gangster tour

Zelia and I meet downtown for our second try at The Gangster Tour.  This time, our guide Ben shows up.  We are a small group — just me and Zelia and two couples, one from Massachusetts and the other from Hawaii. It’s a cloudy fall day in the high 60’s, perfect walking weather.

From the beginning it is clear that Ben knows his stuff.  

Ben is an engaging guide without being preachy.  His enthusiasm for the subject and his vast knowledge of historical New York is evident from the start.  

We start at The Five Points, the place made famous by Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York.  It of course looks nothing like the set of the movie.  From there we walk to Doyers Street, a snaky street in Chinatown known for its violent history. 

Then it’s over to Little Italy, where we are told stories of Crazy Joe Gallo.  We even see the bullet holes from the night Gallo was gunned down on his 43^rd birthday at Umberto’s.

Ben enlightens us with all kinds of mobster tales.  He seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge of New York crime families.  

The tour lasts about two hours and ends in Nolita.  After passing so many gelato street vendors and Italian restaurants, Zelia and I are hungry.

We end the day with pizza (prosciutto and arugula) at a cute little outdoor cafe, amazed at how crowded the restaurants are at four in the afternoon.