Mob Kingpin Was a Hit in Maspeth

By Bryan Virasami | STAFF WRITER

June 14, 2002

The "Dapper Don" was waked near the spot where, in 1984, he was accused of assaulting a refrigerator repairman who complained that his car was blocked in outside the Cozy Corner Bar.

But few people interviewed in Maspeth yesterday seemed to remember, or care.

The beefy repairman himself, Romual Piecyk, suffered a case of amnesia when he was called to testify against Gotti and an associate. "To be perfectly honest with you," Piecyk said in court, "it was so long ago I don't remember."

The Cozy Corner's current name is Matchmakers. It sports a long, wooden bar and $4.95 lunch specials. A waitress there interrupted a reporter's questions about the assault with two short words: "No comment."

Outside the establishment, Silvana Zaza said that her only memories were of a nattily attired John Gotti taking strolls in the neighborhood, which he liked to visit.

"He was nothing but a gentleman," said Zaza, an airline employee who stood with other spectators behind a police line across the street from the wake.

"I only remember the good things about him," said Mary Smith, who has lived in Maspeth for more than three decades. "He was a handsome man," she added with a laugh.

Few remembered Piecyk, who had accused Gotti and a friend of taking $325 from him and slapping him before drawing a blank on the details at trial. Prosecutors said the repairman had been threatened to keep him from testifying.

"I think it was a mistake," said John Cornelia, 45, who lives in Glendale, recalling the assault. "It wasn't John Gotti."

At Conte Meat Market on Grand, Pasqualle Santella, 50, praised Gotti's generosity.

"We miss him," he said. "He did a lot of good things for the Italian people."

Kathy Liguori, 43, stood outside a beauty salon on Grand and dismissed the Piecyk affair as a "lot of hearsay."

"It's the good things you see," she said.