Ice Cream Truck Turf Wars Heating Up Again

Courtesy Trish Mayo's Flickr

A Mister Softee truck driver in Queens didn't find anything funny about a rival Good Humor man encroaching on his turf, so he decided to make him an offer he couldn't refuse. According to the Post, on Tuesday afternoon in Elmhurst, George Peralta, 27, pulled his Mister Softee truck in front of 50-year-old Good Humor man Ernesto Valverde, while accomplice Andy Arevalo parked his ice cream truck behind Valverde, blocking him in. With the help of a third man, they allegedly took Valverde's keys and told him to "stay off [our] route, we know where you live, we know where you parked the truck."

Wait, it gets even more gangster: That night Valverde went to the 115th Precinct stationhouse in Jackson Heights to report the threat, and when he came out, Peralta's boss, Ronald Baretela, was waiting. Court documents accuse him of telling Valverde he would "follow him around everyday and ruin [his] business." But Baretela's lawyer explains that the whole thing is just "a misunderstanding over who can sell where."

A spokesman for Queens DA Richard Brown says Peralta is being charged with robbery, coercion and criminal possession of stolen property for taking the keys to Valverde's truck, and his boss is charged with coercion and tampering with a witness. Arevalo, the alleged accomplice, is charged with unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of stolen property. And this is hardly the first time ice cream truck turf wars have gotten nasty; in 2004 one ice cream truck driver beat another so badly she was hospitalized for a month. Damn, it's tough out there for a Softee; maybe we should cut them some slack on the jingles after all?

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By John Del Signore in News on June 5, 2009 11:47 AM

Comments [rss]

James Conway

Dear John - The story you are referencing from the NY Post is factually incorrect. Ronald Baretela is not a Mister Softee franchisee and the trucks in question are not Mister Softee trucks. We do not condone this type of behavior. Please check your facts in the future.

Sincerely,

James Conway

Mister Softee Inc.

Rocknrope

Whoa, the founder and son of Mister Softee is named Jimmy Conway, the same name of DeNiro's character in Goodfellas? Awesome, my post above has gone meta.

pissflaps

mister soffee is mad cuz he can't get it up...

good humor gets all the chicks cuz he's funny.

hotstepper

you're not gonna pee on them?

mrguy

those thing are a nuisance. In addition to bullshit like this, they contribute both noise pollution and the fumes from idling in one spot for hours or driving slowly around the neighborhood.

the city should auction off a small number of ice cream truck licenses with defiined routes and let the guys with hot-dog style pushcarts (they're ubiquitous in central park) pick up more business.

ma bell

in the movie about this story, the mister softee driver will be played by ben stiller and the good humor driver will be played by vince vaughn...and they will play in a dodgeball tournament