to do with Tommy Desimone.
Damn bro u shed a great deal of light to me from good fellas film I love that movie...i always wondered why Tommy was killed .....so whats the back drop on why burke Robert Deniro character and Henry Hill character by Ray Liotta why they were not killed only Tommy for the made guy at bar he allegedly beat with gun in movie they had in trunk
Possible bodies buried in Robert’s Lounge at one time: Tommie DiSimone, Frenchie and Maury (wig seller who bugged Jimmy Burke for his share of the loot)
It don’t make sense all these damn traffic lights on rock away boulevard All that’s doing is stopping all the traffic for no reason These bastards have no problem taking everybody’s tax dollars at least shut the goddamn traffic lights off when the times there ain’t no body on the road
A tidbit for the maker of this video the scene where spider gets shot in the foot where it was filmed was on Grand avenue in maspeth Queens not too far away from the Edwards supermarket
My dad was from Ozone Park. He was born before WW2. It sounded like a very crooked neighborhood from his stories. He said they would sell you gasoline mixed with water at the gas stations.
Lol a lot of gas stations in the hood do this. I’m from Boston and I swear there was a gas station in Somerville the nobody would go to because the gas would burn so fast. After some time they got shut down for doing this lol. They would get people who weren’t from the area because they didn’t know. If you lived around the area though you knew better.
