Category Archives: NEW YORK

BAG OF NAILS by Peter Nolan Smith

June 25, 2020 – 12:12 am

Nicky Barnes was a drug dealing legend from the 70s. He ran his heroin empire from Harlem under the protection of the Lucchese crime syndicate. ‘Crazy Joe’ Gallo was his godfather and helped Barnes create ‘the Council’ to run the trade north of 125th Street. Barnes earned the name ‘Mr. Untouchable’ for his skill at […]

By Peter | Also posted in 80s, Crime, Nightlife, race, semi-fiction | Tagged | Comments (0)

Cops In The Good Old Days

June 11, 2020 – 12:13 am

Nightclub raconteur Steve Lewis wrote on Blackbook.com that the NYPD harassment of the nightclub GREENHOUSE appeared to be blatant racism. http://www.blackbookmag.com/racism-core-greenhouse-harassment/ That certainly seems to be the case. The police hate nightclubs, because they don’t get payoffs like the ‘good ole days’ unless they put pressure on the joint and then the ‘bagman’ comes to […]

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THE VALUE OF IGNORANCE by Peter Nolan Smith

June 2, 2020 – 1:45 am

The 2013 Christmas season had been a disaster on 47th Street. Back in the 1990s I usually sold close to a quarter of a million in jewelry and my commissions provided a healthy six-month cushion for the winter, however in 2013 my sales from Thanksgiving to the Winter Equinox totaled less than $25000. After Xmas […]

By Peter | Also posted in Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Wind in Red Hook

May 31, 2020 – 8:02 pm

This weekend brought a cold front through New York and its passing was marked by high winds. Trees fell throughout Brooklyn. One in the alley behind our brownstone lost a limb to a long day of gust. It crashed to the ground smashing two fences. No one was hurt. I bicycled down to Red Hook […]

By Peter | Also posted in weather | Comments (0)

The Bliss of Fake Bling

May 31, 2020 – 7:38 am

Tiffany’s on 5th Avenue has a very special return policy for its jewelry. “Go down to 47th Street to sell it.” Many other people seek to transform jewelry into cash on the busy block between 5th And 6th Avenues. Some are in possession of estates or family heirloom. A few are thieves, but many are […]

By Peter | Also posted in Bet On Crazy, Diamonds, semi-fiction | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)