Before you get to the article\u2026<\/p>\n
On February 23, 2018, my book on the Mau Maus and Sand Street Angels, who were two Brooklyn youth gangs from the 1950s, has been completed.\u00a0 It took 15 years of research and writing to complete Brooklyn Rumble: Mau Maus, Sand Street Angels, and the End of an Era.\u00a0 <\/em>This book is roughly 6\u2033x9\u2033 and has 370 pages and includes a look at the characters in the Mau Maus and the details of a gang killing that happened in February 1959 in front of the iconic Brooklyn Paramount Theater (now Long Island University).\u00a0 If you want to buy a copy, click here and this link will take you to an online ordering page<\/a>.<\/p>\n ——-<\/p>\n I find a story so much more interesting when the character of the people being written about comes out.\u00a0 It makes you more attached to the person or at least gives you the capability to observe them (in a way) from the outside looking in.\u00a0 Here is a short profile given of Andrew Whalen aka “Bo,” the former Jackson Gent that was knifed in the back twice and died from his wounds in a fight in December 1960.\u00a0 If you want to read more about the details of his death, click here, there is a page devoted to what happened that fateful day.<\/a><\/p>\n The following is a small glimpse into Bo’s character courtesy of another former Jackson Gent who knew him at the time and was there on the day he died and the one who provided the detailed synopsis of what happened that day:<\/p>\n Bo was about 5’6″ with dirty blonde hair and he must have weighed all of 140lbs.\u00a0 He was quiet, by that I mean that he wouldn’t stand out, at least not in our crowd.\u00a0 He had a quick sense of humor and I remember that he laughed a lot.\u00a0 He was just a regular guy. \u00a0Bo could also draw,\u00a0 he was really good at drawing ships and boats of all kinds.<\/span>\u00a0 He had a dog (whose name I don’t recall) and sometimes he would walk him after dinner.\u00a0 I remember one night he brought the dog to the club, we were all sitting around drinking, Bo said that his dog liked beer.\u00a0 Well, we got the dog drunk.\u00a0 I don’t know what happened when he brought that dog home because he never mentioned it again.\u00a0 On the other hand he never brought him back again either.\u00a0 Shortly before he died,\u00a0just a few months earlier, we had a conversation.\u00a0 Bo was 16 and he told me he had never gotten laid. and he was anxious about it.\u00a0 As best I can recall, maybe a week before he died, he told me that he’d banged some girl.\u00a0 I remember how happy he was.\u00a0 The strange thing is that that is the way I always remember him.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before you get to the article\u2026 On February 23, 2018, my book on the Mau Maus and Sand Street Angels, who were two Brooklyn youth gangs from the 1950s, has been completed.\u00a0 It took 15 years of research and writing … Continue reading