Umberto's and Jerry Orbach

We have a local pizza place,Italian restaurant named Umberto's nearby in the shopping center. They've been there about eight years it seems, and never once have I thought of a gangland shooting when we order pizza from Umberto's. That's because it's only Umberto's, and not followed by the two words 'Clam House.' That makes all the difference.

Umberto's Clam House reminds me, and others apparently, of the gangland shooting of 'Crazy' Joe Gallo, sometime near 4 A.M. at a Mulberry Street restaurant while Joey and his entourage caught a very late night meal at restaurant with no liquor license. How many restaurants advertise they serve Pepsi, as seen by the storefront's sign on the right?

Mr. Michael Wilson, in his 'Crime Scene' column in yesterday's NYT brings back memories of that 40 year-ago event. I don't know Mr. Wilson, and there's no picture of him quickly available on the Internet. His Twitter page shows yellow crime scene tape where a photo might go. Being anonymous, even reporting on long-ago crimes is probably a good idea. If it gets too hot, you can always move over to being an anonymous-faced food critic.

My guess is he's not as old as I am. Too many buyouts have probably come and gone at the Times to have allowed someone my age to have turned them all down and remain working. No matter. His account is a good one.

I was in my 20s when I read about the shooting in the paper. I can still remember being at the desk in the back at the family flower shop when I read the front page story of what was then another hit. The 70s really were a gangland slaying era in New York City, and the hit on Joey Gallo was just one of many. The lore lives on. Mr. Wilson story is jogged out of whatever memory he has of it by a walking tour guide explaining to a group of people on the sidewalk what took place, despite the fact that the pictured Umberto's is not the current incarnation of the restaurant. It's moved a few doors away, apparently, still under the same family ownership, it seems.

Much is always made that these shootings take place where people are eating. There's truth to that. Even a wannabe shot and killed someone at the bar at Rao's restaurant in the Bronx while expressing dislike for singing. There are many restaurant-placed slayings in the city. Thus, the tours.

I remember reading that the maître d' at P.J. Clarke's on Third Avenue expressed a little exasperation when John Gotti would show up with no reservation to eat a $25 hamburger.  He of course wasn't alone, and the party needed to be seated with Mr. Gotti's back to a wall. The proverbial 'Godfather' seat. The maître d'  only wanted a heads up so he could have the right type of table open. My guess is Mr. Gotti got his table, no matter what and the maître d' got a good tip. Maybe someone had to move in mid-swallow.

What I always distinctly remember reading is that the actor Jerry Orbach was part of the Gallo dining entourage. I always thought this was such a nifty piece of trivia that I would tell people about the link whenever the story came up, or Mr. Orbach was mentioned for his many Broadway and TV roles, most famously, of course for 'Law and Order.'

I didn't save clippings then, so I could never go back to the source material to verify if that is what I really read. Finally, when life presented me with more time on my hands and access to digital retrieval of past articles, I checked on the story at the library. No Jerry Orbach is mentioned in the news account of the shooting.

Mr. Orbach, through other news accounts, was described as a friend of Joey's, who even stayed at Jerry's apartment with his girlfriend.  There were pictures of the two together. It was no secret. Jerry's star was rising, first as an actor in the long-running off-Broadway production of 'The Fantasticks,' then as an actor in the Broadway show 'Promises, Promises.' 'Law and Order' didn't exist at the time.

Joey Gallo was rubbed out for his role in planning the hit on Joseph Columbo that took place at an Italian-American Pride Day rally held at Columbus circle.  Mr. Gallo, apparently convinced a just-released prisoner he knew from his Sing Sing stint to kill Columbo. Mr. Columbo was creating a rift in the families by declaring there was no mob, and that Italian-Americans should present solidarity against ethnic stereotyping. The campaign was somewhat successful, because the day of the rally all the pizza joints in New York City were closed.

Mr. Columbo survived the hit, but was left in very bad shape, living his life out in a poor quality-of-life-state. The assassin didn't make it out of Columbus Circle. He was immediately dropped from behind, with no one ever caught for it.

Jimmy Breslin, a high profile reporter for the Daily News was already making literary capital out of New York's crime characters with his 1969 book 'The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight.' If I've got it right, Kid Sally, is Joey Gallo. A very bad movie of course followed.

So, was Jerry Orbach part of the early morning dinner crowd at Umberto's when Joey's whereabouts were given up by his driver and he faced off with hit men? Did Mr. Orbach's name get airbrushed from later editions, and it was those editions that were the basis for the archive version? Or, was he truly not there, and I just blended his known Gallo friendship with his presence at eating on Mulberry Street at four in the morning at a place with no liquor license?

Mr. Orbach has passed away, so he can't be consulted. Jimmy Breslin however, is still with us, and could perhaps set the memory straight. Maybe.

But really, why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

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