Wed eat, drink wine, hang out, bullshit, discuss what we were going to do that day, whether we were going to go visit another club or if there was going to be some kind of party. By the way, there were always fights yet it was all handled with reverence, one on one. They said, Youre not supposed to be on our block. We went to the same school and we were all young. When the pill came, everything changed. Before that, date rape was the usual. We just got along. Baldies wounded.Fordham Baldies/Italian Red Wings Gang War. Thats the way the neighborhood was. The rivalry was like what you see in movies and worse, because gangs back then, the people they hung out with meant more to them than their family. I dont have any emotions anymore. We buried each others brothers too much. When I lived in the Bronx, prior to 1953 - there was a gang called the Fordham Daggers. He must have had a vest, cause let me tell you, this guy had fucking balls. Bellagio99 20:58, 30 January 2007 (UTC)Reply[reply]. Five leather jacket clad Astoria gangs almost mix it up with I wound up doing like 13 years and change in jail. That was the end of him. I doubt anyone walking down the street knew that in 1954 Ernest was killed and Bernard and Angelo were severely injured in a gang war. You lived in the neighborhood, you joined a gang. I lost my virginity at like 14. And then when youre like 13 or 14, you start to hang out a little bit and the older guys start to notice you and start to talk to you and before you knew it youd been groomed into what they were. Somebody else could come and rob your mother and you wouldnt like it. We had everything sold by sunrise. There was a shootout and it so happens that she was working at that time, and she got killed. From time to time, wed bump into them and theyd make fun of us like, Hey, we got your park. However, in this case below, the violence was actually with another white gang called the Fordham Baldies. There were also after school programs Stephanie went to that had a lot of activities for the kids. Belmont Avenue, near East 189th Street. If they caught you, you were going to get an ass whuppin. In the 60s, the Puerto Ricans and blacks were coming in like there was no tomorrow. We sold it right on the street. A famous quote about the Woodside Chiefs is in a book by Robert Timberg titled "State of Grace" Simon & Shuster, 2004. areas at 8 PM. One gang, the Fordham Baldies were reputed to shave the heads, and other body parts, of those they caught. This guy Georgie Grout, he had a car antenna and he threw it down and this guy must have been, I dunno, 40 feet away? I was maybe 16. Meanwhile, a local gang, the Fordham Baldies, menacing blacks and Hispanics in Roosevelt's vicinity, kept enrollment overwhelmingly white. During this time, both began to listen to rock and roll and go to dances on Friday Night. One of us would move out of a place, and ten families would move in. I got in, it was dark, and then when I put on the light all I saw was coffins, so I ran out. There were real gangsters around too. They. They looked at both of us, and I was a little relieved because I said to myself, well, they really was there, so Im gonna walk. What was so funny was that a lot of the people were intermingled, family-wise. Lost Boys of the Bronx: An Oral History of the Ducky Boys By James Hannon. These were all pretty much in the same area and were all converted store fronts with bars. People from the neighborhood never called the cops on us because we were never troublemakers. Consider: Bronx gangs (mid-20th century) or something like Bronx gangs (1940s-1960s). We had a building on the Southside that we painted up with Free Sonny Barger. He was the Hells Angels national president who was locked up at the time. Department Chair: Dr. Ipsita Banerjee (JMH 642) Associate Chair: Dr. Joshua Schrier (JMH 616) Administrator: Adriana Magnotta (JMH 642) Ipsita Banerjee, Ph.D. Lots of guys were fucking up, but all I wanted was to have our club, and for everybody to have bikes and go places together and ride. I saw him on the corner at South 10th and Bedford, and I started shooting. 1954 Red Wings & Fordham Baldies The Red Wings were a well-known and powerful Italian gang situated in East Harlem. At that point, all everybody wanted to do was sell drugs. There were six of them and two of us. It could be that she had sex with one of the girls guys, it could be that she was just wanting to have sex with one of the girls guys, or she could have just been from another club. We ran out of a restaurant without paying one time, ran down into this building, and they had like catacombs. Baseball Baseball: Facebook Baseball: Twitter Baseball: Instagram Baseball: Schedule Baseball: Roster Baseball: News Basketball Basketball: Facebook Basketball: Twitter Basketball: Instagram Basketball: Schedule Basketball: Roster Basketball: News Cross Country Cross Country: Facebook Cross Country: Twitter Cross . My brother Alex started wearing patches when he was hanging out with this other club, the Dirty Ones. Not many fights broke out there. He left behind a wife and child. Homicide Dozen, The Hustlers, The Web, El Kavons, Cobras, and The Murder Junkies. There was a lot of acrimony between the Red Wings and Puerto Rican gangs from East Harlem like the Dragons and Viceroys. All the defendants were found guilty and the shooters Ciappetta and Gugliemelli were sent to prison for twenty years. My childrens fatherwe had five children togetherhe and I slept in abandoned cars and buildings, what we called clubhouses. When everything was done, there was one of them dead from a gunshot and a knife wound. We had the apartment on the first floor and even the old guys from the neighborhood would come in and play cards and dominoes. DiVincenzo and Caleo were both members of the Baldies but had no criminal record. We called ourselves the Italian Dukes. They gave my brother a summons, and I stood in jail for a decade and change. By the time Henry and Stephanie reached junior high school, gangs were becoming an issue, particularly the Fordham Baldies. You come running through the building with the cops after you and you could run into any door. Ducking from shootouts and things like that. We had no real guns, just the ones that we made, which were a joke. It was a sanctuary, this rectangle here. I never believed in that, so I never did it. This guy was always strapped. The two toughest guys would fight it out, and that was how it worked. But that didnt last too long once they got used to it. The gangs -- with names such as the Ducky Boys, Del Bombers and Fordham Baldies (who really are bald) -- are racially segregated. This time it was a Red Wings invasion. Many of us had guns, although I never knew of any used in a fight. If you dont do it, youre not part of the crew. A lot of guys got hurt, and a couple a guys got hurt really bad. Then you had the Satans Souls for a while, who were on South 5th and Hoover. We would hang out in these abandoned buildings that we had electricity running into. The book is 6x9 and has 370 pages! Wed see them coming, walking up Bushwick Avenue in a line of like 20 abreast. We spent a night one time stripping a whole car completely down to the chassis. Chair (JMH 642) Bionanotechnology, Biochemistry, and Nanomedicine. The son made it seem like it was a burglary, and we made off with all his weapons. When wed fight with the black guys, it was more or less hit and run. Tully High School seniors Richie, Joey and Perry run with a gang called The Wanderers in the Bronx. The Spanish guys were different. Thats when we started realizing that we had lost the numbers. Problem-wise, you know, we had a few here and there. We had a riot on Fulton Street one time, and thats what we did. I carried a .25, then later a 9 mm. I used to steal a lot from factories. Wed fire at a guy standing three feet away, and wed miss. The Red Wings with Frank that June 1 were John Hall, Louis DePetris, Philip Bonnano, Jerry Santaniello and a girl only known as Bella. Their leader is Terror, a 6'6", 400-pound monster of a man. Wed drink winewere talking now maybe one oclock in the afternoon. You werent even allowed to kick the guy once he was down. Sometimes after I got done kicking her ass, one of my girlfriends would come and, you know, kick her ass some more. The bullet penetrated his abodmen wall and because of the injury his leg became gangrenous and he had to have his right leg amputated several inches above the knee. You went home, you needed a couple of stitches, you know, you went to the neighborhood drugstore, you got butterfly stitches. "When they were shooting the recruiting scene with the Fordham Baldies," Price recalled, "the actors were hanging out on the intersection of the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road right by Alexander's Department Store and Loew's Paradise, this massive Moorish movie palace. Then you had all these other little clubs in between. It feels bad. We did not have a name but the name Duckie Boys did exist. A loosely organized street gang with fewer than 60 members and a name inspired by a cartoon has taken on near-mythical status among high school students in New York City, the police and school. The landlord wasnt going to come and tell us we couldnt do itwed kick his fuckin ass. But heres the thing: I was never a member of that gang. The guys in the restaurants were cool with us, and in return, we took care of them. Mostly it was breaking into factories in Brooklyn. banerjee@fordham.edu. There are 41 of them, and each member is a serious brawler. We came into a lot of weapons at an early time. All the gangs recognized and even esteemed one another showing respect. This was found to be a nice touch in the Wanderers movie, but in reality, the Fordham Baldies were named for the Bald Eagle and had the Duck's Ass or "D.A." hairstyle later made famous by Fonzie from Happy Days. In that neighborhood, if you werent in a gang, you just went to school and you were fine, but if you were in a gang your chances of survival were 50/50. And the drugs? Police break up gang rumble in the making on a Saturday night in That was all tongue in cheek. And they wouldnt flip colors. The bond between people who were in gangs was amazing. That was the big thing. But back then, if you had a girlfriend, if you were getting laid, you were the king of the mountain. First, five guys would go into a club and do a dance routine. Houston Street down to Canal, and Bowery over to Lafayette. For each institution, films are listed by release date, starting with the most recent. I got my head split open with a piano leg one night too. The Fordham Baldies were one of the gangs featured in the movie "The Wanderer". His mind was OK, but hed be talking and hed start laughing cause he couldnt help it. To make a zip gun you buy a cap gun. Can't remember all their name and only some of their last names. So there wasnt one particular reason. There would be a fight set up, and we told you to be there at seven oclock. So from being 30 guys with six jackets, we became a thousand just by hooking up with them. On the next block, one block past Bushwick Avenue, was Aberdeen Park. He might have been black, he might have been Puerto Rican, and then that was it, the shit started. Joey DiMassi is leader of the Fordham Baldies, respected for his fairness and decency. Bucks, the Gents and the Garrisons gangs. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Bronx_gangs_(1950s1960s)&oldid=1101692437, This redirect does not require a rating on the project's, This page was last edited on 1 August 2022, at 09:49. It became, This is where were selling drugs. People were having shootouts left and right. I lived in abandoned buildings with them. And we used to ride over to East 3rd in Manhattan, to the Hells Angels, and visit with them and whatnot. The Fordham Rams are the varsity sports teams for Fordham University.Their colors are maroon and white. It looked like an epidemic had destroyed the place. Rainy days, wed be inside watching TV. Any girl that wasnt a virgin, if you went out with her you couldnt let her get away, because there werent many around. We were coming down Freeman Street to the club, and they started calling us out. The ending was tragic and if one were keeping score on such a grim topic, the Red Wings came out on top. I was from one side of the Southside, and the Unknowns were from the other side. Big deal.. Our gang was the wiseguys, you know what I mean? We did most of our dirty business on the railroad tracks, so we got the name The Railroad Boys. They had high collars, buttoned down, and on the back you had RR. But we didnt really go out of our way too much with the sweaters and the costumes. Also, we used to have a lot of gay guys come around and theyd get us a couple pills, some marijuana, and bullets for our zip guns. NYC. You dont fly your colors in my hood unless youre in one of my brother clubs. If we had a problem between us, wed all go meet over at City Hall and wear different color bandanas so people knew where you were from. Us, the Chaplains, and the Spanish guys all got together and they gave us an ultimatum: Either we made peace or we were gonna start going to jail. And I tell you, it was a great fuckin scam. And sometimes it didnt. But the thing is, there never is an invasion. I go to a funeral now and I dont even cry. Rumors often swept Bronx high schools in the 1950s and 1960s that "the Baldies were coming" to confront the student body, at the generally docile Bronx High School of Science and the more macho, all-male DeWitt Clinton High School. We used to make choppers with four- and six-polesextensions, you know? We had like one pistol, and that was for everybody, because every now and then you had a confrontation that would require it. Everything started out with sweaters. When I was growing up, stealing old ladies pocketbooks was the big thing. A couple times, wed take somebody down there and leave em, maybe tied up, and he had to get out by himself. Finally the Youth Squadthe special police squad they set up just to deal with the gang problemgot involved. I always sniffed. You have it all. They gave you your JD card, which means juvenile delinquent, so that was the label you carried, you know what I mean? Back then, Washington Heights neighborhood consisted mainly of Irish and Jews. It was just a lucky shot and it went right through this guys arm. We were always armed. Big car, big wallet, and next thing you know theyre doing fifty years in jail. At that time you could buy the Robitussin AC, with codeine. Violence back then, if you put it on a scale, Id say it was about a seven. 98.224.236.117 (talk) 03:15, 17 September 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]. They heard that the Italian Dukes were brother gangs with the Fordham Baldies, so if you were walking around with an Italian Dukes jacket, they didnt fuck with you. It was about territory. There were like 20 of us. We called ourselves the Italian Dukes. Not in my memory! 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