March 30, 2004
Ice Cream War Goes to the Streets
Drug turf wars, sure. Mafia gangland shootings, fine. But grandparents getting beaten up in an ice cream truck turf war? Apparently a route along Harlem has been contested for years, and Juana and Luis Marrero (ages 64 and 63) were beaten by their rivals, Fernando Esparza, 51, and Librada Veron, 49, when the Marreros were dropping off their truck at a truck depot in the South Bronx on Saturday. Worse, they hit one of the Marreros' fifteen grandchildren in the attack as well - 15 year-old Dominique tried to stop the attack. The manager of the depot said of the suspects, "They're conniving. They're spiteful. They don't want to see anyone make a buck except for them." The Daily News says that the Marreros have been selling ice cream for the past 35 years in Harlem and upper Manhattan..
It makes Gothamist look at a Mr. Softee truck much differenlty.
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Is that the deal with the sirens/chimes relentlessly playing mind-numbing songs like The Entertainer, over and over again? Are they trying to torture each other, Noriega-style?
This would make a great screenplay.
it already is one. cf _Comfort and Joy_, directed by Bill Forsythe.
Nice add, Hillary! For those of us who are not familiar with Comfort and Joy, here's a link to the IMDB listing...it's about Italians fighting over the Glaswegian ice cream market!
Hillary, you rock.
:( not on Netflix
i used to drive an ice cream truck in the suburbs of chicago. one night, on returning home, i slowed to wave at another ice cream truck man. but he didn't wave back. he flipped me the bird and made a quick u-turn across 4 lanes of a busy 6 lane road, chasing me for about 2 miles down the highway. it was terrifying. we ice cream men worked on commission of course, so don't fuck with their turf.
trackback above for the full tedium, but it's all true. "The Entertainer" was the *least* awful of the songs on the truck I drove ... the worst was "Pop Goes the Weasel." One driver had his tune-box jimmied so it would only play "Weasel." When he came back from his 12-hour shift, he looked a man just back from summer in the Sahara.
it's not even on dvd, as far as i know. but it's an awesome little movie. depressing and christmassy and touching and quirky like a mofo. i do recommend reverting to that ancient 20th-c. technology of the vcr to check it out.
This story doesn't surprise me...several years ago I witnessed someone who could be a supporting cast member in "The Sopranos" threatening another vendor who had encroached on his turf across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I suspect certain locations generate significant cash flow and that the profit margins are wide ($2 for an ice cream bar that costs what? ... 25 cents to make).
Australian ice-cream trucks only play "Greensleeves" which I never tire of hearing for some reason.
I thought it was widely known that many ice cream truck guys sell drugs on the side, using the ice cream as a cover ("I'll take a Sno-Cone and a, ahem, cough cough...").
this is JUST like the sopranos 2 weeks ago with the lawn mowers...