Last week a Russian producer contacted me to write a screenplay about New York nightlife in the late-70s and early-80s. He had read IN ABSENCE OF AMNESIA my story about the Continental and thought I could incorporate the plot of Russian gangsters running an after-hour club in Chelsea.

Crooked cops, Russian mobsters, FBI informers, my ex-girlfriend, drugs, and rock and roll.

“It almost writes itself.” I said to the producer.

I later explained the story to Andrea, with whom I work at the diamond exchange. She couldn’t believe the story was true. I googled ‘continental nightclub murder’ and this article from the NY Times popped up. Nothing else. Almost like the Continental existed like Brigadoon. Only in people’s mind, but here’s some proof. I knew Viktor. He had turned for the feds. Not on his crew. Other mafia. he wouldn’t squeal on his friends. The FBI cut him loose. He was found dead the next night.

Fucking FBI.

A February 7, 1983 article (“Soviet Émigré Is Found Slain”) from the New York Times states:

A 24-year-old émigré from the Soviet Union was found shot to death Saturday in the doorway of a commercial building in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. The police said yesterday that the motive for the crime was unclear. They said they doubted it was robbery because the victim, Victor Malinsky of Floral Park, Queens, was wearing gold chains and a diamond ring and had $265 in his wallet. He was also carrying a paging device, which was beeping when officers arrived at the scene at 5:30 A.M. Mr. Malinsky was shot in the head, chest and back, the police said. The body was found at the entrance to 601 West 26th Street, between 11th and 12th Avenues, by the building’s night watchman. Mr. Malinsky, a self-employed interior decorator, arrived from the Soviet Union in 1980 and lived at 270-15A Grand Central Parkway, according to the police. They said they had not determined whether the victim was slain at the Chelsea site or slain elsewhere.

I was there that night. I left town the following week. My subleasee said that the police wanted to speak with me. I thought it better to stay out of the USA for a couple of years. French became my second language.

So far the film producer hasn’t come up with any money.

What a surprise.

For a related article click on this URL

https://www.mangozeen.com/2010/02/21/nightlife/in-absence-of-amnesia-by-peter-nolan-smith-chapter-1.htm