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Ozone Park

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Ozone Park is a New York City neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Howard Beach, and the borough of Brooklyn, about 8 miles east, southeast of Midtown Manhattan. The northern border is Atlantic Avenue, west border is Drew Street (City Line) at the Brooklyn border, south border is South Conduit Avenue, and the east is 108th Street. It is the home of the Aqueduct Racetrack, a popular spot for thoroughbred racing.

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The Ozone Park Welcome Sign

History

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The el (train station) being built on Liberty avenue in 1914.

Housing was first developed in the area after the Long Island Rail Road began service through the area in 1880 as part of its route from Long Island City to Howard Beach. The name "Ozone Park" was chosen to "lure buyers with the idea of refreshing breezes blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean to a park-like community"[1].

In the 1990's, the neighborhood's population exploded with new immigrants, increasing the population density and leading to many small private homes being converted to condos and multi-family houses. This has become a major controversy in the neighborhood as longtime residents feel their suburban-like residential streets are beginning to look like more urban parts of the borough, such as Jackson Heights and Astoria.

Crime

Mafia

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John Gotti (right) walking with his brother Gene (left) on the streets of Ozone Park.
Mar 15, 1987
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John Gotti getting into his car on 101st avenue in Ozone Park.
Mar 15, 1987

Ozone Park is widely perceived as a center for mafia activities. Lucchese crime family members and mob associates owned many businesses throughout Ozone Park. Jimmy Burke owned Roberts Lounge, which was a Lucchese headquarters.

Thomas DeSimone, a Lucchese crime family associate, shared an apartment here, with his then girlfriend, Theresa Ferrara. She was later murdered due to issues involving the 1978 Lufthansa heist at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Her torso eventually was found washed up on the beach. The Lufthana heist took place on Dec. 11, 1978 and was the biggest heist in queens history. As far as Lufthansa heist murders go, Stax Edwards was the first to be killed, in his Ozone Park home. Over time, a total of 13 wiseguys connected to the crime just “disappeared,” or turned up dead. Mangled bodies turned up all over New York City – from the bloodstained bedroom in Ozone Park to a meat hook in a refrigerated truck in Brooklyn.

Joseph Scopo ( Colombo Family capo) lived in Ozone Park. The first official hit that John Pappa made during his time as a Colombo Family associate was Scopo. On October 20, 1993 Pappa and two other Colombo Family associates, John Sparacino and Eric Curcio, went out to Scopo's house to whack him and hopefully become made members. When the three arrived at Scopo's house, they found him in his car. Sparacino threw open the door and shot up Scopo's car with a machine gun, missing Scopo with every shot. After seeing Scopo was still alive, Sparacino ran off. Pappa hid behind a tree waiting to see if Scopo had a gun. Scopo yelled at him: "You got balls, come on. Come on, you need to kill me, kill me you little punk.", Scopo then threw his cellular phone at Pappa. Pappa now knew enough and walked over to Scopo with a .380 automatic and shot him eight times from close range, leaving him dead in front of his home in Ozone park. The murder of Capo Joseph Scopo would be the end of the Colombo war.

John Gotti co-opted the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club, which occupies a double storefront in the neighborhood at 98-04 101st Avenue. It has a red brick front with brightly painted red doors on the ground floor, and yellow aluminum siding above the ground floor. The ground floor windows in front are protected by metal grates. There is no sign in front to identify the owner, tenant, or purpose of the building.

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The Bergen Hunt and Fish Club (John Gotti's headquarters) in Ozone Park.

On February 9, 1990, many people in Ozone Park waited anxiously for the jury to reach a verdict on John Gotti's case. The Jury found him not guilty on four assault charges and two conspiracy charges. When the courtroom was cleared, the jubilant Gotti was escorted out of the courthouse through a private elevator reserved for judges. Once on the street, Gotti raised his fist in triumph for the crowds of supporters standing behind police barricades. In Ozone Park, cheers, celebratory fireworks, and red and yellow balloons greeted Gotti upon his return.

Gotti would host a huge block party and throw an amazing fireworks display on 101st Avenue every July 4th. His crew would grill hot dogs and hamburgers by the hundreds. Ice cream vendors were brought in to hand out free cones and pops to delighted children. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani became very unpopular here in the late 1990s when he denied local residents permits to host similar block parties along 101st Avenue in an effort to appear to apply uniform enforcement on such events city-wide. On July 4, 1995, Giuliani sent approximately 250 police officers to assure that Gotti and his crew did not throw his usual party for the Ozone Park community.[2]

Later, in 1992, when Gotti went to prison for life (without the possibility of parole) for murder and other crimes, some neighborhood residents, led by Gotti's brother, protested his incarceration. When Gotti died in jail, many citizens of Ozone Park mourned. His funeral procession traveled through the city. Throughout Ozone Park, there were flowers and remembrance for the mobster.

Peter Gotti eventually became acting boss. He currently still resides in Ozone Park, near the Aqueduct Racetrack and JFK International Airport area.

In October 2004, FBI agents, backed by cadaver-sniffing dogs, a helicopter and heavy construction equipment, swooped down on the site on 75th Street in Ozone Park, specifically searching for at least two bodies believed to have been stuffed into steel drums, and three more wrapped in canvas. Believed to be buried there included John Favara — The neighbor of John Gotti, who accidentally ran over John Gotti's son. Also believed to be buried there, Tommy DeSimone — the crazy hit man portrayed by Joe Pesci in the movie "GoodFellas" — and Bonanno crime family capos Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera and Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone. The fifth man was described as a thug who refused to carry out the hit on DeSimone, only to wind up being personally killed by a furious Gotti. On Monday, December 20, 2004, DNA tests confirmed that the skeletal remains unearthed from the Ruby St. lot the previous October, are those of Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera and Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone. Neither Tommy DeSimone nor John Favara's remains were found in the Ruby St. lot excavation.

Gaussie Humann Murder Trial

Gaussie Humman was charged with the murder of Henry Garbe at Ozone Park on October 27, 1921. She claimed to be 22 and was therefore the youngest woman to go on trial in Queens for a capital crime. Indicted with her was Joseph Libasci, a Brooklyn electrician, who according to the prosecution was her current boyfriend. Henry Garbe was the son of Anton Garbe, former Deputy Sheriff, who is a leader in Democratic politics in Ozone Park. His parents lived a short distance from Gaussie Humann’s home. She and young Garb became acquainted at school. Her father was an employee of the Queens Highway Bureau. Garbe, who had quarreled with Gussie about a year before the shooting, was attempting a reconciliation with her at the time of the shooting. Garbe was in a lonely spot on the then-called Woodhaven Road near then-called Rockaway Road with a young woman when someone jumped from ambush and fired two shots at him. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, Jamaica, where he died three days later. She went on to be tried for the Ozone Park murder on December 13, 1921. She was acquitted. With the acquittal of Gussie Humann, the Star-Journal predicted that the case against Joseph Libasci for firing the fatal shots at Garbe might be dropped. Events took an unexpected turn early in 1922, when a friend of Libasci’s came forward to testify against him and he was put on trial for murder. Gussie Humann testified on his behalf, insisting that she and Libasci had been together at the Schwaben dance hall in Brooklyn on the night of the shooting. After the Libasci jury was unable to reach a verdict, Gussie was arraigned for perjury. As Gussie went to trial for the second time, Libasci then surprised everyone by pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Libasci then surprised everyone by pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Later he tried to recant, claiming that both he and Gussie were innocent and that he had only confessed to the murder to avoid the possibility of the death penalty. Gussie’s jury found her guilt of perjury in record time-only 47 minutes and she received a sentence of seven to fifteen years. In April 1924 she was pardoned by Governor Al Smith.


Crime Rate


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Demographics

Since its beginnings, Ozone Park has been largely populated by different groups of immigrants. The first to settle into the town were Italians, who are the largest ethnic group in the neighborhood. Many consider the neighborhood "little Italy". In the past few decades, however, a considerable number of immigrants from South Asia, the West Indies (Indo-Trinidadians), and South America (Indo-Guyanese) have moved in, bringing their culture with them and adding to the diverse atmosphere of the neighborhood. Beginning in this decade, a new population of immigrants is growing in Ozone Park - Hispanics, most from Colombian, Venezuelan, and Mexican descent. These new arrivals have helped Ozone Park becoming one of the fastest-growing and ethnically diverse neighborhoods in New York City. Aside from these larger groups, there is an African-American minority, spread throughout the neighborhood.

Residents vary from working-class to middle-class families, who own or rent private homes on the neighborhood's tree-lined residential streets. There are pockets of wealthier areas in the southern part of the neighborhood close to the Belt Parkway.

Transportation

There are many bus routes that run through Ozone Park. The Q7 runs on Rockaway Boulevard, Q21 and Q41 run on Cross Bay Boulevard, Q11 up Woodhaven Boulevard, Q112 on Liberty Avenue, the Q8 on 101st Avenue, and the Q24 on Atlantic Avenue.

The New York City Subway Vorlage:NYCS A train runs along Liberty Avenue, and becomes elevated upon entering the neighborhood from Brooklyn. The A train stop at Rockaway Boulevard is a major junction on the A train between trains heading towards the Ozone Park-Lefferts Boulevard station and trains heading to Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue, an often confusing or unknown detail for tourists on their way to JFK Airport.

Schools

Public Schools
Private Schools
  • St Elizabeth's RC Elementary
  • St Mary Gate of Heaven RC Elementary
  • Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School
  • St Stanislaus Bishop - Martyr RC Elementary
  • Little Dolphin Pre-School
Closed Schools
  • Our Lady of Wisdom RC Secondary

Pop culture

  • In the movie Boss of Bosses starring Chazz Palminteri, there is a scene with John Gotti in Ozone Park at the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club.
  • The movie Getting Gotti starring Lorraine Bracco is based on a real life woman, Diane Giacalone, who grew up in Ozone Park and through the years first handedly watched Gotti rise to power on the streets of Ozone Park, eventually to become an Assistant US Attorney and build up a case against him.
  • History Channel documentary entitled "Perfect Crimes" featured the Lufthansa heist and talked about lucchese family crews living, killing and running businesses in Ozone Park.

Notable residents

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Jack Kerouac lived above this flower shop in Ozone Park.

Notable current and former residents of Ozone Park include:

Historical Ozone Park Photographs

References

  1. ↑ If You're Thinking of Living In/Ozone Park; Changing Faces, Enduring Values, The New York Times, October 5, 2003
  2. ↑ Bangs and Booms on the 4th: Fireworks, the Illegal Kind, Don't Disappear, The New York Times, July 5, 2005
  3. ↑ Gerald Edelman - 1972 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, Israel High-Tech Magazine, July 1, 2005
  4. ↑ Diane Giacalone, from the neighborhood., Time (magazine), September 29, 1986
  5. ↑ 'Dapper Don' John Gotti dead: Brought down by the Bull, CNN.com, June 11, 2002
  6. ↑ "The Wized of Ozone Park", accessed December 31, 2006
  7. ↑ Tony Modica - The Pizza Dance
  8. ↑ Artshound.com biography of Bernadette Peters, accessed December 16, 2006
  9. ↑ Ozone Park Stick up couple, the Uva's, New York Daily News, January 12, 1993

Ozone Park Links: Maps, Stories & Articles

Vorlage:Queens

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