December 2, 2008
Last Ride in Ozone Park
When John Gotti's funeral procession arrived in Ozone Park en route to St. John Cemetery, about 200 residents that had gathered along 101st Avenue as if for a parade - many of them holding candles in foam cups - erupted in applause.
One group of about a dozen people broke out in song: "We love you, John/We love you true." And when the hearse bearing Gotti's ornate coffin passed, people with tears streaking their cheeks reached out to touch it.
"Mr. Gotti was part of this neighborhood," Pat Mannino, 54, said. "Once he was gone, the neighborhood went to hell. [You] can't walk safe anymore."
For years Gotti made the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club on 101st Avenue and 99th Street his headquarters, with a desk, an office and even his own barber chair. Each Fourth of July, he threw a huge block party complete with free barbecue, music and fireworks, the last of which eventually got the bash banned.
Yesterday, a 6-foot-tall poster of Gotti hung from a third-floor fire escape on 101st Avenue. The poster, a silk-screened portrait of the smiling don with clouds floating behind him, bore the words: "John Gotti Will Live Forever."
Outside the Bergin, where a makeshift shrine has grown steadily since Gotti's death Monday, someone had scribbled on a newspaper account of his death: "Dearest John - OP [Ozone Park] won't 4-get how many people you helped. They can't hurt u anymore."
Some in the convoy of limousines yesterday had their back windows rolled down. Inside, Gotti relatives and friends wearing silk shirts and gold chains gave the thumbs-up sign as they rolled past the Bergin. One driver was in tears.
After the motorcade doubled back along 101st Avenue and drove past a second time, a group of about 50 people gathered outside the hunt and fish club, placing candles, fingering rosary beads and quietly reciting prayers.
"What they don't know is all the good he did. They only talk about the bad," said Rob Walker, 23, of Ozone Park.
"He did a lot of good in this neighborhood ... he was very good to the children," said Joseph Donofrio, 53, another local resident. "We're all going to miss him very much."
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