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WI: Giuliani gets whacked

neonduke

Kenneth Kaunda drip
I've an amateur interest in NYC at its nadir in the 70s and 80s and a large part of that is the grindhouse scene on 42nd Street and Times Square. A den of XXX cinemas, live sex shows, pornography stores and crime.

One of the most fascinating and elusive characters from that era is Hardcore director Phil Prince, known for directing some of the roughest pornos of the era. After going to Rykers for holding up an ice cream parlour in the mid 80s he disappeared for 3 decades, until he was tracked down by the folks at the Rialto Report and convinced to do an interview.

One of his most interesting revelations was that there was a sit-down between rival Irish and Italian mobs with interests in the porno and sex trades on 42nd Street to discuss Assistant DA Giulianis crackdown on the sex trade and general lawlessness around the Times Square area. He claims that a vote was taken on whether Giuliani should be hit to protect the profits coming in from the theatres and shows, the Irish mob were in favour but the Italians demurred fearing they would cop the blame and the heat. Note that Prince claims this is before the 1986 vote by the Five Families which also resulted in a No against the hit.

Now a pinch of salt needs to be taken with Princes claims (though a lot of what he says in general on the 42nd Street scene is backed up by other interviews) but it's interesting to consider the knock on effects from Giuliani being whacked around 84-85.

Obviously the biggest knock on from this is no Mayor Giuliani, but theres other interesting changes. It seems inevitable that 42nd Street is going to be cleaned up eventually, it and Time Square are prime real estate and the move of porno from film to video was already starting to impact the theatres and peep shows. The question is if the hit slows that progress or the blowback speeds it up. The AIDS crisis had already impacted the bath houses and sex shows so we will eventually see a cleaned up NYC, the question is when?

I've no doubt the Mafia's concerns about copping the blame were justified, I'd expect to see a renewed campaign against the Mob, both Italian and Irish.

Biggest question is who ends up mayor instead of Giuliani, anyone know he was a Republican up and comer in NYC?

The Phil Prince interview is up on the Rialto Report if anyone is interested, obviously NSFW.
 
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I could see a clean-up of 42nd happening very soon after Giuliani is killed if the sex trade's known to be the reason the mobs have whacked him. That might effect how people think of the old days of Times Square, harder to romanticise when the city was Edgy and Alive before The Man gentrified it if it happens in response to the mafia murdering a guy.
 
Giuliani's opponent in the 1989 primary was Ron Lauder, who Dinkins would probably beat by a bigger margin, and I guess probably wouldn't run again in 1993.
Given how narrow the result was OTL, might Dinkins be re-elected against (probably) someone with less of a tough on crime reputation?
 
Giuliani's opponent in the 1989 primary was Ron Lauder, who Dinkins would probably beat by a bigger margin, and I guess probably wouldn't run again in 1993.
Given how narrow the result was OTL, might Dinkins be re-elected against (probably) someone with less of a tough on crime reputation?

Which in turn might mean successful Staten Island secession.
 
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