Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In Queens, Corona was also pretty bad, especially because of Lefrak City. Then called Lecrack City. LOL Roosevelt Avenue was rough in those days too, lots of blatantly open prostitution and drug dealing (through Corona and Jackson Heights).
IMO Queensbridge was more dangerous than Lefrak back in those days and South Jamaica Houses (40 Projects) and Baisley Projects were ground zero during the crack era. Crack turned South Side Jamaica Queens upside down back then with only Far Rockaway arguably worse. You really wasn't trying to be up in Redfern, Edgemere, 40's, Hammels, etc...if you didn't have to be seriously. Back then people we're getting their heads blown off even in decent neighborhoods like St.Albans, Springfield Gardens and Cambria Heights. Farmers, Merrick, Guy Brew, Linden Springfield & Hempstead, Hollis Ave, Liberty Ave, Suptin Blvd...all the main streets had heavy crack trafficking and consistent violence
Hunts Point/Longwood - 41 Precinct has always been more of a heroin nabe then a crack nabe. How can you forget La Reina de Heroina and her heroin empire based out of a building on Hoe at Aldus - mad bodies dropped there over the dope trade in the 70's and 80's. Area is still thick with junk long since they burned La Reina and her son and their their crew and put them away for ages.
And about 75% of the 120th precinct is perfectly safe.
For crack, I'm not sure if Stapleton was necessarily the worst. The Jersey Street corridor (and some of the side blocks off it) in New Brighton was pretty bad as well.
Hunts Point/Longwood - 41 Precinct has always been more of a heroin nabe then a crack nabe. How can you forget La Reina de Heroina and her heroin empire based out of a building on Hoe at Aldus - mad bodies dropped there over the dope trade in the 70's and 80's. Area is still thick with junk long since they burned La Reina and her son and their their crew and put them away for ages.
Yes that's the woman who I saw on the bio channel.
Yes that's the woman who I saw on the bio channel.
Even going there now you can smell the scag, and just sense that it's a junk neighbourhood, though I'm sure crack is plentiful as well (same with Avenue D, Alphabet City, East Village, and LES). But in the past, the 41st was the junk capital of the South Bronx. Even Boy George, another infamous dope trafficker who came out of the Bronx, got his start in Hunts Point. Mount Eden, Mount Hope, and East Tremont were also big for the caballo.
Mott Haven was definitely a big crack neighbourhood as others have mentioned, especially the streets just south of St. Mary's Park like Beekman, Powers, Cypress and St. Ann's where the rock was slung right out of the buildings and civilians who lived in them had to put up with all the buyers and dealers and bodies dropping from disputes, 'cause the crack scene has always been a bit more hectic than junk (not to say that dealing junk can't be hectic too. Different kind of customer, I guess) so imagine trying to raise a family in those buildings while the crack epidemic was at its worst.
Harlem was also a big crack neighbourhood, while Washington Heights was mostly junk, because the Dominicans (and Puerto Ricans) have always been big into the dope trade in NYC, while the blacks have traditionally stuck more to the coke and rock since the 80's. Of course there's plenty of exceptions to those rules (Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas come to mind, but they were big in the early-to-mid 70's) but based on what I know, seems that way. Especially after crack blew up in NYC, black dealers gravitated away from the scag and more towards the rock.
Nowadays drugs in NYC are still HUGE, and the Tri-State remains the heroin distribution capital of the Western World, but the methods of distribution have been forced to go underground due to things like Stop & Frisk, Model Blocks, Weed & Seed, Operation Impact, and maybe the 9/11 terror attacks more than anything. The police in NYC have been given tremendous powers to stop and search people who they think are up to no good, so dealers have had to adjust and move to beeper service, and delivery services, or conduct their business in residential buildings and project towers. You can still cop on the streets, but it's not easy unless you know someone. Not much of the corner dealing anymore. However, cross the Hudson into Jersey and street dealing of junk, blow, and rock still thrives in many areas.
I could never imagine actually living in those project buildings during the height of the crack epidemic. St Nicks in Harlem was the worst part of Harlem in my opinion.
St Nicholas Avenue that is. St. Nicks projects was terrible also. Back then it was very dangerous to even walk in those projects if you weren't from there. That's probably the way it was for every other project too. That leads to another question, what was the most dangerous projects during the crack epidemic?
Even going there now you can smell the scag, and just sense that it's a junk neighbourhood, though I'm sure crack is plentiful as well (same with Avenue D, Alphabet City, East Village, and LES). But in the past, the 41st was the junk capital of the South Bronx. Even Boy George, another infamous dope trafficker who came out of the Bronx, got his start in Hunts Point. Mount Eden, Mount Hope, and East Tremont were also big for the caballo.
Mott Haven was definitely a big crack neighbourhood as others have mentioned, especially the streets just south of St. Mary's Park like Beekman, Powers, Cypress and St. Ann's where the rock was slung right out of the buildings and civilians who lived in them had to put up with all the buyers and dealers and bodies dropping from disputes, 'cause the crack scene has always been a bit more hectic than junk (not to say that dealing junk can't be hectic too. Different kind of customer, I guess) so imagine trying to raise a family in those buildings while the crack epidemic was at its worst.
Harlem was also a big crack neighbourhood, while Washington Heights was mostly junk, because the Dominicans (and Puerto Ricans) have always been big into the dope trade in NYC, while the blacks have traditionally stuck more to the coke and rock since the 80's. Of course there's plenty of exceptions to those rules (Nicky Barnes and Frank Lucas come to mind, but they were big in the early-to-mid 70's) but based on what I know, seems that way. Especially after crack blew up in NYC, black dealers gravitated away from the scag and more towards the rock.
Nowadays drugs in NYC are still HUGE, and the Tri-State remains the heroin distribution capital of the Western World, but the methods of distribution have been forced to go underground due to things like Stop & Frisk, Model Blocks, Weed & Seed, Operation Impact, and maybe the 9/11 terror attacks more than anything. The police in NYC have been given tremendous powers to stop and search people who they think are up to no good, so dealers have had to adjust and move to beeper service, and delivery services, or conduct their business in residential buildings and project towers. You can still cop on the streets, but it's not easy unless you know someone. Not much of the corner dealing anymore. However, cross the Hudson into Jersey and street dealing of junk, blow, and rock still thrives in many areas.
A lot of true statements. For instance East Harlem which was predominately Puerto Rican was heavy into heroin. E 110th and Lexington was reportedly the most lucrative narcotics corner in the city. Each corner selling their heroin which contained it's own stamp mark. They actually sold pills before they became notorious. Further north in the Heights 139th and Amsterdam was huge powder cocaine. That's where dealers from other areas come to buy big product to bring back to their own turf. Read a book called Wild Cowboy's about Beekman ave in the Bronx.
A lot of true statements. For instance East Harlem which was predominately Puerto Rican was heavy into heroin. E 110th and Lexington was reportedly the most lucrative narcotics corner in the city. Each corner selling their heroin which contained it's own stamp mark. They actually sold pills before they became notorious. Further north in the Heights 139th and Amsterdam was huge powder cocaine. That's where dealers from other areas come to buy big product to bring back to their own turf. Read a book called Wild Cowboy's about Beekman ave in the Bronx.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll see if I can get my hands on it. Is it non-fiction?
Also, New York and the Tri-State are the kings of the stamped glassines (for heroin and sometimes powder cocaine - but never for crack). You don't really see that kind of creative branding outside of the Tri-State. In Baltimore they mostly go by the color of the vial-tops to distinguish brands; in Philly they do have some stamped glassines; but nothing like the Tri-State where I read about one lady who has been collecting them since the 80's and is building a website (can't find the link) where you can view her "catalogue" of all the stamp art, and see the change over time and how these days lots of dealers use the names of luxury brands like Versace and Bentley to advertise their wares. I'm surprised sociologists aren't all over this kind of thing, studying the way drug distribution (especially heroin) varies from city-to-city and over time. In the Great Lakes Region (at least Detroit and Toronto/Southern Ontario) junk is sold in paper 0.2 gram "flaps", while west of the Mississippi they almost exclusively use balloons. Nothing like the creativity and branding of New York / New Jersey.
Keep in mind, the 41st Precinct (hunts point/longwood) includes all crime at Rikers Island so the stats/crimes/murders are not an accurate assessment of the neighborhood...it is highly inflated as a result, however it was still one of the very worst.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
