Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in the 1980s

This Sept. 8, 1987 archival report from FOX 5 News looks at the people of Bensonhurst and the mob reputation they tried to dispel.
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[@frankzito1660]

Born and raised in Bensonhurst. 15th and 64th. Loved it in the late 60s and 70s. Beautiful.

[@hoodfavant]

16th and 68th💯

[@LannieLord]

Do you remember the "ma & pa" toy stores ?

[@dang5297]

Love old reports like these !

[@Animalfarm6cats]

There's one that is 1:30 minutes on Son Of Sam hitting Bensonhurt.

[@MERCURYSUNSET]

"Mob murders , not only do they mess up sidewalks " 😂😂What a great way to start a news story .

[@nullnull403forbidden]

Proud to say born & raised in Brooklyn, Bensonhurst.

[@poodledog8479]

Me too. I love ❤️ my neighborhood that's why everyone wants to live here.

[@u.s.m.c.fewproudthemarines2987]

@@poodledog8479 u still there friend

[@jashanestone]

You sound like these modern times.. Where today's gangs gives certain groups ppl a "bad name".. Love my hood..!! 😉

[@Heart2HeartBooks]

Disgraced to say I was born in Brooklyn It is a $#Ithole now! Would never go back . 50% want to leave in a new poll.

[@hamzamahmood9565]

YOOO just moved to Bensonhurst its lovely 😍

[@billy1673]

It was only dangerous for the mob guys who were skimmin off the top. Otherwise, it was the safest place on earth!

[@ramencurry6672]

I visited Bensonhurst over a week ago. It was good.

[@dquinn8344]

The amount of home and apartment burglaries and car break-ins in Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst (all over Brooklyn) were INSANE in the late 80s...At least a couple of times a week I saw lowlifes carrying Sony Trinitrons down the street back then....

[@billy1673]

@@dquinn8344 and more than a couple times I saw some wise guys stompin the fuck outta some douchebag who made the mistake of stealing that trinitron. There’s a reason people who didn’t have vowels at the end of their last name avoided that neighborhood.

[@64Street]

Actually, you are right. Imagine some idiot cutting the wrong person's car tire because of a "Climate Change Protest".

[@christophg159]

There was no crime in Bensonhurst in the late 80s there felt like pleasantville

[@Nastafar]

Lived in Sheepshead Bay when I was a kid from mid 80s to mid 90s and loved it. Got my 95 Air Max Pennys in Bensonhurst. I really miss the simple life back then: playing outside rollerblade hockey, football, stickball, handball, kickball, hoops, etc.), open fire hydrants in summer, setting off fireworks, Street Fighter II arcade at the corner Chinese spot, biking to Manhattan Beach, Roll N Roaster, and other fun stuff. ❤NYC!!

[@noyansever]

Me too

[@cookievoid]

It has changed so much for 40 yrs and is still changing now, thats amazing

[@LannieLord]

Horrible now. Just lost its soul.

[@dn8443]

​@@LannieLordwhat's horrible about it? Sure it's not really Italian anymore but it's still just a asian & white working class community..its not particularly dangerous like other neighborhoods

[@gworsham32290]

Where did all the Italians move to if they aren't many left in bensonhurst?​@dn8443

[@AngelLuisEspada1970]

Should have a channel pertaining towards news archives as these 😀 as in the 50's through the late 90's.

[@lovely0482]

Go ahead make it happen 😁👍🏼

[@LonnellRich]

Hezykiah newz on here has a lot of archival news

[@monix6000]

New Yorkers used to not be afraid to take justice into their own hands

[@m22712]

Got a bunch of liberal soy boys nowadays so it only makes sense

[@newyorkcity76]

It’s not justice it’s Sicilian mafia Hits in 80

[@Stargate-over-starwars]

Literally a mob

[@Awesome_Aasim]

Except no. This is gang-related activity. It is not citizens exercising their second amendment rights.

[@tyycha1324]

That wasn’t justice that was gang retaliation

[@theallnightr]

Better than now. At least the people getting hurt back then we’re in the mob as opposed to now where it’s just punks hurting the elderly or random hardworking immigrant.

[@johnmarshall4399]

Polarized all italian flags no american flags

[@RogueBoyScout]

Yeah, tell that to all the workers on building sites during the 70s/80s who were murdered by the Mob to make sure everything ran smoothly in regards to the bids on logistics and supplies. And let's not forget how much better the subway system was in NY back in the 70s 80s compared to today. Or those beautiful buildings they designed to look like ruins from a blitzkrieg attack because NY was in so much surplus of cash they were only faking about how they would be literally bankrupt. Gtfo. People who say 70s 80s NY was better than today obv. Never lived it, or lived in the affluent areas.

[@Abandoned_Brane]

New York was something special. It was alive. Now not so much. Outside the museums, there's no reason to visit.

[@jayonez137]

Gentrification took all the culture away. It’s now filled with soulless hipsters who overpay in rent

[@jamesdavis6036]

Born & raised 20th ave & 63 street. We never locked the doors, ever! Growing up was heaven on earth.

[@jesusisking117]

It's actually pretty much the same neighborhood today except the mob is gone or underground. The area is more mixed and there's lots of nice shopping

[@64Street]

Yeah, I think serious mobsters today are businessmen or owners of politicians. Paul Castellano types come to mind.

[@LannieLord]

It looks like Chinatown now.

[@jamesdavis6036]

This guy's smoking something. You have no idea

[@dn8443]

@Jesusisking the mob ain't gone bro they're still there & in gravesend. They just stay low profile cause the feds are on theyre neck now. 18th Ave & 86th still has Mob owned places & hangouts..ppl think they're gone bc they can't be in the spot light anymore. And that's the way they want it.

[@stylistxoxo5757]

Love it in the early 90s and early 2000s, it was great back then, didn’t hardly know to much about the 80s, cuz I was just born lol

[@chrismaurina5260]

Bensonhurst is now mostly Asian,I grew up in ozonepark queens now it’s all Indian crazy how a neighborhood can change in 30 yrs

[@yell0wberry]

The Asians also control all of flushing while most of the Jews moved to Williamsburg. The Indians have most of Richmond Hill and ozone Park. The Caribbean especially the Jamaicans have all of Southeast Queens. We only wonder what NYC is going to look like in a few more years with all the migrants there

[@Kabooooom670]

​@@yell0wberry I mean NYC has always been filled with migrants lol what do you think the Italians were who lived in Bensonhurst. Let alone the Irish and Spanish neighborhoods too

[@thekeith-donovanexperience]

What a time to be alive

[@georgeplagianos6487]

Time to be alive What A Time to die if you're up mobster

[@americasfavoritebrazilian2399]

This was a Great time in New York. They didn't go after civilians

[@costambar3230]

We love the good old days. Because we we're younger and stronger

[@SpontaneityJD]

12th avenue is bensonhurst? what lmao. I guess the news never heard of Dyker Heights.

[@Frankieefootballmundial]

Come during the holidays it’s nice

[@SpontaneityJD]

@@Frankieefootballmundial Or don’t come. There’s enough traffic here during Christmas

[@jaybones821_YT]

Yeah. When you see-it every ear its like. The 5/6 houses on 17 ave were beautiful So many lights. But every year my mother would drag me there. Im like maa! I seen it. Leave me alone im playing Atari 2600 ova heeeeere!!😂

[@SpontaneityJD]

@@jaybones821_YT 17th ave? I think you mean around 10th to 11th ave

[@jaybones821_YT]

@@SpontaneityJD no. I mean 17 the ave. There was a group of houses between 82st and 81 st. And they all got together and did the whole thing. your right also. They had the big bucks up there and the big animatronic and all that. And you can literally drive around for hours 👀 at all the pretty lights up in “Dyker Height’s”✌🏼

[@el_Contra]

lived in Bensonhurst for 12+ years, it was great to be able to walk anytime at night...

[@johnnydoubleu3656]

Live right around the corner from those homes on 12th ave....Not 65% Italian anymore...

[@Good_Luck11]

and alot of chinese

[@yekaterinaaverbukh8486]

isn't 12th ave more like Dyker heights? It used to be very Italian too

[@johndoubleu3996]

@@yekaterinaaverbukh8486 Yes basically Dyker Heights

[@ThomasBMawn]

Back when there was no potholes!

[@marz1054]

I was raised in NYC my whole life born in 88. My father had very weird work hours, always had a ton of cash & sometimes wouldn't come home for days. When i was young i asked my mom what did dad do for a job and she told me hes a supervisor for a company lol..i wasn't a dumb kid i knew he was doing something but i just didn't know what his exact occupation was. Till this day i believe he was either Batman or involved in organized crime lol

[@oocollins]

Lol could be .. both..

[@reillymoore3257]

That reminds me of Victoria Gotti telling the story of her childhood when she goes on to describe visiting her dad in Prison. Her mother would explain to the Gotti children that their father actually had a very important job - working at the Prison. 😂 While it may have worked for a while, little Victoria and her brother couldn't understand why dad never came home at night.

[@Richard_John_Dick_Grayson]

@Marz10 I can confirm, that he wasnt the Batman....

[@laughalotitsgoodforyourbod7627]

Selling drugs and women mommy definitely knew but didn’t care cause he was providing... taking out other providers.

[@dquinn8344]

Did your father ever have a "front" business?

[@gennaropupa5599]

Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, yes, but there is the Mapleton section in between (Graves End ). Great place.

[@davidbee7060]

Lmao I grew up on ave u. Trust me it ain't nice

[@mrvk39]

2:04 John's children now own most of Bensonhurst. It stopped being mostly Italian in early 1990s, after most left for the suburbs, and became mostly Russian in the 1990s-2000s, and now, after most Russians left for better areas, it is mostly Chinese and Latino.

[@professional.commentator]

I heard there's also a lot of Central Asians like Uzbeks that live there now. They're basically like Russian-speaking Muslims and most of them looking Asian.

[@mrvk39]

@@professional.commentator could be! When I was living in Brooklyn, most former USSR groups from Central Asia lived in Forrest Hills, Queens. But, I wouldn't be surprised if some now, moved to Bensonhurst.

[@lifestraight]

As recent as 2010-2012 Bensonhurst still had a very significant Jewish and Italian population.

[@mrvk39]

@@lifestraight I am sure it exists, but what is "significant"? It used to be predominantly Italian (70% or more) and now it is what? 30% maybe?

[@dquinn8344]

I remember Robin Quivers reporting on Howards Stern's show in 1995 that Italians were no longer the single biggest ethnic group in NYC . For the first time Puerto Ricans were the biggest single ethnic group. In the 1960s in Coney Island we had a foreign Mexican mailman (Bert) for a decade but Mexicans were far and few between in Brooklyn and in about 1991 I noticed a sudden EXPLOSION of foreign Mexicans in Brooklyn moving mostly to PR neighborhoods like Sunset Park...

[@dominic6283]

I grew up in Bergen Beach in the 80’s. It was about the same 65% Italian 35% Jewish. We had mob in our neighborhood too. Many of the corner houses with the bars on the windows were mob houses. One day riding my bike with my friends we found a dead guy hanging out of his car with a fish on him in our neighborhood.

[@miltongreene1889]

Nice report, Grimey.

[@AlvisWuSky]

I just love the year's of 1980 i live in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn :)

[@TheWavy87]

People pretend that bensonhurst was a good neighborhood. People got killed all the time. Lmao

[@Kabooooom670]

Fr it was a wild ass area lol

[@gcboy16]

White communities was just as ruthless

[@dang5297]

Bensonhurst during the 80s was like white Harlem

[@l.n963]

@@dang5297 poor community= more crime, skin color or ethnicity has nothing to do with it

[@dang5297]

@@l.n963 Bensonhurst was never a poor community

[@dang5297]

@A Fera absolutely agree. The mafia didnt kill anyone that wasnt in the game. Matter of fact they actually made some of the neighborhoods safer with their presence

[@MyKeeP81]

@@dang5297 yeah but they were trashy as trashy gets

[@fr2ncm9]

I laughed when I heard the average median income was 18,000 per year. Today the average minimum wage worker is making close to 25 k

[@apap1586]

At least the mob keep their conflict in house.. forty years later you have gangs just shooting anywhere even with children walking by.

[@Coodeville]

It's all different now

[@adamquiles2468]

Hopefully that Chinese guy never got shaken down he's in wiseguy territory

[@jayjay-xx4zf]

all this time I thought Bensonhurst was in queens not Brooklyn 😩😩

[@chapter1762]

Elmhurst is in queens

[@azul8811]

@@chapter1762 It must have been the “hurst” part that threw him off…

[@jamesbianco5655]

My Grandparents lived on W 7th & 86th St. Just around the corner from L&B’s!

[@LannieLord]

Remember JAHN'S ???? Hy Tulip ?? Jewish deli .

[@brooklyn5466]

All the Italians have moved out to live in Staten Island.

[@dquinn8344]

AND they have been running out of Staten Island for 30 years.....

[@brooklyn5466]

@@dquinn8344 Where are they going?

[@BotanicalJourney]

No. They mostly died. Italian immigrants who came over in the 60s/70s/80s made this neighborhood Italian and they have been dying off. And their children and grandchildren move elsewhere for work, better schools, better homes, etc. Same as every ethnic group in the city. There is not a single neighborhood today that is the same as 1987. And you would be very hard-pressed to find someone whose family has lived in a given neighborhood for more than 2-3 generations.

[@margiesbeauty]

There are still some Italians who still over here but you don’t see them like back then.

[@luzlopez776]

Yes it was like this back then

[@grant8917]

What are some of the best sights and attractions In Brooklyn, I was there with my mother back in 2016 for the first time and I hope to go back someday again?

[@jeepcam84]

The mafia town

[@ginolorenzo9851]

today all of those Italians disappeared and the Asians and Muslims live In all of those neighborhoods now

[@psychoshamrock]

my heart. Bay 16th and Bath Ave. 💔

[@Brooklynapoli]

Go now! 🤢🤢🤢

[@LeemLovesArt]

1:35 “good ethnic groups” smdh damn

[@LeemLovesArt]

@Kevin T sounds racist af.... so who are the BAD ethnic groups ??

[@professional.commentator]

@Kevin T Oddly specific but okay.

[@PapeySapote]

The whole segment is about the mafia and the neighborhood being a stereotype. Good ethnic groups is obviously talking about the working class people that live in the neighborhood, not the mob affiliated ones. Context matters.

[@ee.es00]

​@LeemLovesArt The ones who commit most violent crime and compose less than 10% of population

[@yell0wberry]

I wonder if John Rowland still alive?. I love how glowingly Brooklyn’s own Joe Causi would speak about Bensonhurst.

[@lennarthagen3638]

Skimming of the top makes me think of milkshake

[@yekaterinaaverbukh8486]

I caught it from early 90s. Used t be very nice and safe. Not many Italians left.

[@commander-bw6yd]

Carmine and frank did not pay there tab at the Chinese restaurant

[@shawn8695]

Nice ethnic groups ?…whatcha mean by that ?

[@targettwentyone]

Wow that’s like 40 years ago 😮

[@blahblah8812]

It literally same as now

[@salaplaylistfast5369]

LOL GERARD SICA's FAMILY HAS BEEN PRETTY BUSY BACK IN THE DAYS RIGHT LMFAO!

[@bingofuel3545]

Me too .85 and bay parkway great deli.

[@NickTheStallion]

Where's Spike? 😂

[@richcollins4208]

Nothing has changed like literally nothing

[@dumbassperze4767]

Neighborhood changed so much

[@lindal8179]

For the worst

[@qarbo08]

But visually, it’s still the same 😆

[@MilesBellas]

'Mob murders....... not only mess up sidewalks....." ?!

[@UnitedCorporationsOfAmerica]

You know that asian dude was getting taxed.

[@stevenmckean138]

Ralph kramden and Ed Norton lived in bensonhurst.

[@AJ-xm4xc]

65% Italian 30% Jewish. 😂😂😂😂😂

[@lifestraight]

Why laugh?

[@AJ-xm4xc]

@@lifestraight because they don’t even care to mention the other 5%

[@dquinn8344]

When? 40 years ago?

[@lanabyk8012]

Don't worry about the murders...we do our own laundry around here. Ok?

[@rawgab4439]

LoL...can you imagine living in Brooklyn with $K 18 a year !!!

[@compa_choo]

Its wild how the guidos made a complete 180 when not too long ago they were just as bad as us Hispanics snd blacks in the eyes of jim crow 🤔

[@nidialuccioni4476]

That Was Back In The 1980 And There Was Crime But Maybe A Little Respect

[@jessicamoore1548]

I grew up there my whole life in bensonhurst in the 80s n 70 s were all mob run all mafia ran those streets it was safe the mob use to watch the area . They were bad guys but!! They were are bad guys u could have walk the streets of bensonhurst at 1 am and not worry about nothing back then , now I would not walk around any we're even bensonhurst around 8 pm lmao everything changed for the worst young men growing up with out father's that's why they turn out to be who they are not everyone but a good majority....

[@johnmarshall4399]

The mob sold drugs all over the place

[@MrCalisthenicsz]

Nyc will become Gotham in reality soon its crazy

[@oddjobz9858]

Lived 23rd st 60th st

[@michaelmereday6791]

Years ago early 80s I was caught drinking and driving we did that in the 80$getting pulled over was never a thought to worry about lol I fell asleep at a light in Flatbush cops handcuffed me put me in car took my brrt I had in front seat lol and drove with me handcuffed in back while drank my beer and laughed they dropped me off near bath ave near a bar I was drunk a little some guys were outside and saw what was going on loll they helped me to train and put me on it wild night Brooklyn it was a cool time

[@robertthomas2601]

Phil Leotardo's talking house at 1:00?

[@epictorres96]

Love that reference 😂

[@epictorres96]

Love that reference 😂

[@vexworld7400]

Oh cares 🙄

[@TheUnknown-mg8fv]

John probably started all the chinos coming in

[@magicmike6961]

0:45 are you fking kidding me?

[@alicedunstan1441]

I like the guy @ 1:31

[@NevaSellmySoul]

Homey wasn't lying

[@antiquark6253]

18k per year median income

[@ndogg20]

Ah yes China Town Brooklyn, back in the day.

[@crackernumber2]

I bet you down the street was a group of heavyset Italian American men in expensive silk suits and loafers leaning on their polished Cadillac's gossiping like wiseguys gossip.

[@dumbassperze4767]

Guy that sold newspapers 86th and 20th Avenue those were the days

[@dumbassperze4767]

I remember him was a nice guy

[@dumbassperze4767]

I use to shop milk and stuff 20th ave

[@arsalan8746]

Crazy median income to live their was 18000 dollars now u need more then 80k

[@runkapbandit2659]

back when criminals and murderers took pride in their work by not hitting innocent civilians

[@reillymoore3257]

Yes, the intended target was the only target 🎯

[@AngelLuisEspada1970]

@@reillymoore3257 😗🚬

[@qolspony]

So not true. Many robberies and murders happened to feed a drug habit. At the time it was crack and cocaine which was affordable compare to competing drugs.

[@laughalotitsgoodforyourbod7627]

Yesss, also women and children were off limits!!!

[@mrvk39]

this was NEVER EVER true!

[@42luke93]

I wish this were an hour long!

[@Supersquishyawesomeness]

At least the mob got who they were aiming for.

[@jhowardsupporter]

Yeah and it wasn't innocent civilians.

[@radiofreealbemuth]

Mob kept the thugsand gangsters out and enforced the streets better than cops

[@scratchingtomakeit8647]

@@radiofreealbemuth now its the other way around now eh.

[@edgethawavestar2855]

@@scratchingtomakeit8647 the mob was having dealers selling crack for them in the 80s. But true innocent victims rarely got caught in the crossfire.

[@natemyers4946]

Please, they killed innocent civilians as well, stop the cap.

[@gmkhn66]

Now 95% Chinese xd

[@newyorkcity76]

Jews still there

[@LOLWAAHH]

And much safer lol

[@gmkhn66]

@@LOLWAAHH fosho

[@yell0wberry]

They also took over all of flushing and some of Bayside

[@dn8443]

​@@gmkhn66it's not 95% Chinese 😂 more like 50% at most..alot of other white immigrants & mexican are there also..there are still some blocks that are mostly Italian & you can still hear Italian being spoke on the street sometimes. Not like it used to be tho at all.

[@64Street]

A little Woodside, Queens story. About 50 years ago I invited my Irish friend Tommy down to our weekly Sunday dinner at my grandmother's house. With my six uncles and their Wives girlfriends and kids, etc., there were always about 25 people there. We had drinks upstairs on the plastic couch and ate in the basement starting at about 1:00PM. 1:00 PM...no exceptions. So Tommy, who grew up in and knows all about Queens is bringing his new girlfriend Elaine who lives in Glen Cove, New York. She is a newbie to the sights of Woodside, Queens, NY. As they are walking up to my grandmother's house, which is surrounded by factories and long lonely streets, Elaine points out to Tommy a guy sleeping in the front seat of a car. Elaine asks Tommis if he is going to my grandmother's house. Tommy looks in and says, "I don't think so". They finally walk downstairs and everyone says hello to Tommy. Tommy says that there is a dead guy with a bullet in his head staring at the roof of his car. Elain almost passes out. We all, 25 or so Martini drinkers, kids, dogs, and all go to take a look. Yep he is dead. Back in the house Grandma asks, "Tommy, you want some wine?" Tommy looks at Elaine, "So how is your day going?" "Hungry?"

[@rickyparrilla2426]

LMFAO. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. It's sounds insane but you do kinda get use to the craziness in your neighborhood. I was the same way. That was a great story!!! Thanks.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@64Street]

@@rickyparrilla2426 Hey Ricky, one last note. My Late Uncle Tony was one of the three largest custom tailors in New York. His biggest customer was Paul Castellano. I used to get suits from my uncle when some of his clients prepaid but never showed up to pick up their $5000 suits. Go figure. In 1975 at 23 years of age I was the best-dressed clerk in the NBC Finance Department. One VP Exec saw me once and said to my boss, "Are we overpaying this guy?"

[@michaelscottland4239]

This is woodside now kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaaViqBtjMx0abs

[@dquinn8344]

I recall many mob murders in Brooklyn and I saw the aftermath of a few of them myself. I remember walking outside of a bar on east 2nd st and ave U as a 14yo in 1978 going to school one morning. Behind the yellow police crime scene tape in front there was a pile of brains on the ground....

[@blakemcnamara9105]

Wow pretty crazy. I grew up and still live in Woodside but I never heard of, nor seen any crazy things happen here.

[@vaderthekittenchannel1979]

I love the EIGHTIES!

[@megaotstoy]

no poop on the streets, no junkie zombies wondering around, no homeless tents... looks much safer than most of the American cities nowadays

[@tameriajones593]

That's true cause they didn't allow it back then.

[@Kabooooom670]

Crime rate was literally quadruple what it is now back then compared to today lmfao what are you even saying

[@antonoko]

@@Kabooooom670 Homelessness is at all time high, there's crackhead energy everywhere

[@Kabooooom670]

@@antonoko But the crime rate was literally quadruple in nyc especially Bensonhurst so it isn't safer lol ik mad stories of that area back in the day and it was wild as fuck

[@anettedesire8824]

Good ol days

[@SmokeBurp]

mind ya own bidness ya hear me?

[@commiekillahjay2525]

Ahhhh. The good oldays. I was born in Bensonhurst in 1980.

[@Charlietales2022]

PS 186

[@scooter39045]

My dad bought 3 buildings in Bensonhurst in 1986 and then he sold them in 1989.

[@reillymoore3257]

My dad had a building in the Gowanus neighborhood, where in the 1970's & 1980's the crime was so bad that nobody would buy into it, and people would often say that you couldn't pay them to live there. Today, the rents have skyrocketed there and developers are buying and building nonstop - even around that rancid, green slimy Gowanus Canal.

[@johndoubleu3996]

@@reillymoore3257 Hell yeah I remember...I am 58 born in marine park and have been living in dyker heights since 95...

[@johndoubleu3996]

I bet he wishes he didn’t sell them when he did...Who knew..

[@LannieLord]

China probably bought them/

[@ventureted]

65% Italian American, 30% Jewish. Wild! How things have changed.

[@pauliewalnuts5241]

The great replacement

[@ashanyc9146]

@@pauliewalnuts5241 Italians and jews were immigrants too. i bet they Replaced other groups. Italian and Jews immigrants don't own this nation. no one own this nation.

[@pauliewalnuts5241]

Changed as in been destroyed.

[@PapeySapote]

@@ashanyc9146I hope you keep that same thought process when white hipsters are moving into black neighborhoods.

[@Boredoflife916]

​@@PapeySapote Ofc they won't because it benefits them. And its not just black neighborhoods its all minority communities right now look at all the Mexican communities in LA that have been gentrified.

[@musicalmelodies3595]

"Gooood ethnic groups" big Staten Island vibes 😂🎉

[@derekblaustein6013]

That's my old neighborhood! It doesn't take much to put two and two together and realize that the mob is part of the reason why the neighborhood was beautiful and safe! Not that I'm condoning the mafia or that I personally would want to be affiliated with that life, I'm simply saying that having a mafia-controlled neighborhood certainly had its advantages.

[@Sowhat-b7e]

Absolutely agree with you!!

[@sostdm617]

@@WeeWeeIII exactly

[@christof8duece]

This was a wild comment, I lived in Bensonhurst my whole life. they tormented the neighborhood with fear and controlled police so if you didn’t feel safe from them, you were cooked.

[@magamaga1827]

agree. i grew up in whitestone, queens. was a great place. now it's all hispanic and chinese and getting worse by the day

[@derekblaustein6013]

@@WeeWeeIII I understand what you mean, but the vast majority of people living in those neighborhoods knew nothing about what was going on behind the scenes and in the business world. What they did know was that they could go out alone to pick up Chinese food at 11pm and not have to worry about being robbed, raped, beat up, shot, etc. In some other neighborhoods in Brooklyn, you could be risking your life even going out in broad daylight. So to most us, our old neighborhood was a safe and enjoyable place to live.

[@biancas7624]

12th ave isn't considered Bensonhurst anymore..it's Dyker Heights now.

[@meluk6991]

Gotta love the 80s. No fake news, that's for sure!

[@sheldonhchambliss1385]

I agree

[@Simlife101]

You clearly haven't seen CNN reporting on the War pretending there was a chemical attack. News has and always will be fake.

[@waynebarry2597]

Probably the dumbest comment I’ve ever seen.

[@st.thomasaquinas19]

you really think fake news is a new phenomenon? you think fake news just was popularized post internet? you’re as susceptible to propaganda as a 1930’s bavarian. the only thing that’s changed is now the mainstream media aren’t the only ones running around with cameras, fact checkers, and and a platform- that’s why we are able to so easily call them out for their bs nowadays.

[@ceasarandrepont5331]

Bensonhurst looks nothing like this today! More Asians, Russians, Mexicans, Arabs, and very few Italians and Jewish people left. I know I am from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, NY. and I live in Homecrest, Brooklyn, NY.

[@ImmortalDraylo]

Bay ridge is completely different now. Tons of middle easterns. They even changed one of the avenues to be completely in arabic or something. Really weird how fast things can change. All the kids coming out of school being arab or latino. Not saying its bad but its not what is was

[@ceasarandrepont5331]

@@ImmortalDraylo Yes, I was still living there when 5th Ave in Bay Ridge started to change and 3rd Ave as well.

[@willc5723]

Italians moved to Staten Island and New Jersey

[@pokinapllu4781]

Well, my family's Arab and we've been in bensonhurst since the 70s.

[@qolspony]

@@ImmortalDraylo wow. But you know. The west village was a black area before they eventually ended up on the upper westside and finally Harlem in the 1920s. Many of these buildings still exist today.

[@Eazye166]

Even at that time… the crime now is out of hand!!!!

[@qolspony]

The crime was worse in the 80s and 90s due to the crack epidemic. And a lot of people where dying from AIDS and Narcotics. Believe me, it wasn't a good time. But it was more affordable for most people though.

[@edgethawavestar2855]

Bensonhuest was getting close to 30 murders a year back in the 80s. Those Italian gangs were warring with eachother as well as other minorities who came into there neighborhood trying to bag there women

[@user-xb4fm5rx8h]

@@qolspony Violent crimes all around are worse today, the crime rate was at its worse in the late ‘80s, and early ‘90s in NY thou.

[@Kabooooom670]

​@@user-xb4fm5rx8h This just isn't true lol today isn't even remotely close to what the 70s-80s-90s crime rate was anywhere especially NYC

[@Kabooooom670]

Still not even remotely as bad as what it was back then lol you'd still have to quadruple the crime rate today to get close to the crime rate in the 70s-80s

[@tommywho7055]

I graduated from New Utrecht High School in 1983. I never had any problems walking around 86th Street.

[@dyl923gonz7]

do you still live in bk? i graduated utrecht 1990

[@knight_wolff]

I’m mindblown you mention new Utrecht high school I just graduated there 4 years ago and still live around there pretty quiet in the nights around here very rare to see a crime near here

[@tommywho7055]

@@dyl923gonz7 Still do!

[@tommywho7055]

I still remember the good time I had in that school. When ever there was a food fight in the cafeteria, my friends and I would climbed up by the window and watched the fight from above! We were lucky to have a swimming pool in the basement! Hope you have some good memories too!

[@Official_Kings_Versus]

Lucky you 👍🏾💯💪🏾

[@Supervillainmc]

Bath Av was no joke in the 70s-80s

[@kartiersupremewhite330]

Good old NYC the 80s! Gotta love it!!!!!!

[@zacharythomason7359]

Same here