How far we have fallen

When I was a kid they were having the Gallo-Profaci war. The Gallos were the local gangsters and they were duking it out with the boss Joe Profaci for a bigger slice of the pie. They used a lot of incidents from the war in the original Godfather books and movies. For example they threw Joe Jelly's bullet proof vest with a fish in it in front of one of the joints on Columbia St where the Gallos hung out.

Eventually Joey Gallo got busted and went upstate and Larry died and the war petered out until Joey got out of the joint. Then he became a high society gangster and hung out in the city with actors and authors and Warhol and the whole dirty mix. He got tight with Jerry Orbach who played him in a movie called "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight." This was from a book by that dick Jimmy Breslin making fun of the Gallos and the whole situation.

Now one of the big stories about these guys is that they had a pet lion in the basement of their social club in a Brownstone on President St. Somebody gave it to him and it was old and sick and what not but it was one of the legendary stories that shows up now and again in so many gangster movies. They played it out for comedy in the movie but it was kind of sad. But hey when you were a seven year old kid and walked by on the way to the pizza store and the lion lunged at you, well you shit your pants. You know what I mean.

Anyway those days are long gone. Joey got hit at Umberto in the 70's and the rest of those guys died in one way or another. There is only one guy left in the neighborhood who is in his eighties.

He is the guy they kind of model Feech Lamana in the Soprano's. He is a fixture in the neighborhood and all the old timers know who he is. The hipster dofus assholes don't have a clue. He did about twenty jobs or so we hear. A genuinely tough guy. In the '70's and 80's everybody walked softly around him because he had a bad temper and would shoot you in a minute if you looked at him the wrong way. Now he just sits at the cafes and has an espresso and enjoys the sun. He has a lot of money on the street and has a piece of a lot of stuff going on in Court St. He has a piece of this cafe/bakery joint where he likes to sit everyday. I always say hello when I pass by.

Anyway I was walking to the store and passed by the cafe like I always do. And they have the little hatchway on the front that leads directly to the basement. All the brownstones do. This place has their kitchen there. And right in the front, they put a stuffed lion. I quess to scare away the little yappy dogs that want to run down the steps to where they make the food.

How far we have fallen. From real lions to stuffed lions. It is just unfuckinbelievable!