Uncle Joey's Joint with Joey Diaz - From Cuba to Union City and beyond

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Joey Diaz is joined by childhood friend, and Union City Commissioner, Lucio Fernandez. Lucio grew up with Joey, and like Joey, was also born in Cuba, his parents owned a bar in New Jersey, and he went on to tour the world entertaining people. Joey and Lucio also talk about La Comida China, their classmate who had to dropout in the seventh grade when he got his girlfriend pregnant, and the guy who made his living getting hit by cars.  Support the show and get 10% off your Freeze Pipe order with code DIAZ at https://www.thefreezepipe.com This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try and get on your way to being your best self at https://www.betterhelp.com/diaz Support the show and get $35 off Aura’s Carver Mat frames. Use code JOEY at https://www.auraframes.com   

What's happening you bad motherfuckers? It's Tuesday, December the third. This is the church the New Testament today. I got a friend coming on here Uh, i've known him forever His name is lucio fernandez. We're gonna cover a couple of little situations here Lee's here his feet are dangling off the little fucking chair like a little kid in the back seat I gotta give him a french fry from wendy. And that's it, we're here. Let's get this party started. Greetings from Podcastville.

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If Uncle Joey could do it, I can rule the world. That's what you gotta be thinking. Welcome back to church! What's up, you bad motherfuckers? Uncle Joey back here with my buddy Lucio, Lee Syatt. What's up, Lucio? What's up, Joey? Thanks for having me, man. Oh, anytime. Lucio, how far back do we go?

Oh my God, since you came to McKinley School, sixth grade or something, you came in fifth, sixth grade? Sixth grade. Sixth grade, that's how far back. Now you were in the class with me, Lovito? No, man, it's so funny about that. I actually, no, I wasn't in sixth grade, no, I wasn't Miss Grabowski.

Miss Grabowski, okay. And then Miss Grabowski got me to skip seventh grade. No shit. And they put you in eighth grade? I skipped seventh grade. I remember towards the spring, I had to take a couple of classes with a seventh grader so I could skip seventh, but I went right to eighth grade.

Wow. So I had known you a long time, except you're like 300 years older than me. I'm much younger than you. Yeah, I don't know. You're younger than I am. I still remember you at my house lifting weights. Do you remember that?

You want me to tell the story about lifting weights with you? We were training. We were training. There was some karate guy that hung out with you. I forgot his name. Some crazy karate guy. Always wear white tank tops, like the guinea tees, always wear a white tank top. And we will work out of your house

and you were supposed to be spotting me. He was supposed to be spotting me. I don't know where he went, but those weights fell right on my head. And I look and I'm in pain. And he's over there in the corner cracking up with the karate guy. And the karate guy was lost.

He was like, what is going on here? Who the fuck was the karate guy? I can't remember his name with the karate guy was lost he was like what is going on here who the fuck was the karate guy I can't remember his name with the white t-shirt always wear white tank top always I was so many crazy karate guys I was gonna say you would tell stories about like he had basically had a karate fight club for a little bit didn't you but that was in North Bergen with a kid named Mario Diaz there was a Chinese Cuban kid his name is Mario Diaz. There was a Chinese Cuban kid. His name was Mario Diaz. His father was a doctor. And I think Mario Diaz went to Fujiappai, Kung Fu.

I went to Ishinru and Union City on New York Avenue. On 35th Street? No. No? When we were kids, there was Fujiappai, Kung Fu, and then there was Ishinru Karate, Kevin Norlander, Wayne Norlander. He was on 16th Street, New York Avenue.

I remember that. The guy used to check your report cards. If you fucking got a B or a C, he would make you do jumping jacks and then put you on the side and you had to do homework where everybody was flying through the air. It was tremendous. I remember. It was tremendous, we're talking about North Bergen, right? We went to North Bergen first. When did you leave McKinley? I Graduated from McKinley in 77. Okay, and I didn't want to go I wanted to stay in North Bergen I had it all set up to go to North Bergen high school

I was gonna be playing baseball over there was gonna be playing basketball It's gonna be running track and all the time my and dad said, no, we're moving to Union City. I couldn't believe it. My whole life fell apart. So in 77, that summer of 77, we packed our bags and moved to Union City. Wow. Big change, big change. And what school did you go to in Union City? I went to I went to Union Hill, Union Hill High School. It was it was it was different.

Union Hill. It was different. It was different. It was almost a Hispanic, you know, but it was a was it was different. Union Hill it was different it was different it was almost a Hispanic you know but it was a whole different ball game. In McKinley school the teachers really cared they cared they wanted you to learn they were you know you talked up when you have mr. Barone here your last episode mr. Barone you talked about mr. Agresta you talked about you know mr. miss these people cared I have a great story about Mr. Miss. Mr. Miss was the best. Mr. Miss was in the class with us one day because one of our teachers got sick or something. And Mr. Miss was a good looking blonde dude.

The girls loved him. He looked just like Robert Redford with a mustache. He was yoked. And he was okay. And one day he was the teacher They put both eighth grades together and they said we need to talk to you about something We have an organization that wants to talk to you kids about Helping them out. Okay. Mr. Miss comes in with the white dude

The white dude opens up his briefcase. I'll never forget this Opens up his briefcase. I'll never forget this. Opens up his briefcase and he starts taking notes on it and he goes, how are you doing boys and girls? I'm here to talk to you about a disease that's hitting kids. They can't walk. You start walking, something fucked up, but then he goes, and they can only move three steps per every 30 minutes.

And the guy goes, do we have any ideas on how we could take care of this? And Richie Colombo or somebody raised their hand and he goes, give them roller skates. And the guy looked down, closed the suitcase, went, I'll never forget that. And he goes, they told me not to talk to this class. That was one of the last. Now, I don't know when was the last time I saw Mr. Miss.

What's your Mr. Miss story? Mr. Miss was he was a holiday. Like you say, he was a good looking guy, strong. And, you know, he became the basketball coach. And we were great in basketball, street basketball. We played at the court on 28th Street. 28th Street all the time. We played there all the time.

David Ruiz, myself, a bunch of us. Lefty. Yeah, lefty. Chuck, Chuckie used to come up too once in a while. He was really tiny. Remember Chuckie, how tiny he was? Yeah, he was still tiny. But he was fast, man.

He was fast and he was good. Very good. Anyway, so Mr. Miss comes in to coach us. We were great at street basketball, but when we got in a court, man, we stunk. I remember one game they called the three, the three second penalty on me like 10 times. We didn't know how to play in the court. We never practice. I remember they used to, we used

to say, let's go practice at Kennedy School down on 10th Street. And we used to walk down there in the rain, the snow, it didn't matter. No coach, nothing. We'd suffer if anything one time a week. So we were playing against all these other schools and we stunk. But Mr. Miss said, listen, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. We will start winning every game we were winning by halftime and then we will lose every single game. We lost every game.

But Mr. Miss said, you guys dress up, dress up. We'll get all the girls. You guys will get all the girls. If dress up, doesn't matter how bad you play, you guys will look good. And that's what we did with our little polyester shirts on and whatnot, the bell bottoms and stuff. And we'll go there and pick up the girls. That's what we did.

Who was on your team then? Oh man, I know, David Ruiz. I know Martin, I know Martincito played. You met Martin? Chucky, sure. I still talk to Martin. I don't want that crazy. Yeah, yeah.

I don't know if Martin played. I know Chucky played. Peter Jiminez maybe? I don't remember. I don't know why. I had a crazy time. Yeah, I don't know if Martin played. I know Chuckie played. Peter Jiminez, maybe? I don't remember. Peter, what? We had some crazy motherfuckers in that school. Now, it's funny that, listen, basically we're both from Union City.

I grew up in North Bergen. I went to high school and grammar school for a few years, but I've been going to Union City since I was in fucking diapers. And know, and I went to Ocortidito. This is how this whole shit started with you. I went to Ocortidito one day and I'm there with my daughter, you know, you're sitting outside, it's 80 degrees, I'm looking around, I see this building. I'm like, I know that fucking building.

I keep looking at it and looking at it. And I go, that's where my father died North Hudson, the thoughts of hospital across the street from the Derry Queen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I went on a ride with my daughter I'm like, oh I Know a lot about Union City Like I was here when 48th Street was just cigars going down the street It was just cigar shops fucking cigar shops If you went from Bergen line down to like Palisade or New York Avenue, whatever the fuck it was

You know, I mean you had the colony theater on 48th street. Remember the colony theater on 48th street We had that other theater, you know, I just I didn't even know this, you know that fucking What's the comedian the old guy with the cigar burns at the Hudson theater? He met Gracie burns in union City at the Hudson theater your grandmother his grandmother grew up in Union City She's telling me a story once that she used to talk to Fidel while she was waiting on the bus for double I'm doing and talked to and she goes I didn't know this fucking guy was but he was a gentleman She goes I figured out years later. He was for Dell like for Dell started his revolution in Union City He has some meeting on 26th. Yes 20 somethings. You had a meeting with some people down there. Yeah, and where they got arrested

Yeah, he got arrested in Union City for that. You're talking about Fidel Castro. Yes. What was he doing in Union City? That's whether the revolution started Union City whatever part of Florida it Union City whatever part of Florida where Tampa was or some shit like that and Miami when they were gonna do the Bay of Pigs and all that oh before the Bay of Pigs he was gonna take over Batista's fucking job but that all went down. Are you are you Cuban as well? Yes. It's not my fault I was born there.

I know oh you were born there too. I was born there yeah. Because it was I was driving back from Jersey the other day and You had told me Joey that like you moved you like your mom moved here partially because of like the Like the sewing industry. Yeah, and they had a sign right at the Lincoln Tunnel like New Jersey the home of embroidering 1837 of the fucking that was true from the 1800s you know why why the German machines the Schiffley Machines they had to stand in solid rock and the only area that had the solid rock

Bluestone Union City is based on bluestones. So that's the only place like they can anchor these whatever two-ton machines so the embroidery is Industry grew in Union City in West New York. It was huge. They did all the patches worldwide, everything. Everything came from Union City, West New York. Union City was the embroidery capital of the world. It's also the burlesque capital of the world. The burlesque capital of the world.

Yeah. Do they need to reinforce it for that? They don't have no burlesque clubs no more, right? No, no. You know how many, there was a lot of theaters in Union City. You had the cinema, you remember the cinema? The Hi lot of theaters in Union City you had the cinema you remember the cinema the Hippodrome the Lincoln Theatre

Twin State which was on 40th with CVS is on 48th and Bergen line the colony theater You had theaters all over Union City and there was a lot a lot of people that started you know Frank Sinatra when he was with whatever for the group before he went solo They sang at the Lincoln Theatre on 32nd Street with Davis. You remember Davis Toy Store on Bergenland Avenue and 32nd Street? It was right there, that street. Around the corner where Mi Bandera was,

that used to be a theater, the Lincoln Theater, okay? Before it became years and years old, not the Park Theater, Lincoln Theater. And there you had all these big stars that performed there. Now, the Park Theatre is by the four star diet. Right. The best BLT for fucking years. My mother would stop that three in the morning and get me a BLT and shit. Tremendous. How do you have the best BLT?

It just really good bacon. It's really good tomatoes. OK, thick bacon like it back in the you know, now you go for BLT. It's fucking hard and it's turkey club. Oh my Okay. Thick bacon. Like, back in the, you know, now it's probably like everybody else. It's fucking hog and it smells like... That's Turkey Club. Oh my God. The Turkey Club there. What's that?

The Turkey Club. The Turkey Club is still good? No, the Turkey Club sandwich there. No, they just closed. The diner closed about a year ago. Really? Yeah. Diner closed.

And my florist across the street closed. I had a florist. I'd go in there and bring florists to my mother. I went in there. We're in Columbia. We're never coming back That's how it works out but it's so funny how

Like I was driving that day at my daughter. I started telling her, you know Like I remember I don't remember nothing about Union City until my father died And then I remember being we lived across the street from the grammar school on 29th and Central. Robert Waters. Robert Waters. I lived on that street. We had a garage and the whole thing. And then after that, I don't know what happened.

And then we ended up in New York City, but my mother always had that bar in Union City. So wherever she went, I went. There was no fucking day cares. You know who lived around the corner from you? You're gonna die. Tony Orlando. In Marlboro? No, near, no, no. Oh yeah. In Union City.

Originally, yeah. Tony Orlando was from Union City, New Jersey. I mean, it's just fucking insane, you know. And then I would just go visit and I would walk because you had, my mother had 29th Street. So I covered from 29th to 48th. She would go, don't go past 48th. And you walk back and forth. But 48th Street, when we were growing up, we had our own little world there. I mean, Union City was probably one of the most unique little towns.

Like I could tell you a thousand sad days that we went to the cinema. Like the cinema is where I saw The Longest Yard. It's where I saw Rocky. It's where I saw Tommy. I saw Bruce Lee. Fuck! They always had the midnight show.

And then you walk down Burger Line, and you had Ponte Corvo fruit next to the toy store with a lot of boxes. Oh, that's what I'm talking about. David's toy store. Beat the fuck out of boxes. Oh, that's what I'm talking about Davis Davis, so you go fuck out of boxes They'd be all over burger line and then we'd run away because the cops are gonna chase there was no fucking cops

Fucking crazy and there was a go-go bar there Right on 32nd. Yeah. Yeah. Now when I first remember being at my mother's bar There was an Italian deli across the street. This is 66 67 68 that I would go over and they picked me up and I'd stick my hand and he'd always give me an apple Or fruit or an orange or some shit. I don't want no fucking orange. I wanted the candy yet Things are candy then he left and the new moon Chinese restaurant moved in. Oh, wow I think there was just so many things but the thing that sticks things of candy, then he left and the new moon Chinese restaurant moved in there. Oh, wow.

There was just so many things. But the thing that sticks in my head the most about Union City was when I was about seven, two kids got kidnapped. You remember that? Yeah, I remember that. When I was about seven, two kids got abducted by the towers, some tower in Union, Troy towers or something like that, Somewhere down Edison school. I don't even know if Edison schools still exist.

No, that still exists. Does it? Good basketball down there. I think it was on seventh, right off of- Right down there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right off of Summit Avenue. And then they found the kids dead. Yeah.

And I'll never forget that just because I went to my mother's bar and I did all these things in Unicity, I felt like I had a gut. I told my mom I'm going to the wake and she's like, what are you fucking crazy? I gotta go And I went down it had to be 2,000 people. I'll never forget that. I was like, this is Union City This is real these people fucking her out and they're gonna find this motherfucker and kill him when they do, you know And then I remember that fire on 28th and Bergen Line. There was a Volaga up the block from Hernandez,

which we'll talk about later. School these motherfuckers on the art of cooking sandwiches. Yeah, these motherfuckers don't know nothing. And that burnt down overnight during the holidays. And I still remember going to my mother's bar and the front was just filled with clothes and people giving money. And I don't, you know, I don't know how old I was,

but he had two boys my age. 1993, I moved with George. I come back here and I go to a gym in North Bergen. They own the gym. I paid for the membership and they were like, you're the Norris son? Yeah, they go, here's your money. You remember when you took care of us in Union City

when we were kids? They fucking remember. They go, you work out here for free and we'll fucking train you. Wow. And that was all from fucking Union City. You know, like, Union City, it's a small but a powerful little goddamn place.

Union City's a great city. It's a great little cities and great and you know We for the longest time we were the most densely populated city in the whole country Into just a couple of years ago that Gunn Berg became the the most popular most densely populated city in the whole United States But Union City forever was the most Leslie populated city in the country now There's Gunn Berg still have the record for the most bars per capita. I have no idea I'm just blown away because you guys kind of like look alike. But like you guys have almost like the same beginning and then like you come and you have

the little thing in the suit jacket. You guys started almost exactly the same. And then like, I can't, it's so crazy, you guys came from the same place. Oh, it's gonna get better, cocksucker. So you graduated Union Hill, where'd you go? I went from, when I graduated Union Hill, I went to Rutgers. And I was gonna go to New Brunswick,

and then all of a sudden I was already working in New York. So I said, let me stay in Newark, so I can work in New York. So I was working in New York. Now what were you doing in New York? I was acting, I was already working in New York. So I said, let me stay in Newark, so I can work in New York. So I was working in New York. Now what were you doing in New York? I was acting, I was an actor. Holy shit. Yeah, I never thought in a million years,

when I was growing up, I wanted to be a baseball player. And then all of a sudden, I'm gonna date myself, in freshman year, freshman year in high school, I won a dance competition, disco was big. So I won a disco championship in New Jersey and New York. So that got me onto Soul Factory Disco. You remember Soul Factory? Sure.

So that got me on the TV. I just drove past. Yeah. So they got me on that TV show. And I used to, it's so funny because I used to go to Soul Factory Disco, I was underage. And I remember my cousin used to wait for me outside

by the side door and he was, you know, give me his ID so I can go around and come in with using his ID. And I was young, I was like, whatever, 14th. Anyway, I got into the TV show and Every week I was I was on in so on so factory disco I had sometimes I was featured sometimes I was just a crowd but I was on the show and When I this is freshman year in high school in Union Hill, nobody saw me nobody's I didn't see no No, nobody nobody like guided me to show business or anything.

Nobody, nobody. I kind of sort of tripped into it. Can you just explain what SoulFact, it sounds like it was like, what was that Love Train or what was that? Soul Train. It was like Soul Train American Bandstand or something like that. And it was just disco music and you were just dancing the whole time? And then you saw Karen Young, you remember Karen Young will come on and the Commodores and all these people come and perform, you know

Lip sync but they will perform and then this little stage that they had and we were just dancing and sometimes they had I got featured because I won the state, you know and there I met this couple Jeff and Donna Shelley They were a dance team and I started taking dance classes with them and then that was the beginning And then I got somehow I got into oh then when I went to Rutgers this kid that went to Union Hill with me said Listen, I wanted I was gonna be an engineer He goes I want you I want to take you somewhere. I said where took me to Rutgers the black box theater Rutgers Newark I saw the block box theater. I said man. That's what I want to do. I want to act within a year's time

I was I was signed in New York. I was trying to do soaps and all that. I couldn't act to save my life I couldn't dance. I couldn't sing I had no ability, but I had the desire. I wish you could fucking dance. So I got into all these shows and I got into the soaps, I did a bunch of films, I did a bunch of soaps, I did a bunch of musicals and plays and the whole bit and that took me all over the world. That's what I did for a long time, for a very long time.

That's insane. Sounds like you were pretty good at it. Yeah. I was alright. I was willing to stand on my head. The director said, do this and I would just do it. Plus I was athletic. So you're athletic in the musical theater world and so you're dancing masculine.

They want people who dance masculine. So I did West Side Story for five and a half years of my life every day, every major production. I did Chorus Line. I did Jesus Christ Superstar. I did Guys and Dolls. Were you on Broadway? I did the Broadway national tours. Oh, so like the one that would travel around to the cities? So I did, for West Side Story, I did the European company, the national company, the world tour,

the European tour, the Paris company, the Japan company. We were supposed to come to Broadway and then get closer. You did West Side Story in Japan? I did West Side Story five and a half years of my life every single day eight shows a week Could you still do it right now? Eight shows I can't imagine doing eight shows a week man you it felt when you got off the tour It felt like you will have been to war everything hurt everything I my knees my back my my from I played in West Side Story, so I was shooting the gun.

So I had tendonitis on my elbow from shooting the gun every night. Fucking doing plays. It was a lot of fun, it was a lot of fun. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. And a lot of commitment. People don't realize it.

People have no idea what goes into theater. Like I've gotten auditions here for theater. I'm like, they better not call me. No, no, no. They better not fucking call me because they wanted me to do whatever, Guys and Dolls two years ago at the Kennedy Center. You'll be great in Guys and Dolls. With the one guy, the crazy guy.

And I was like, I don't know. The guy called me up, listen, we really want you to do it, but we rehearse twice a day to fucking Saint Smidgen today. And I'm like. I think Guys and Doll dolls with Lorna Luft. You remember Lorna Luft? I remember the name. Liza Minnelli's sister.

Okay, Lorna Luft. Lorna Luft, I did it with, you remember Steve, the guy who plays Steve in Married with Children? Yeah. He was in the company I did. You remember, oh, Fish, you remember Fish? What's his name? Abe Bogota. Abe Bogota.

He came in there, they had to let him go. He couldn't do the role. No, he's too old. You gotta remember. This is years ago. I couldn't do the role. No, he's too old Years ago He was a hundred he was a hundred written to Godfather. Yeah. I just seen in a restaurant They always play Italian movies and he there was a part when he asked what's his know who gives a fuck but he was old Then he was old then so when I went to Rutgers I was doing I was doing all the stuff in New York and ICM

signed me for for for commercials, so I would do all these commercials and stuff, you know, so I was making a living at it and That's all I did for a long time and then till I ended up back in Union City somehow So you have your sad card and everything? Yeah, I got sag after and equity, you know everything for forever equity, too I don't even have a fucking equity after it's done. They're like mixed with sag. Yeah, it's not the same. Yeah, it's not the same. So, I mean, you've done so, I guess.

Have you ever done plays, Joey? Have you done play? You saw me doing fucking the King and I when I was flying. Like what one was your favorite, favorite Lucio between all of them between plays? The most I had I mean probably West Side Story. Oh no but oh well that's but like between plays like commercials, TV. Ah plays yeah yeah that was a lot I when I was when I was at Rutgers that's what I studied you know theater I wanted to be a theater actor I never thought in a million years I was going to become like a

film producer and stuff like that. That was not my thing. My thing was going to be I was a serious actor. In fact, I worked at, I don't know if you guys ever heard of Spanish Repertory Theater in New York. I worked there for three and a half years. It's the premier Hispanic speaking theater in New York. And I worked there as a lead actor for three and a half years and did everything. It's a repertory company so on any given week and one week and three days, Friday, Sunday, Sunday, I did five different plays. What? So you're a true repertory company so you're learning all these plays at once. You can be doing a classical play, a Lorca play and then you do a contemporary play all in Spanish. It's insane. When I got off a tour I had just met my wife. I just met my wife and I turned down all these tours.

And I started working in Spanish rep. The first script I got in Spanish, I was like, what? And my wife is American. And she had to teach me, help me learn the script. Phonetically, I didn't know what I was reading. I never had read in Spanish. So I was there for three and a half years and it helped me out to, later on when I,

becoming a commissioner and stuff like that, it helped me because then I was bilingual, you know. That helped a lot. I could speak Spanish. I could read Spanish. I could write a little Spanish, but Spanish auditions, I just tap out. I tell them I'm not interested.

I can't because listen, there was a show on in the early, in the late eight nineties on Telemundo. It was a Cuban family. Not, not, not. No, this is one that came later. And when I got a call from my agent, he goes, go in there and read. They want you to read for the Cuban dog guy. Well, I go down and there's all these Cuban people and they're very nice but they ain't Cubans like us. Okay so I never forget like I read the role, booked it, went on the next day and doing rehearsal I said a line and they all were like like they were fucking up-de-duty Cubans, right? And then we started doing the scene, scene, scene, scene, and they all had problems,

like they were too fucking emotional, and he's not doing it right, la palabra es type. And I went to lunch and they called me at lunch and said, you got fired, but they gotta pay for your after-card. I said, fine, fuck it, a thousand bucks they took out of my future. But, and then

about 25 years later, 20 years later, during COVID, I'm walking at that park. Okay. They did all the rallies by our house and during COVID, the guy that played the cousin on the George Lopez show, he was on the show as an actor. And he came over to me and goes, hey man, I just want you to know I haven't seen you since that day but it wasn't me who got you fired it was those other fucking Cubans had this thick up their asses and I was like okay good to know I don't give a fuck but that's why because my Spanish is completely different than their Spanish and when I say a weird Union City word they fucking

lose it because we grew up speaking spanglish We spoke spanglish, but we spoke I spoke that shit that they came with you from the revolution Yeah, those people spoke differently. They cook differently. They act. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, absolutely It's a different fucking world and it's still indebted I'm like it's still in my fucking soul how those guys walked around and how they can, and I don't know. It just, I can't, I've tried even, they always make me read the fucking Mexicans and Colombians. I get one Cuban and it's not going to work.

It just doesn't work. I don't know what the fuck it is. I remember when Scarface came out and I said, where are the Cubans? I know Stephen Bauer is in it. He's the And I said, where are the Cubans? I know Stephen Bauer is in it, he's the only Cuban, but where are the Cubans? There's a ton of Cubans everywhere. The Cuban nuances were not there. You know?

I mean, Pacino tried, you know, his best, and it's a cult classic, but where are the Cuban nuances? That machismo, the way that the Cubans talked, the way my stepdad talked, your dad talked, and the Cubans growing up in Union City were different. They're tough, they were tough, but it wasn't just the way they looked, you know what I mean? It was a whole different kind of Cuban and that wasn't represented in the film. Well when they was getting ready for that film, it was little Angel Salazar, Gunrested Soul,

that kind of prepped Pacino for a lot of stuff. But it got so bad that they didn't have no Cubans, that when they're working in the fucking, in the coffee shop, he quits. Remember that scene when they quit? Right before that scene, there's a guy who comes up and says, Oye, I said it, po le ma jamon, ma jamon. You don't remember that, right? Yeah, I remember that scene perfectly. That's Angel Salazar off camera doing a voice. Oh, really? Yeah, they had no Cubans.

And in their defense, you had Angel and the other guy. What a lot of people don't know is that movie was cast in Miami, but really shot in LA. That's what I didn't know, that nobody knew. Over the years in LA I kept meeting people from Scarface and I would ask them questions in fact I shot a movie with Pepe Cerno the guy that cut his arm off yeah and he told me he stole the extra arm and he sold it for 75 grand but he was telling me what

happened they were down there in Miami and the cubans shut them out So they had a shutdown Everybody for six months and go to california and start all over again like tent city. I thought that was miami Yeah, that's under the 405 The mother the house when he goes to the mother's house. That's a little house by the airport in lax Wow, like where they put fucking Migrants or whatever. Yeah, I don't know what they do. But all that stuff was LA and then the two guys that shoot Tony in Disco, yeah. Yeah, the one guy was my buddy and he told me the whole story. He was an extra He was doing extra work for the holidays to pick up money and fuck him He was at the table getting coffee and the director came up to him or

brian the palmer came up to him and said hey what are you in this and he goes i'm a waiter he goes fuck that you're a hit man now and it made him an actor he was always an extra that was his first acting role wow so he was telling me like they just had a lot of problems with that movie they finished that but that last scene, the shooting scene, did you ever know about that? No, no, no. That's Steven Spielberg. Oh really?

They were in Miami for a fucking director's conference. If you see who was shooting in every, they had like 10 cameras. So Brian said, every director come down here and get on a fucking camera and shoot. All those motherfuckers are in there really all of them no idea because there was a director's convention for like a week in florida something like that but that's what the defense was on that but listen if you go to hollywood

people get pissed all the time look at fucking major league they put serrano we ended up being the president of the united states on that fucking show. What, there's no other Cuban, you know? But casting is fucking a different world. But the movie became a cult classic. A cult classic. It made a ton of money, a ton of money. And it came out on December 25th. Did you know that?

I had no idea. Scarface got released on Christmas fucking day. So people going to the movies thinking it was a family fucking movie. Did you see the premiere go on YouTube? The premiere, the funniest was the lady from Dynasty, when they said to her, are you leaving? And she goes, I've heard enough fucks for a lifetime. You know?

Yeah. Yeah. But there was a lot of iconic things. When Michelle Pfeiffer comes down in the elevator the one shot is beautiful the one scene and I when you when you know when when he's Completely stoned out his mind and he's talking to her, you know, look at you, you know have a whatever as a wife You know junkie. Yeah, that scene was just Unbelievable so many great scenes. It's it's a fucking great movie. Yes a great film. It's a great film

You know, and I don't know. I remember when that movie came out how it changed this area You know Union City Listen man, when you look at the statistics and shit Like the Cubans took it over like you were talking about the Germans and the Dutch and there was Indians there And then the Cubans started coming in like in 50 before the revolution, you know And they just built this beautiful little fucking community, you know, they really worked hard when the Cubans came Bergen I have there's no Bergen Avenue. There was nothing all the stores were closed. You got a bunch of Italian selling fruit from the fruit carts My dad told me my dad came in 65. He goes, Bergenland Avenue, all the shops were pretty much closed.

The Cubans built it up. As the Italians moved out, we still had some Italians growing up in Bergen. Italians and Irish and Germans, some Greeks, you know. But Bergenland Avenue was, the Cubans built it up. All of Union City. All the embroidery that stayed for a long time because of the Cubans.

Do you remember Barbero Angelito? Angelito, yeah, where was that? He was across the street from the cinema. So if you were lucky, your mom would give you 10 bucks and you go see Angelito first. You'd sit in his chair. From the minute you sat down, Angelito made a fucking spectacle.

His haircuts weren't good, but when you left there but when you left there, when you left there, you thought you were fucking Cary Grant. Okay, because he'd do the fucking thing, and then he'd do like dust and shit, and then he'd be cutting your hair, and he'd go, mira que lindo. And he'd start with that, oye, parece un gatita.

And he'd just be cutting your hair. No, no, no, muy está. Como dice un americano, muy está. And then he would fucking keep combing it. And at the end, even though a lump was long on the other, he put some spit on it and he put purple lights on. Yeah, oh, remember the lights? Remember the lights?

Oh my God, yeah, the lights. This stuff will throw the soldier on the optical illusion. It gives you shines, gives you a special shine. And then he put like disco music on and he'd move with you. You're like, ah, I look good. And you get home, your head's all fucked up. You're like, fuck it, I ain't going back up there.

All it was is like one of those front lights with color on it. And he goes, it's giving you special shine. Why would he go back? If it looked that bad, after like the second or third time, because you bought it, you drank the kool-aid. It was the scene, man.

It wasn't the head, dude. You were paying for the scene. And then there'd be Cuban dudes there talking about, and said, well, we'll get asylum. And about, you were like, eight. And they'd be talking about women, meat. I'd fucking do this. And you're like, oh my god, these guys are fucking savages.

Savages. Pastoral music. Pastoral music. Pastoral music, that closed a couple of years ago. Fuck, and it just, when I was a kid it was three floors. Yeah. And then every time I came back it would go to two floors, one floor, and then there was a strip club, not a strip club, it should have been a strip club,

there was a club there in the 90s called the Players Club. Yeah, where was that, where was the Players Club? Right next to Pastoral. Yeah, yeah, that? Where was the place right next to pastoral? Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. That's a comedy there. I became a karate school Yeah, I remember when I went up there one day and there was 20 hookers. I got like 20 bucks to do the show There had to be 20 hookers up there And one of them was a north bergland girl. I remember I was like dog. I know your sister Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh, so like can you can you guys explain?

cuz I have no idea but like You both came both born in Cuba. Yeah, like what is it like? It's crazy like that. You both like Scarface all these What does it mean to you to be like be from Cuba like that? How did like how does that? Change your life or how does it play in your life now? It seems like you guys have a lot of similar stories. Cataloos, yeah.

Growing up in Cuba, I mean, you're born in Cuba, but you're raised in an area where you had this mix of all kinds of people. Like I said just before, we had the Italians, we had Germans, we had the Irish, and everybody called each other names, but everybody got along great. You could have a fist fight with this guy

because he called you a spick one day and you called him a guinea, and the next day you were hanging out. It was a different kind of thing. There was no one waiting for you in the corner to stab you. Everybody took care of each other. It was a different kind of thing. You know, everybody got along.

I remember I drive down Kennedy Boulevard with my son on 27th Street. I had to tell my son, this is why I used to hang out. This street corner right here, I used to play stickball, manhunt, tag, hide and seek. We played everything. We played football. And you remember Nabisco?

Fuck yeah. We played football in Nabisco or Santa Florida. We used to play football there in the snow. Oh, bloody. The elbow is bloody. And so we grew up in an area, grew up in an area that's a mixture of people. And everybody got along. It was like, it was a great place to grow up in. You know what I mean? So it was different than being born in Cuba, growing up in Cuba and coming here with this culture. No, no.

You created this culture of a mixture of people. So would you like, obviously you're Cuban, but like, would you say like, you're more like this area of New Jersey? Like that's more of your personality? I probably have more in common with you than with a Cuban coming from Cuba now. Okay.

We grew, you know, you grew up in this area. You understand the dichotomy of it. You understand the food, you understand the economy of it, you understand the food, you understand the people, you understand the language, the attitude. It's different. Some Cubans come now, you can't really read them. You can't say, where is he coming from? Where someone from Union City, you know where they're coming from.

You understand. Someone from North Bergen, you know where they're coming from. You know the walk. You know what? When you know, you know. And it's different. It's different. So when people ask me, like even my son, you know what, you know, when you know, you know. Right. And it's different, it's different. So when people ask me where, like even my son, my son says to me, well sometimes you tell people you're Cuban, sometimes you tell them you're American.

I'm American, I grew up here. I'm an American citizen, I gave up my citizenship years ago. I'm American. Through and through, I love this country. I'd do anything for this country. This country gave me and my family everything. It's a beautiful country, man. There's nothing like the United States of America.

Nothing. And that's what these fucking Salamukis don't understand. And then they wanna fucking walk around and just fucking talk shit. Coming from a Cuban house, bro, whatever the fuck you think, and whatever the fuck they thought,

my mother was pro-American. And if my mother got fucked over and the whole thing. And some people forgave Kennedy. You go to some Cubans' houses, they got a picture of Kennedy with a bullet hole in the fucking thing still. You know, that's some Cubans. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army.

And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, oh, I'm gonna go to the army. And they're like, forgave Kennedy. You go to some Cubans houses, they got a picture of Kennedy with a bullet hole in the fucking thing still. You know, that's some Cubans. That's the way it is.

But when I was young, I didn't really know what it meant to be Cuban. I didn't really know. We came from such a, one day we're eating at an Askely's house, one day you're eating at Johnny Black's house, one day, you know, you don't really know until you become a man and you become older

and you see what you've made of. And there was a lot of times when I walked into auditions or comedy clubs with my balls on the line and I go, you know what, my mother didn't come here for me to be a fucking punk. You know, my mother didn't fucking leave her family to come here for me to be a fucking punk. That's number one.

Number two, it just, I don't know. I don't know, but I've always started feeling Cuban after I did time. When I went to prison and got locked up, that's where my cubanazo came out it just came out in prison like I'll tell you if you fucking touch me i'll kill one of you motherfuckers You know and and it was just a state of mind It's just a state of mind

Being from north bergen is a state of mind. Yeah, those days will never happen again. Absolutely Now I look at those North Bergen football teams Nobody was bigger than six feet and they fucking won a state championship number one in the East Coast That that's little Italians that came from Hoboken Okay, nobody knows the story about Hoboken how the Irish wouldn't let the Italians pass 9th Street. When you do that to somebody, those motherfuckers get high. So they came up here to smack Irish people. I don't know what it did. Half of the people we grew up with at the end of the day are all bloodline Hoboken people. Barone, Vinny Askalise. I mean, there's a thousand of them that are from Hoboken,

thousands of them. And I want wanna know what happened in Hoboken that made the kids I grew up with and the kids you grew up with, animals. We were fucking animals. You know, we talk about the Peter Jimenez. That dude was jumping out in front of a car and getting hit by a car. There's two people.

And finally one day he jumped in front of a car and it killed him. You know what I'm saying? Like, no. Yeah. Wasn't Peter like 17 in sixth grade or seventh grade? Yeah he got the pilot program. I swear to god he was 17. Bro he had hairy legs and hairy armpits. Yeah. And he playing basketball. That's true. Fuck his arms. What are you talking about? His way to make money was to get hit by a car. And Sue and Sue Monkelein Boulevard. It was crazy. And about years ago, he jumped out in front of a car.

You remember this guy, Merck? You remember Merck? Danny Merck! They used to climb buildings? With his fucking glasses. He used to climb buildings like a Spider-Man. It's crazy! He used to climb any brick building.

I think he died, didn't he die in a past war? Did he fall off of a building? He's another guy, looked like he just combed his hair with a chemistry set. His hair was fucked up and had these little bottle glasses. But that motherfucker was a solid dude. He fucking stabbed three Puerto Ricans for you. That dude was crazy.

Now, let me ask you a question so we can really get this party started. Tell me that you lived on 26th Street with all those animals. I lived on 27th and Kennedy, right off Kennedy Boulevard. But you hung out with those savages down there. on 27th and Kennedy right off the right off Kennedy Boulevard. I didn't. So I. So you did. But you hung out with those savages down there. Yeah, I used to what Liberty Avenue is. We used to say going down to Liberty. But you didn't go to 26th Street for the projects down there.

You go to 26th Street where the Puerto Ricans are. We used to. I used to hang with the Puerto Ricans on Central. Yeah. Central Avenue. If you go over down that 26th Street. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Alex Carvajal. Yeah. And Maria. Oh, no. Oh go over down that 26th Street. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Down 26 that was great. My team see they lived there Alex Carvajal great guy Maria and I worked in Tomahawk hands together and she's she had a hot rod I think it was her brothers and she'd let me drive it one time I was put my foot down to a spindle wheels. wheels, what are you doing to my car, man?

You spent all the gas, you're burning out the tires. Great girl, Maria Carvajal. I still hit Maria and go, it's never too late, we can still do this. When she comes to my shows, I tell her, Maria, let's go. She's great, great girl. Let's end this shit, let's go to Cuba. Big, like her brothers.

Oh really? Oh she's big, she was always taller than all of us. Nice girl, Nice girl. Yeah, I used to hang out down there. You remember they moved all those people out, remember, at one point? On 26th Street? No.

Louis Arias. You remember Louis Arias? Yeah. I used to hang out with Louis Arias, Martincito, David. You know Charneco? You remember Jimmy Charneco? No. Jimmy Charneco, he used to live on 28th Street.

I remember Alfred Osley. Yeah, yeah, all these guys. I remember Dean Lepre. Oh, Dean Lepre, all the brothers, yeah. And the Percocino brothers, the one that just died. That was, down there, that was, like North Bergen had all these neighborhoods. 26, and they all kept to themselves. But that neighborhood down there was off the chain.

Yeah, it was great. Because they would always battle Union City on Halloween and go up there with fucking socks with flour and eggs and shit Mischief night. Oh It was on down there that was mischief neighborhood, but the thing I remember the most was the light bulb company Do a test do a test. Yeah, they used to throw their light bulbs out and all their bulbs like if they were defective Yeah, and one Ali the Ali brother. Yeah. Yeah. And Juan Ali, the Ali Brothers. Yeah, yeah.

I remember. Juan and the other brother. I remember the brother. I remember the Ali Brothers. Juan and Carlos. They used to go to Hookah Houses when they were in the sixth grade. Oh my god.

There you go. Yeah. I got to go to piss. But when I come out, we're going to finish the story. There you go. They were in the sixth grade, and their dad would take them to the city. And they would come back on Monday.

People were like, I went to the cinema. I went to roller skating. He's like, man, we got our dick sucked by some black girl for 10 bucks. And you're like, what the fuck? And we'll take a break, but how does this relate to light bulbs? Because they live right on the hill.

They live next door to the light bulb place. Okay. And we would jump the garbage can, take the light bulbs out and beat each other up. Everybody at home white, cause it had white powder in it from the fluorescent. Everybody had fucking white powder on them every night. One of the, he was the one,

the first guy that talked to me about girls, the nitty gritty, the nitty gritty. But you gotta do. He was fucking hookers in high school. Oh man. So we had a kid, McKinley Juan Soto. I don't remember. Good looking Cuban kid.

He got a girl pregnant. He quit school in the seventh grade. I gotta go. I gotta go. I didn't even kiss anybody in the seventh grade. Take a break. What's happening, beautiful people? I don't know if you know this,

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So what happened with the Ali brothers? No, Juan Ali, he's the first guy that talked to me about girls, about the nitty gritty, what to do, how to do it. So I was like, how does this connect? What grade were you in, do you think? I was in grammar school. Grammar school?

I was in grammar school. And that's like up to fifth grade? Sixth, eighth, I know I met him in the sixth grade and every weekend him and his brother and as he was on the level His brother was not all day. He got hit in the head with a rock It was something cuz he wasn't all there and one day we were outside at his house a bunch of us Martin, Julie Martin's cousin Yeah, yeah, got rest his soul and we were throwing light bulbs And they were throwing shit at me and I was on the roof So I took a rock and I threw it up in the air. I just threw it up in the air and all of a sudden I hit

oh and I go down and I hit the younger one who wasn't all there and he had a big lump on his head with a blood thing and he just got up like no I'll take a soda. You want a soda? I'll take a soda. Oh god. I'll take a soda. You want a soda? I'll take a soda. Oh God. No, 26th was a great place to hang out. That was a great place. We had so much fun there.

It was unbelievable. Mischief night. Nothing exists like Mischief night now with the eggs and the flour. You know what I did one year? I was Cuban. I didn't know about the white flour. I put the real like, not the kernels, but the yellow flower. It doesn't get powder.

And you hit someone over the head, so I hit them over the head with a rock. So that's what I put in it. I had no clue, I had no clue. I don't know if you were there that night. We were all stuck on, had to be 76, 75. We were all stuck on buying glue and then writing your initials on a tree and lighting them on fire and then blowing it out

Everybody was doing it You go up and down 26 because that's funny. You said Weston Young got no trees when you Up and down fuck it North Bergen They got all these trees on 26 and they planted new ones in the middle and One night we're coming home from somewhere Martin's going to put mine So me and Julie and maybe you somebody out there was a couple of us We're sitting there watching him on the steps like a lookout and he's putting Mp and all of a sudden he looks at us. He goes yeah, and he lights to fucking initials, but it think

And there's like a tree right like? There's like a tree. And the limb is catching on fire. And he's... Martin's hitting it with his hands and going... I go, Martin, it's over. And before Martin could put this thing out, a little fucking fire truck came, like a little inspector, and threw him on the floor. We ran. he's still in jail good kid really good but at some point at some point in the 70s just before I

moved to Union City they had everybody move out of 26th Street because they wanted to renovate all those buildings oh that's right and everybody had to move on they killed, it killed the vibe. Then it was dead, there were no kids around anymore. Then they started doing section eight and all that kind of stuff, and there were no kids around anymore.

So everybody, that's when Martincito moved out, Luis Arriaga moved out, the brothers moved out, everybody moved out. Everybody left and there were no kids there. For years the place was vacant, they were fixing up all the apartments Anyway, I remember I was devastated. I was devastated when that happened. I kind of remember them cleaning that out Even like when I drive by center for center for tom's tom's diner tom's diner

Oh, I just told my son I had the oh my god tom's diner Is this little place right in the corner of 27, between 27th and 28th Street. I had my first cheeseburger there. You know how much it cost? 64 cents for a deluxe. And it came with fries and a drink with a second drink. 64 cents, and it was an expensive burger then. I couldn't believe it.

64 cents. How did they get the four cents? I don't know, 64 cents. That would piss me off. My dad, we lived they get the four cents? I don't know. 64 cents. That would piss me off. My dad, we lived in that building there where Tom's Diner was. Okay, that's where you lived. And my dad was the super.

When he came from Cuba, he was the super there and he was the dishwasher at Tom's. And then eventually, boy, Siglo 38, whatever it's called, Siglo whatever. And then he started buying, he got the bars and the buildings and stuff like that. You lived across the street from Lourdes Ramos. Yes. And I'll never forget, I was talking to the mother, this is what I'm telling you about being Cuban, like some people could take it, some people can't.

I went over to Lourdes' house like on a Saturday night and everybody was okay. We were going to some dance or something. And her mother was there and her mother was dressed up. And she't the best-looking woman you ever seen but but she was nice people She was nice people and your mom always clatter clatter clatter and I said, oh yeah clatter tada in ganja Way cloud that I'm ganja basa de tanotu and two days later lawyers like, you're not allowed in my house No, what does that mean? I don't know, what does enganche mean? Like you're ready.

You're hot, you're hot, you're hot. You're looking for a fucking victim. That enganche means I got the hook up. You know what I'm saying? She made, Laura, and her sister Iris, they're in social media, I follow Iris a lot. Really? Yeah, she's great, great girl.

They're both great people. And her mom, I loved her mom to death. Loved her mom? Her mom made the best espresso in North Bergen by far and she made this white rice with with a little chicha what he called it yeah yeah yellow rice yeah oh my gosh oh my god she made that's fucking they were that's poverty food for Cubans but it's work it was it was great yellow with little hot dogs in it,

those little links and shit. You put a little sauce in that motherfucker and you make believe it's a lobster tail. I wanna go back, where Lourdes, we used to hang out, you remember McKinley School, when you came down the ramp, coming down from the bridge. It's a little ramp, there's a little wall there before the gym, right next to where the gym is.

We used to sit there, and you used to hang out with us there. And he turned me on to to Richard Pryor. It was always imitating Richard Pryor and the honeymooners, the honeymoon. I had no idea what honeymooners were. And Richard Pryor, you were always doing Ralph Crandon. Fuck you. Always, always, always. And Richard Pryor, he had us in stitches crying.

And Lotus was there. David was there. Martin Sito, myself and a bunch of other people. I remember that clear as day as though it was yesterday. Do you remember any of the, cause he on the podcast for years would talk about loving Richard Pryor. I love that he just parted. The thing with Richard Pryor is as a vampire,

the whole sketch is a vampire, so he's due to a T. That's right, that's right. Oh my God. There was no one as funny. There was no one as funny. I can tell you that a hundred percent, not because I'm here with God. There was no one as funny. There was no one as funny. I can tell you that a hundred percent now because I'm here with him. There was no one funnier than Coco.

And you're saying that even after you dropped the weights on your head? Even then, even after the weights, I laughed. I told the story with, when we reconnected years ago, when we reconnected, I tell my wife, I've been with my wife for almost 27 years. I've told that story a hundred times about the weights and I looked at he's fucking guy was just laughing Just laughing the karate guy Was getting tea. He was just looking at us like what just happened the whole way fell on my head He's just laughing

Body me I wasn't I wasn't strong, you know, it was crazy We had no gym class in McKinley to make me strong We were talking about Hernandez. I don't want to tell your motherfuckers about Hernandez. Hernandez was on 28th and Bergenland, right? Yeah. Right by the thing there. In the corner.

Hernandez was open until about three. Look, my hands get itchy just thinking about Hernandez. Hernandez was open until about three or four. I don't even know when it closed down. I don't know. Maybe the mid-80s. I thought he had two sons that took it over. He had those two big boys.

Like everybody always tells me how good Cuban sandwiches are now. Go to this place, go to this place. This one's got pepperoni. Listen. The way that wasn't, don't look at me. I didn't tell you about pepperoni places. No pepperoni Cuban sandwiches.

Fucking Hernandez, you went in there and the ham and the Swiss were already on the bread and it was packed and it was a big one and there was walls of just sandwich bread with the Swiss and the thing. And you come in, right there, he had a glass in front of him and you go, hey, no, no, no, I'm going to go on. And he fucking cut a piece of pork off right in front of you. Notice for you motherfuckers that want to sell a Cuban camp

sandwich with pulled pork, I'll fucking kill you. I'll fucking kill you, OK? That's not, there's no pulled pork. None of that fucking bullshit. So right or wrong, he's fucking jerk-holic. He had the Cuban. I wouldn't eat your fucking Cuban. You're fucking from Ireland Why would I met you know, they were pulled pork. This guy would slice white meat pork and then he had the hamon

The fucking ham to give it even more flavor and he'd take a Fucking paintbrush brush that motherfucker with butter and put it in there. And then you tell him to make you a guadapo, that sugar cane juice with fucking tons of ice. Are you fucking kidding me? That was the real deal. Luz, do you know a place, Joey's been teasing me for years.

I'm still fat, but I used to be a lot fatter. He's been teasing me with a preparada sandwich, the Cuban sandwich with the little croquettes on the bottom. That's my wife's favorite. Where do you get that? You can get it in Las Brisas, you can get croqueta preparada, that's croquettes on the bottom. That's my wife's favorite. Where do you get that? You can get it in Las Brisas. You can get croqueta preparada. That's what I get all the time.

We might go to Las Brisas. Croqueta preparada. Oh, yo. But Hernandez, Hernandez. This is when Swiss cheese tasted like Swiss cheese. Not like now it tastes like paper. Swiss cheese tasted like Swiss cheese. It was the real deal.

When he's talking about ham, it was ham. It was ham. It was the real deal. When he's talking about ham, it was ham. It was ham. It was the real deal with with mustard and the butter. It was oh my god. Hernandez restaurant was the the best Cuban joint in all of the area. And all they had was the sandwiches or they had everything? I don't know what they had on the. They had this I love to brag about they had the best empanada. You know meat empanada and my dad he had a bar. He ran he worked in a bar so he closed down the bar, he would get an empanada and show up at the house and say, wake up. I said this mirror behind my door with some sun thing that's made of metal. And he would open the door at 3 o'clock at 3.30 in the morning. He'd jump up, I have empanadas, get up.

You gotta eat this with the guarapo. I would get up and sit in the bed and I would wolf down two empanadas. I would fart all night down to empanadas I was fart all night, you know Up between I know just thinking about their mom give a fuck Okay, if they come in and if I say my mom comes over and you got all we were sitting on the couch We potato chips two in the morning. You think that lady cooked from Goodfellas? Tommy's mother?

Shit. Shit. And I'm talking my mother would pop up a paella late night and wake me up a fucking boliche. Yeah. With a little frijole. That's the shit they cook at three in the morning. When you went to school, you're like, what the fuck?

Why does my ass smell like fucking... My mom would do, had the pressure cooker to make the beans. Oh nice., it used to go to work. I Leave the pressure cooker cooking the beans Used to choose to prepare in the night before you know, I forgot Marinade them and you know, and then you leave the pressure cooker cooking She would go to work and come back from work and finish up the beans and then we had this fresh beans every single night You know with everything my mom cooked everything oxtail, you know rabbit even moved every single night, you know, with everything. My mom cooked everything, oxtail, you know, rabbit.

If it moved, she cooked it. You know, she cooked everything, but everything was delicious. And to me, everything was chicken. She said, it's chicken. But what is this mom? I said, the little chicken. But she gave me everything.

We had everything. Everything. We ate everything. I mean, we lived in New York. We used to get cantina. Yeah, cantina. That was big, man. What's that? They dropped the food off in front of your house and like little bowls stacked on each other with a thing and it had like white rice

Me he had a white rice Meal prep before meal prep. No, no, no, this was your food was cooked. It was cook prep Fucking meal prep. Yes, you have containers, one on top of each other. One on top of the other with a metal thing at the top. Some of them even gave you fucking Cuban coffee. At a flan for dessert. So yeah, you have rice, you have beans, you have the meat, then you have like plantains or maduros or whatever, you know?

Okay. And you had the whole meal for the family. You know what, because we're talking about food, he's talked for years about Cuban Chinese food. Do you have any like- Chino Latino, that was the best. Yeah, what do you think about that? Oh, that was great.

What's it? La Campana China and 57th and Burger Line. That was the best. La Campana China. That means the Chinese fucking bell. Nothing like Chino Latino, nothing, nothing, nothing. And what would you get? Like what's your Chinese Cuban food order? Like what would you get? We got everything. You can get everything.

You can get, I will get always the chicken fried rice back then. Now I don't get it. I now get vegetable fried rice. I'm more modern. Fried rice, but then you can get it with plantains, sweet plantains. Yeah. And then you can get a, a, not a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a can get a Bateo, not not a Batenpanizal. Batenpanizal. What's that? Breaded steak. Breaded steak. Like a skirt steak but breaded. I used to get the pork chop with the pork fried rice and egg roll and some totones. Oh, totones. I feel like you got that only a year ago when you went. Dang. Wow.

Wow, you're making me hungry. Oh, no. Chino Latino was. Chino Latino was fucking the real we had the other Side of the coin we had this place the Polynesian place and Kennedy Boulevard my guy my guy tremendous The food killed you they finally closed it down Cooking cats no Don't tell me that And they always gave you a lot of grass with the food because there's a cemetery in the back

They would just go back there. What does he want? Yeah I thought and he just take a handful of the grass whether the cat pissed on it or whatever Cats they were feeding cats. You can't tell me that they will cook and say I just moved to New York and like I Don't want to eat cat. You can smell it. You can smell it. You see the kids. What does it smell like? It smells like the kids' tears. That's what it smells like.

But I swear to God, they caught them cooking cat several times. Several times? They finally closed them down. Who would go after the first time? They couldn't help themselves. Bro, they had an all-you-could-eat. You That you just want to know close your eyes and pray for the best. Okay, they gave you spare ribs Cat they cut them in half and you could pick up the thing I remember one day we were picking up the thing and the guys like no no

Yeah, I don't think you were supposed to pick up Go We had so much Now I remember where there was a fucking a go-go bar. Yeah, it was on 32nd Street right up from the newsstand. Yeah. That's in the late 70s. There was like a burlesque bar and I would go up there to get my mother. My mother would drink up there in the afternoon. I'm like, Ma, what the fuck? Union City has so many. Union City had

the transfer station downtown. Yeah. That's where the old trolleys used to turn around and come back uptown. The whole area was full of clubs, night clubs, cabarets and everything. Bert Lancaster worked down there as a dishwasher. What's her name, Deborah Harry worked down there as a waitress at one point. Now Deborah Harry and Pat Benatar

shot a movie in Union City. Yeah, Union City. Called Union City. Holy shit. Right on Summit Avenue, there's a building in the corner, Summit and 18th Street. That's where they shot it. Wow.

In that apartment building. Crazy. And speaking of Union City, were you ever, like, do you remember Joey's mother's bar? Were you around for that? I was around. I was around. I didn't frequent it.

My dad owned bars as well. Right. You owned the 50th. Like Café La Tita. Café La Tita and La Última Copa. Yeah. Café La Tita. So all the Cuban, all the Cuban proprietors knew each other. They were all like, they were all like gangsters. I was going to say, was it like, was there like a war?

Did you guys hate each other or you guys were... No, no, no, no. He was at my house. My mother was there that day when he got hit with the barbell. Oh, okay. Yeah, that was no, we all worked together. Everybody was friends. There was a guy on 33rd Street,

his name was Boyotrite, and he had a bar. I mean, sad pussy. That's way before big pussy. That was 77. Everybody called him Boyotrite. And then that whole area there was fucking tremendous. And I was telling Lucy on the phone the other night, where my mother had the first restaurant The whole area there was fucking tremendous. And I was telling Lucy on the phone the other night

where my mother had the first restaurant was across from Union Hill. 38th? 38th, right. And there's a little refrigeration. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the place. And on the corner now, it's some medical supply. But in that, that was fucking the hottest corner

because you had Carvel on the corner. Next to it was the bottom of the barrel yeah okay the bottom of the barrel is the real fucking deal that was beautiful that place if you read Henry Hill's book he talks about the bottom of barrel he was at the bottom of the barrel we used to stop at Union City you get a drink at the bottom of the barrel and on top of that was food job pie kung-fu yeah yeah which is probably probably still there but then when you I remember that and if you walk towards Kennedy, there was like a

pharmacy because one day they were loading a truck and we robbed it. Like in the Sixth Square, we robbed one of the little boxes. It was a box of condoms and we didn't know, bro, we were like 10 and we all had condoms. Perfect condoms and shit. What are they gonna do with condoms? We tried to sell them, get out of here with those things. Everybody had a condom in their wallet. They have no money, but a condom in their wallet.

Nobody used the condom, nobody used, you know. No, it was just to talk. To say, to say, have a. A mate was when you make out with a chick and shit. Oh my God. What did you think of Joey's mom? I don't think I've met anybody else who knew Joey's mom. She was very nice, very typical Cuban mom, really cool.

The way I remember her, really, really nice. I walked in, very friendly. The bar was great, man. Even just in general, I guess George, maybe you knew his mom? No. No, I think you're the first person I met. You gotta understand, Cuban parents, like my dad, my stepdad, he was a tough guy where sue, you know, I was carried the whole bit. He'll he'll pistol whip anybody in a second No, he will come home a lot of times my mom cleaning him up or cleaning up this or throwing out the suit

You know pistol whipping this and that cuz you have to be really tough You know, there's no no kidding but at the same time he would show up in the middle of the night Not only when empanadas remember one night specific specifically. I asleep i'm in school i'm in high school he he brought a cat from the street a black cat he threw it on top of me in the bed you're sleeping you're a teenager someone throws a cat on you that's the kind of stuff he would do he one day we're having like a christmas party my my aunt is coming this and that we had a little apartment and everybody said having a good time. He shows up with a homeless guy Uh, Napoleon It was napoleon was his name. I'll never forget napoleon. He brought him over to have christmas with us a homeless guy

That's the type of guy he was You know, so there was this tough out of people but Sweethearts, so when you asked me about joey's mom, right? She's probably when she has to be at the bar She's probably tough as nails, but at home she was a mom. She was a mom. She's a mom and she loved these guys Anybody who came over she always fed on but anybody got no macaroni and cheese. My mom will give you a brand new steak Yeah, fucking box. Okay, you didn't need you didn't need like, you know, yeah peanut butter jelly sandwich No, stay did you like Other cuban kids like not more but like was it like special when a cuban kid came over

Yes, and no, I like everybody to come over. No, I know you would but and those times you went over people's houses and they feed you and Drive you to places. Yeah, every fucking crazy like We I remember man. I live in 27th Street in the corner I played baseball up on 64th Street in North Bergen My mom will give me whatever a quarter thirty cents to take the bus number one Yeah, number one and I was me with you know, my my my borrowed Cleats and my glove taking the bus by myself crossing the boulevard by myself This is you know, nine ten years old driving, you know

We get riding the bus all the way up by myself crossing the the boulevard by myself, this is 9, 10 years old, driving, riding the bus all the way up by myself, crossing the street again, playing baseball, coming home. There was no like bottle of water, like kids, you know, you go play, my son goes play soccer now, he has a Gatorade on one side and a bottle of water on the other side, with two different pairs of shoes in his back. And a fucking bag to carry. We had nothing.

We had nothing. We had nothing. Nothing? No. If there was a host That was golden all this bullshit about dehydration 50 fucking years ago, it's all bullshit Let pain dehydration dehydration rusty water. I don't know what these fucking man. I feel dehydrated

How do you feel fucking dehydrated? It's 90 degree. You think your grandfather stopped doubles for some faggy kid? Nobody was dying back then, right? Every year now somebody die, oh, it was too hot. Nobody was fucking dying. They were running fucking 76th Street hills, okay? So get your shit together.

Feed your kid what you're supposed to and he won't, you know. But if you came over to one of our houses to eat, you wouldn't get like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No. You'd get a plate of rice and beans, a steak you know a chicken steak whatever. Yeah sure. I'll go to go. Yeah sure. I'll go to go. Holy shit and then I didn't realize how like you guys were in the same spot and I'm not trying to get you to incriminate anyone in your family But Joey's talked for years about like the like the numbers and like doing that everybody did the number everybody

Everybody they did the numbers racket and in the bars. They did I think or charada It's a gambling game the gambling game where everything everything every number is associated with a saint or with something with a Chinese Chinese thing Yeah, I have the list every number is associated with a saint or with something. With a Chinese thing. With a Chinese thing, yeah. La charada. La charada. I have the list. I have the list. I have the list. And every bar, they played it,

and everybody turned their heads. Whoa. And all these owners, everybody carried, you know, everybody carried, everybody took care of each other. There was only, I remember one guy in the three towns that my dad said, that's a chivato. A what? A chivato. A rat. said, that's a chivato. A what?

A chivato. A rat. Oh, OK. A chivato. That's the one nobody wanted to deal with. And he was Cuban? He was Cuban, yeah. He goes, oh, I don't like that guy.

That's a chivato. He'll rat you out. The one guy. But everybody got along. Everybody did the numbers rack. Everybody did charada. Did you ever win the numbers? Huh?

Did you ever win the numbers? Who, me? Yeah. No, I played twice My dad won a bunch of times one time. I went to Washington Union Hill to play in the recly And I was on a purple team and they gave me the thing and it had number 57 I walk in the house and my mom's like, what's that number? What's good? They sure for me I got it from you know, 57 put a number in front of they go five

She called ten thousand dollars ten dollars. I, five. She called $10,000, $10 I won five. She gave me 2,500. And then on my birthday, I hit my birthday in 1979. I had 219. Wow. I went to Jersey City to watch a movie and when I came back they told me. And all those cats, there was a bookmaker in Union City

that was the best, his name was Hernando Del. Yeah, he sat at my mother's bar. He was about five foot nine 220 but his stomach was all the way up and he would just sit in like one of those chairs and At three o'clock he left because that's when the bank closed three o'clock is when you can't take numbers no more The number comes out like a fork So he would stay there from eight in the morning to three drinking and fucking making comments and He was the guy right now that if he was alive He'd be in jail because he talked to me and my friends like we were done Like if we were ten we walked in oh you come in you get your dick suck

Get them tomorrow my bingo Don't I just want wanna play dominoes. I came over to play Monopoly with this fucking dude. Every time you saw him, he said something sexual to you. He wasn't a pedophile, not at all. Well, he was fucked up, but he would always ask you, did you get your dick sucked yet? Are you pissing sweet yet?

Mound to lucid. He would always. But the best was was I saw him at 30th and What's the street? All right, so this is Bergen line 30th Street Chappie's florist. Yeah, Patterson Plank Road. If I go down the next corner, there used to be a bar there Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, New York County. That's New York County. Okay, that used to be a bar owned by Teddy Martuniak You play for the Chicago Bulls out of Union City.

He died from drinking. That dude could drink for fucking days. But I forgot what I was gonna say. What were we talking about? The guy talking sexual to you? Oh, yeah, yeah. We went in there to play a number one day and I went in there with a kid named Darren Rego,

God rest his soul. We were about 18 at the time now and Rego liked him. There a kid named Darren Rego, God rest his soul. That we're about 18 at the time now. And Rego liked him. There was two incidents of Rego. One incident, he was sitting at the bar in the corner and he had two young girls with him, like that down, 25 Cuban girls talking to him. And Rego goes, ask him if he wants to smoke pot.

So this motherfucker's like, yeah, I'll smoke. Yo fumo to los deje con pot. I never saw him smoke pot. He said, yo fumo, yo fumo ayer ben cura. I fumo to la holla, I'm a pot. I never saw him smoke pot. He said, yo fumo, yo fumo, I have been cool. I used to smoke pot in Cuba, one of those guys. He's, you know, Cubans, like I remember going to see Bruce Lee movies and going back to my mother's bar and the guys would sit there and they go,

where'd you come from? I went to see a Bruce Lee movie. That guy's a punk, I beat him up in Cuba. Like three years ago and I'd lose my mind. What are you fucking talking about? Nobody beats up Bruce Lee. He's a fucking pussy. I smacked him right on the corner on 58th Street one time

and you would fucking die like, they're just lying to you. They're just breaking your balls and that's what they do. That's their sense of humor. So the one time we're in there, Queda Fumada, he goes, you don't Fumafuera. He didn't want to smoke outside, he wanted to smoke in the bar. And it was like a chocolate tie on a big bamboo.

And we kept giving it to him, but he was trying to impress the young girls. And he's like, yeah. And they didn't even know what he was saying. He didn't know what they was saying. He's smoking. And finally the girls didn't want to smoke no more. And the joint kept going to him.

And he's sucking on it. And he's trying to give it away to him. And he was like, nah, nah. And he kept smoking it, dog. And he passed out. And then I went in there like a month later, and he goes, oh yeah. Get down, I said, I'll walk.

What was in that weed? He goes, I couldn't feel my legs for four days. And then that day, he told his dad, I'll never forget this, Lucio, he told his dad he went home that night, and he jerked off and it was so fucking good and I go what are you talking about my wife was in the shower and he had a chair when they say you know they're fucking crazy and he goes he was in the chair at a bar telling me and a bunch of north bergen kids how he jerked off the night before. And he's like making noises, ah, que rico, ah,

fi, ponmela ahi. And when he came, he goes, pa! He kept going, pa, pa, pa! But his chair kept going back in the bar. He's like, pa, pa, pa! Entonces me quedé dormido. Just went right to sleep and we're like, what the fuck is this?

And that's the sense of humor. I think that Cuban sense of humor helped me later on in life. That little quick thinking, like those fucking Cubans, just, you know, I remember there should be a fat lady that lived across the street from my house in North Bergen later on before my mother died. She was a flat flat black Cuban lady. And whenever my mother would cook, she would come over

and my mother would be watching the Yankee game and the black chick would go in the kitchen and my mother would go, oh yeah, go die. Hey fat fuck. Oh my God. Get your fingers out of the pot. I could feel them from here. Like they just have a weird sense of fucking humor.

That little twist on things, they have no filter. No filter, that's me, no filter. They don't give a fuck. And when they say something, they say it loud. My son, we're having dinner, he says to me, he turns around and says, how come every time you talk to a Cuban, you talk so loud? I said I don't talk like yeah you every time I know when you're talking to someone Cuban because you your decibel level It's like a thousand times higher. I don't know why I don't know why we do that It's the house So when you quit acting when you said that's it, what did you decide to do? No, what happened was it was a segue

You know, I had gone I had gone off my tour. I did the 40th anniversary revival West Side Story I was supposed to come to Broadway We went to LA Cheetah Rivera came out the old all the old West Side Story people came to see us and we're supposed to come to Broadway After LA they decided to close down the company because they said well We we made our money back after the first month. We sold that everywhere.

Made a lot of money. So we were out on tour for two years. So they were making profit. And we were using this old set from a previous production. So they said, well, we have all these equity guys here making all this money, making residuals on the commercials. Let's just close down the tour and take it out non-union, which they did.

So now we were making X amount of dollars and they get a small percentage of that. They can give them old costumes, because if you are an equity member, you have to get all new costumes, all custom made, custom made shoes, custom made everything, but the non-union guys don't get any of that.

They get nothing, they travel by bus. No days off. Well we had to have one golden day to rest and all that kind of stuff. Commercials, we were making not only two grand a week back then, and I'm talking about the early 90s, two grand a week plus per diem, plus you're making the residuals on the commercial, so're doing you're doing okay for a young guy single whatever so

I get off the tour when they closed down the tour because they wanted to go nine Union so they can make more money so I get off the tour and I go do something at Westbury music fair and the Palace Theatre and at the same I met my wife I got off the tour two days later I met my wife. I got off the tour two days later, I met my wife. And I said, man, this girl is beautiful. American girl, blue eyes, blonde, gorgeous. I said, oh my God, you're stacked. Said, this girl.

So I'm over there and my agent calls me up. They want you to go back out on tour West Side for another year. And Chorus Line wants you to go out on tour with Chorus Line. Mitzi Hamilton was the choreographer. I said, I'm done. I can't go out on tour. I'm done I met St. Hamilton, who was the choreographer. I said, I'm done. I can't go out on tour. I'm done, I'm staying home.

So I stay home. And that's when I started working at Spanish Rap and I was still signed with ICM for commercials and stuff. So I was doing the commercials, trying to do the soaps, and I started working at Spanish Rap and I stayed with my wife. So what happened was I met, I started writing, I had a newspaper, I had a local TV show with a friend of mine that worked at ABC,

because I remember I worked, I was working on all my children as an orderly and this guy was a stage manager on ABC and assistant director on the news program back then. So he had a local TV show so I got involved with him and we do talk about politics. I knew nothing about politics, I just had a note. I was very opinionated and I had a newspaper, I started a note. I was very opinionated. And I had a newspaper. I started a newspaper. I was writing all kinds of opinions.

I meet Brian Stack. And we hit it off. Hit it off. And I started helping him out. We're doing events and stuff like that. Because I was good at coordinating events. And then he asked me if I wanted to come in. At first I was like, nah, you know, I'm an actor.

I'm not a government guy. And he goes, no, I really want you to come in. At first I was like, nah, you know, I'm an actor. I'm not a government guy. And he goes, no, I really want you to come in. We became friends. And he brought me in. I was the first director he brought in. And the rest is history. I've been there for, what, 24 years? And you're the entertainment director?

I'm, no, I'm a commissioner. I came in as a director over at the department, public affairs, which ran six departments. I came in as that. And then three years later, he asked me to be a commissioner, to run the commission ran six departments. I came in as that, and then three years later, he asked me to be a commissioner, to run the commission. It's a commission from a government. We have five commissioners,

everybody votes for the commissioners, and then between us, we choose who the mayor's going to be. But we always know who the mayor is, you know, Brian, you know? And he asked me to be a commissioner. He goes, everybody likes you, you get along with everybody, whatever. And so I came in as a commissioner. I was bilingual, you know, I knew the town, I grew up in town, I loved the town, all that kind of stuff, you get along with everybody, whatever. So I came in as a commissioner. I was bilingual, I knew the town, I grew up in town,

I loved the town, all that kind of stuff. And I became a commissioner. Slowly, I started giving up acting and producing more. Documentaries, short films, and stuff like that. And then eventually I just gave up acting. My wife said to me, I'm still a sagman, I paid my dues. I paid my dues today. I paid them late. I paid them late, I was still a sag man, I pay my dues. I pay my dues today.

I paid them late. I paid them late. I was supposed to pay them in the spring. I paid the spring and the fall now. So she's just complained to me, because you have to pay whatever, 30 something dollars fee for being late or whatever, for 60 bucks.

I said, no, I just pay for it just in case one day I wanna do something, you know? Because you never know. You never know. No, they call you all the time. So I segwayed into what I do now, which I love. I love what I do. It's a great town, I love the town,

I love working with Brian, and I love my fellow commissioners are great, great people. The town looks fucking good. No matter what you say about Union City, if you go back and people can say, oh, Union City was this, was that, and it was great. Growing up in Union City was great.

We had a mix of people, I loved the people. I loved that I came from there. But man, the things that Bryan's done with all the new schools, the new roads, the new parks, no matter what you say, it's there. You can see it. You can see it. That beautiful high school with the stadium on top,

you see the progress. So no matter what you say, if you go back, none of that existed. But I went to that Obama school. You sent me that day To uh, did they get my shot? Yeah, you sent me down to Obama's on That was Colin Powell. Colin Powell. Wow, how beautiful? Yes, beautiful school and that area down I mean listen, I'm sad that st. Michael's is gone. Yeah, holy rosary is gone

I mean we grew up on that shit. Well, the girls in Holy Rosary Oh most beautiful girls in town from Holy Rosary's gone. I mean, we grew up on that shit. Holy girls in Holy Rosary. The most beautiful girls in town were from Holy Rosary. Oh my God. A couple of them from North Bergen. I still talk to one of them now at Holy Rosary. The most beautiful girls came from Holy Rosary. Bunch of, I used to date an Irish redheaded girl in Union City.

I was in love, Jack. I was in love. And we used to hold hands and go get pizza on New York Avenue at that pizza place Oh my god But I still remember going to fucking judo class on 7th Street I still remember seeing that Tony seen a Tony was the best. That's why I went to see all the karate. Yeah Yeah, the old like the films it was it was English films with Spanish subtitles or the other way around

Now they did everything they they did everything there. They did everything and the owner had a wig. That's what I remember as a kid. Is he still alive? Tell me he's still alive. Tony, yeah. He's still alive, he's a super nice guy. And does he have the movie theater still?

No. No, he owns La Especialito and he's the chairman of Save Line America. But I just saw him the other day. I was in a party with him. He's a super nice guy. He still dresses to the tee, and he's got the hair, the white hair and stuff.

Oh my god. A couple years ago, he got a little ill, but now he's doing good. He's doing good. He's a really good guy. So he's doing, you know how he started? He had a furniture store, I think in Manhattan. Then he opened up a furniture store in Jersey,

and then he bought Cinetoni, and Cinetoni was huge. And eventually he sold it when the movies died out in Union City, and then he went into Les Specialitos. No, first he got into, what's that newspaper, Oye or whatever it used to be? No, no, no, no. It used to be the biggest Hispanic. Daniel La Playa del Sol?

No, that's not around. No, no, that's not. But Oye, I think it was Oye, was the biggest Hispanic newspaper in the country. And he owned that, and he sold it for a lot of money. And then he started Les Specialitos, Les Special and he sold it for a lot of money. And then he started Especialito, Especial Especialito, made a ton of money. So he's a really cool guy, a character.

He's a real character. Well, that's what, you know, even like, beside the Cubans, fucking what's his name? Had his office there. The guy from the Mob, from the Genevieve Scribe family. Oh my God, yeah, Donald. The Mob had an office? On Summit. Yeah, on Summit. Why did mob had an office? Yeah, on Summit.

Why did he have an office? Because it's a great place to have an office. The Teamsters building. Oh, okay. The Teamsters building. So it wasn't like he just had an office to do mob shit and he was a Teamster? No, he was a Teamster. Okay.

But there used to be an Italian bakery on 22nd and Central. Holy shit. That was great. I don't think that's still around. I don't think that's still around. I don't think that's still around. And I stayed in 26th. When I got back to North Bergen, I think like six months, maybe yeah,

like three months into the sixth grade, I didn't like living in my house. I didn't like that my mom come home late. I heard fucking spirits, we were talking about all the ghosts in North Bergen and the Indians and shit. And one day I said, I'm not doing this no more. And I moved up with my friends on 26th and Central

and I would wake up, I'd go to 22nd for the breakfast from the bakery. I'd get a bag of zeppoles and a fucking big thing of Italian bread with hotel bar butter. And I'd kill that. And then as I got older, I would just meet Dean Lepre, and we'd go to Tom's Diner. And I always got and then as I got old I would just meet Dean lepre and we go to Tom's diner And I always got the toasted corn muffin. God damn

Was fucking on the grill with extra butter and shit You know Tom McCann that's Santa Ford. I'm Emily. They used to do punt pass and kick. Oh my god I don't can't even about punt pass and fucking kick. It was great and it would be packed Right on Kenny Boulevard, pass and fucking kick. It was great. And it would be packed. Packed with a bunch of fucking North Bergen savages, Union City. Elbows all ripped up, knees ripped up.

I mean, I was always ripped up. It was great. I mean, all bloodied in the whole bit. And you never, never, remember with David and stuff, tell the ass David. We used to play two hand touch, we came full tackle on the black top with snow. Oh my God, you were all ripped up.

I would get home all... It wasn't different. These kids, no. No, no, I'm not accepting it. No. And you remember the swamps? Fuck yeah! The swamps were...

We used to go to swamps and steal fucking those things to light so the mosquitoes would go away. Remember that? Punks, whatever the fuck that is. Where is the swamp? It's gone. Now it's all, the swamps all build up.? Punks, whatever the fuck that is. Where is the swamp? It's gone. Now it's all, the swamps all build up. There's hotels and shit.

God damn it. Where is the fucking swamp? Where was it? It's down, okay, you remember that it used to be a motel. Down 39th Street. Once you pass Tunnely Avenue, with that new buildings that we were talking about, you pass Tunnely Avenue, you keep on going down

before you get to the whole new development. It was in my neighborhood. Yeah, I remember that. Half a half a mile down and that's the swamps right there that used to be all swamps where Walmart is and and all those all those box stores now but the swamp meant like it went from high tunnel the emerald went from down there all the way to the Ritz fuel circle absolutely because I used to ride my motorcycle yeah all the way to the Ritz oh I got a story with you

Then you have a you had a minibike. Yeah, I almost killed myself in the man like very queen Was it his mini bike his minute we were hanging out. I'm a killing school I think it was John Bender David you and me were hanging out and you had your little minibike I had never gotten one. I said get on it. Come on. So I got on the minibike and I went down There was a bluest stone wall coming down the, you remember that ramp, coming down the ramp, blue stone wall right there. I almost like totaled that wall.

I made the curve, I almost killed myself. Never, that was the last time I got on a bike. The last time I got on a motorbike. I don't blame you. I thought I was gonna die. I had no control, I can't believe I turned the wheel. I love gonna die. I had no control, I can't believe I turned the wheel. I loved my motorcycles.

Dog, I had like eight of them and then I fell and my mother sold it before I got back from the hospital. Cuban moms don't even play. She took a loss on it. I took like a $300 loss on it. I didn't even get the $300, she just said, no ma, that's it, quickly. No, no, no meet family meeting

Shit kids kids having eyes. They have one they had nice lunches breakfast. They have breakfast in school lunches We had me remember McKinley school the little counter It was eight inches. He wasn't even a full foot It was eight inches in the basement going a gray was painted gray with that cement paint Yeah, you remember about that? Battleship. Yeah, all the way across the basement, you know? Where we, and we ran track there.

Yeah, that's what we were saying last week. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And we had, we got a milk, we got a small juice, we got a soggy tuna, and sometimes an apple, if you're lucky. Mrs. Sabatino. Yeah. Anthony's mother was the cookie lady.

She used to always give me an extra. Oh man, that tuna, man. Nowadays, I go, I think about what, the things that are affecting you as a kid. The kind of tuna that I, the way I want the tuna to taste nowadays is the way we used to have it. McKinley, yeah, me too.

It's crazy. Me too, I love it. I fucking love tuna. You know, like Jim, you talked about Barone at that gym. Yeah. I had a class right here. I forget what class that was. I forget why I was facing the window I don't know if it was a Greste's class, whatever and the first in the basement

We saw that you remember when they built the the holiday Inn Yes, okay, so they started building the gym Like a year before the holiday they finished the holiday Inn Two years before they finished our gym. Two years? Money gets lost. The construction money was just getting lost. It took like three years to build the gym. It was a box.

In the meantime, they took away a black top in the back. Yeah, they took the black top in the back. It's crazy. Fucking crazy. Do you still remember Carmine? Yeah, I remember Carmine. With Anthony. Frankie hit me up the other day. I I gotta give him a call. He hit me up for Thanksgiving I just sent him a text. Yeah, one of the special brothers died there. Yeah. Oh, so you remember Dominic?

Yeah, man, you were there Dominic was I've been trying to think like when the last time I saw you was like and I McKinley because after McKinley a lot of kids disappeared a Lot of kids just Martin and I bumped into Martin Perez 30 years later to Miami in bro He came to see me because you remember me. I go I never forgot you I hung out with his uncle Yeah, he was a nice guy. Oh, I was a great we're friends on Facebook. Whatever. Somehow. We reconnected David David I haven't seen him forever. He called me at one point in my office and I don't know, I never called him back.

I gotta call him. He's a good guy. He called me, he's back in town this week. David's a good guy. He's a good guy. All those guys are still fucking very decent, man. But Special, all those guys were really cool. We were lucky, man.

We were very, and I, you know, listen, when you tell these stories to people, they look at you and they go, he comes from a land that didn't exist. Listen, I just moved back. I went to North Bergen a couple times, I looked around. It's my hometown, it's where I grew up. But that thing we had there is lost.

And that's when I said to him, it wasn't North Bergen, it was a state of time, it was a state of mind. It was a state of mind for, you know, all those teams were great then. Union Hill had a great football team and a fucking basketball team and you know, Memorial always had something going on. There was always a, what do you call those things? A rivalry. I mean we didn't beat each other up like college football this week, but there was always a rivalry you know and

it was just different. Now these kids, some of these systems don't even have programs, though. What about kids don't play in the street anymore? In the corner 27th Street, where I grew up, that little corner where Lou Dixon, where Ramos lived. Oh my God, that was you, Arias. Yeah, Mario, Mario, Mario. Pancho.

Pancho, Pancho. Pancho. What a great guy, Pancho. A bunch of us were there. I would, duh, you know, I grew up in 38, but if there's a party on 26, that's where I'm going, Jack. Even before parties, we weren't drinking or nothing then. We were just being fucking crazy kids, man.

But we played everything in that corner. Everything. Football, football, whiffle ball. Hockey. Everything. Fucking they hit you with shit. Handball, handball. We used to throw a ball against the wall.

I remember we used to call it play baseball. If you land a little high, it was a, you know, this, it was a hit, then it was a it was a hit then it was a double triple a home run you know we hit we hit against the wall with a where the the liquor store was hit on that wall and then David's window was right here and sometimes we stood his window his mom used to open and it was Ed Vita Ed Vita was his mom's name Ed Vita and Benny Benny his dad you know his sister Mimi I I've spoken to her a couple times, Mimi. Where's Mimi live?

In Florida. In Florida, yeah, they all went to Florida. Yeah, they're great people. It's crazy, a lot of kids we grew up with just tapped out and went to Florida. Yeah. And it's crazy, whenever I go to perform in Miami or for a lot of days, I always see somebody

that I haven't seen. Like they'll come up and go, you remember me from Union City? I'm like, fuck no, but holy shit. You have a great memory You have a great no, I do but you remember every day some people listen faces When you come to me and say, you know, Joey Chipotle, I know the name but I gotta see the face Yeah, the face and so fucking long that you know, I forgot a lot of people. You remember Ralph Carey fuck Yeah Elvis. Yeah, he just he's performed in Union City for us. Did he? I was thinking of putting them on here cuz they

What happened was the she every in North Bergen started hitting me up on Facebook to see if I remember where they put that fucking tube Do you remember in 1976 we put some fucking tube together? Yeah Yeah, someone's following man time capsule a time capsule time capsule. Yeah'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie.

I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie. So instead of going that way, tell them how high those stairs were. Oh my God. You're gonna be killing.

Walk up those stairs. And we had to shovel those fucking stairs. Before we finish, the one story I want to get your memory on it, Lucio, is the cab company. The cab where the guy got like, he was delivering stuff, like delivering drugs and they killed him. No, we're talking about rapid or taxi. Oh, rapid or taxi. Oh yeah, man. They killed that guy.

There was something happened. He ratted somebody out and he was working with the cops. He was taking, he was, he was helping the cops take, take bribes or whatever. There was something going on. There's something going on there. And they just killed him? Because there was so much stuff involved. There was bribes involved. There was something going on There's something going on there and they just killed him because there was so much stuff involved. There was bribes involved

There was drugs involved. There's all kinds of I don't I don't know. This is the same guy that we're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah when I was a kid Yeah, okay. He was an undercover cop He was an undercover cop but he made a mistake he went after the cubans He went after the Cubans. He went after the Cubans. He tried to shake them down without authorization. Right.

And he started busting his balls, and he started getting a little crazy. And I guess he went to collect the Rapido taxi one night, and they just fucking drilled him. But the guy that was in the passenger seat, he's still alive. Oh, really? And he tells a story that he couldn't get in the passenger seat, he's still alive. Oh really? And he tells a story that he couldn't get out of his seat. The bullets missed him. Wow.

The bullets missed him. But I still remember going to McKinley and them acting weird. And then me getting home from McKinley and running up to my mother's bar and I walked in and there's 30 fucking Cubans. Salud! The motherfucker's gone.

And I'm like, oh fuck! No, that's what I'm saying about, about Achiwato. You know, you got, people stuck together. Right, to kill an undercover cop. In Hudson Avenue, there used to be a bar, there used to be a bar in almost every corner, yes or no? Yes, yes. Almost every corner.

And everybody knew each other. And Breen D, Café La Dita, fucking the one on the corner, on the other side of the corner. In fact, I saw something on YouTube the other day about that area, 57th and Hudson, with, I don't know if you remember Nico. Jose told me, they were talking about him and the whole fucking deal. But Union City just has a fucking tremendous,

rich history that nobody knows. You know who's, Brian Stack remembers everything, every one. One day he should write, when he retires from being a mayor, whatever, if he ever does, I don't think he'll ever retire, he should write a whole book on this, or he should do a film about the stuff that really happens, or happened in Union City. So he has all the history down, he remembers.

He remembers, he's an encyclopedia Because he's been involved with politics since muscle. So he's seen everything and everyone, you know He's seen everything go down and he remembers everything super smart one of the smartest people I've ever met Brian If you ever spoken to he knows about everything you talked to him about football He knows about football talks about basketball, you know about basketball. Politics, politics, law, law. He's incredible, incredible how smart he is. And he remembers everything, everything about the whole Hudson County.

Everything about Hudson County. The thing that corporation, everybody should read their book. Pretty much, I mean, Salim Valdivia is a commissioner with me. He says there's a couple of things that were not accurate, because Celine's family also own bars and stuff. The Valdivias, there's like 10,000 of them, you know, in Union City. Yeah, one of the first, the Valdivias is one of the first Cubans that came to Union City.

And they, you know, it's like a ton of them. And he remembers everything. But the cooperation, I almost had the English. PJ, yeah, he's gonna come in a couple weeks because now we got a situation going on where My eighth grade teacher wally lindsey. He was the mayor of weaulking. Oh wow, and then he got with the why is the mayor weaulking? teaching in the north bergen school Did you ever think about that but everybody everybody so at the time now the time, now that you think about the hindsight, it had something to do with that

waterfront, if you really think about it. And something happened over the years and he got plugged down. So when he saw the TJ English podcast, he contacted me and he goes, battle opened up the door. That's why they all got arrested. Not that battle was a rat. Right. He contacted his CIA people or whatever, some fucking story. And it goes all the way to what happened with Menendez last year.

Something crazy. So they're going to come on and talk about it. Who the fuck knows what it is. He's going to bring his case on here he had the whole fucking thing and his attorney. And I'm gonna bring TJ too. And we're just gonna fucking hammer this. I have no dog in the fight. I don't even know what the fuck the argument's about,

but they just wanna talk about it, I don't fucking know. I don't get into those conversations, political conversation. No, I just, I don't know nothing about Union City't get into those conversations, political conversation. No, I just, I don't know nothing about Union City. I know my mom had a bar there. I know some people got shot there. You know Castro was there. I know Castro was there.

I saw Cher and Greg Allman. Fred Astaire. Fred Astaire danced there. You know, I had some good fucking BLTs at the Five Star Diner. I paid, I played for St. Michael CYO, which I, till this day, I take seriously I played for St. Michael's CYO, which till this day I take seriously. I picked St. Michael's. I could have gone to St. Fatima and all that shit, but I was like, I like St. Michael's.

There was something about St. Michael's, plus Tommy Heintzen went there. And that was my boy at the time. So I said, I gotta play for St. Michael's. In fact, we're getting together with the coach from my CYO coach, and fucking gonna do a dinner at La Forte's Oh, that's great. Steve rubinaccio He was my coach there, but he had been there forever. He was a good guy

You know, he's part of the community steve rubinaccio and there was another guy steve achardi or something like that They were like part of the community. They were irish. They spoke spanish Yeah, when you fuck in italian you speak sp speak Spanish I still remember sitting with him on my block and the fucking and he worked for Rubinaccio worked for ABC for Good Morning America, so I would always call him up What do you know you don't even go to acting class acting class I didn't know you had to go to an acting class and that's the last time I talked to him Wow And I went to eat dinner one night and he was sitting at the table right across from the coach room

Yeah, Michael's coach we started talking and gave me his number and he goes call me. Let's get together So we're all gonna go to dinner with Chuckie and a bunch of the coaches. They could talk their problems out about Any Ford and all those fucking refs and shit Michaels man I went I did catechism there and where it's in Michael. Oh you did We went to the other place. I went to st. Michael's and and I don't know why my mom sent to st Michael's because we got thrown out of st. Rocco's. No, I went to say my what's the one on 30th Street right by the 30th Street That's uh, that's a holy family. Thatth Street. That's a holy family. That's holy. That's holy family.

You went there for cataclysm. Yeah, because either you went to the ecology club. Remember, you got out of school and won. You either pick the ecology club or cataclysm. I wasn't going to fucking pick up no trees. So I said, fuck it. Let me go hang out. Let me go hang out with some fucking priests. And we lasted about a month and he threw us out.

I was like, like, like St. Michael's, I never finished because you had the real nuns there. Couldn't take it. I said, mama, I'm not going back. On a Saturday, it was a Saturday or Sunday, whatever day we had to go, I said, I'm done. I'm not going back there. Lucille, one more question.

I know you're part of like a music troupe, but I haven't seen no videos. No, no, I was managing after I stopped acting and all that kind of stuff and doing films, I started to manage this band called Maxima Alerta, which is the number one reggaeton band from Cuba. So the guy, the owner came, the father of the owner of the band,

the director of the band, used to be my sound guy for the events in the city for 20 years. So before he died, dad of Kansas, he said, you know, take director of the band, used to be my sound guy for the events in the city for 20 years. So before he died, dad of Kansas, he said, you know, take care of my son, you know, so I helped out his son. We regrouped the group here and cut out a bunch of records. And then, and just before COVID hit, we had a situation where someone appropriated some of our music.

And we were going to, we were taking them to court we won anyway so my friend who you know and then we my friend won the case and and he won the you know all the awards platinum double platinum gold album you know premio nuestro everything he won all the awards they they gave him the awards they gave him the rights to the music so he's waiting for his payday now because they gave him all the rights that he rightfully owned. So what happened was we started using the original members from Cuba. We started recording songs here and there, and coming out and editing their videos in

Cuba, which is a penny per dollar. So we started doing all the production work over there and and then released the the songs with him And so I stopped performing because I was getting older. I didn't want to be jumping around like a monkey, you know doing that kind of music You know, I'm a Broadway guy. I'm not a reggaeton guy. You know, I mean, but I was the MC I was good at MCing So I was MCing get the crowd going in Spanish and English and all that kind of stuff So we were real crossover, but then we started recording with the original guys in Cuba and just getting more into that whole reggaeton thing. And then the guys, now they left Cuba.

Two of them left. And then the one, two of them, yeah, two of them left. And then they almost still here, still my buddy, you know what I mean? But now I'm not cutting any albums or videos or anything anymore. You know, that ship has sailed right from here. And what are you a commissioner of?

I'm a commissioner of public affairs. So I run municipal court, veterans, seniors, cultural affairs, and the history department. So all the events that come out of Union City, it's pretty much my department. Do you see Lefty at the school? No, Lefty. Cortina?

No. He teaches at Washington. No, I never see him. Go to Washington, he's there. I gotta look for him. Is it Washington on 38th, something? 38th, that's Washington's. That's Washington, he teaches at Washington. Oh, he's there. I gotta look for him. Is it Washington on 38th something? 38th, that's Washington's guy. That's Washington, he teaches at Washington.

Oh, look at that. Look at that. Lucio, it was really good to fucking see you. Ah, it's great seeing you, man. It's great being here. What were you gonna say, I'm sorry? No, that's it, that's it. It was great seeing you, it was great being here.

You sure? Absolutely. You don't have to say anything. No, no, I'm not saying anything. Lee, you know, smacked me inside my head. Great to meet you, Lucio. You have any questions for Lucio, cuck sucker? I'm still getting over a lot of shit,

mainly the guy who jumped in front of cars for a living and then he jumped in front of the wrong car. That's fucked up. We had a guy, what was the guy that we were robbing trains and he jumped off the train and he got caught in his arm and he lost an arm. Yeah, who was that? I remember that. Yeah, and he used off the train and he got caught in his arm and he lost an arm. Yeah, who was that? I remember that.

Yeah, and he used to be a cab driver in the city. So if you ever get in a cab with a one-armed dude, he's from North Bergen, though. You had no idea the stuff that we did. The stuff, it was fucking insane at that. No idea. When I first moved to North Bergen, it was scary. It was fucking scary.

Sounds scary. These guys went down and robbed trains every day. These guys were 12. 12! And they're robbing fucking trains. How do you think I got that motorcycle? The motorcycles would come in a box, not built. You'd throw the boxes off,

and then you had your brother come down and drive you later, and you could fucking, then you had to pull the box out of the weeds. That's a thousand mosquito bites and then fucking you know That's how crazy he reminded me of the swamp just now. That's great That's a big call this once was the best place to hang out they only the only beating I got from my mom was because I took my bike with a bunch of our friends and we Rode down to the swamps, which is always I mean you're 10 11 years old. That's a long way

That's a long then we took it all the way up all the way uptown, you know, to whatever West End Avenue ends or whatever. Oh, yeah. And then came back down. My bike kept on losing this chain because and I made it home like a 10 o'clock at night. My mom was livid. Livid. I got the beating of my life. My dad's you're going to kill him. You're going to kill him. Dad was saying that. Holy shit. The one I got one beating, man life. And my dad's, you're gonna kill him. You're gonna kill him. Your dad was saying that.

Holy shit. I got one beating, man. I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. Lucio, it was a real pleasure. I'm happy you came on. Same here, man. To give the Union City some love.

Because like I said, I'm from North Bergen, but man, I got a lot of my dad died in Union City. We had the bar for 20 years. You know, they never signed my dad's death certificate let's talk about that those motherfuckers I never collected my insurance from Prudential it's probably worth that million now probably but they wanted me to go back to Cuba and dig him up and scrap his bones I'm not doing that shit that motherfucker is nothing he's dust now for 10 million it was a half million dollar policy in 1966.

Do the fucking math. Let's go. I'll do whatever you need me to do. Well, you wanna go to Cuba and dig a moth? Yeah, I tried to go to Cuba and tried to dig up. Dig a moth. People don't understand how Cuba is. People in this country don't understand

how Cuba is living over there. When we left Cuba, we didn't leave only because of political reasons. There was nothing to eat. Times are tough. My mom comes from 16 brothers and sisters. Damn. What are you going to eat? So you're leaving because there's nothing to eat. You're leaving because you're oppressed. And they humiliate you on the way out because you have to go work in agriculture, work camps and stuff like that. Then we go to Spain, spend a year in Spain sucking wind before you come here. Oh man, people don't know the struggle. The struggle is real. The struggle is real.

The struggle is not only real for Jewish people, but only for Cuba, also for Cubans. I had no idea. I love you Lucille. I love you too man. I'm happy you got the time to come over and talk to me. It's good to see you. You're a big fucking thing in my childhood. I can't believe we're still here. You know, we all went through as kids and people fucking disappeared, but we're here slinging dick. Absolutely, man.

Absolutely. Union City forever, cocksuckers. Don't forget we're adding some shows. I got the 11th of December at the Stress Factory and added the 17th open mic at Uncle Vinny's on a Tuesday night just to keep working on material and doing stupid shit. Anything you wanna talk about, Lucy?

That's it, man. You said enough stupid stuff. No, I got nothing. At least I had one. I got nothing. Next week, the 11th to the 14th, I'm with Josh Wolfe and Tara Kinnishtracy all over New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

There you go. If you live in Delaware, I know you got nothing to do. Oh, sorry. So, you know, Biden's dead, and I don't feel so good myself. And, you know, it's winter time, so go catch my brother, Lee Syatt. I love you, Lucio. Thank you for everybody being here today,

and we'll see you next week. That's it, two weeks, three weeks, till Christmas. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving And that's it. Take a hike. I love you guys. Stay black the church New Testament is brought to you by FreezePipe. You don't need to wait for snow to smoke out of an ice cold barn. FreezePipe has your covered. FreezePipe makes shillable pieces that give you a good time with no throat burning and no Coughing up a lung. I love freeze pipe each freeze pipe comes with a glycerin chamber that you put in the freezer When you're ready to light you you take it out put it in the bond once the smoke passes through it

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