Kew Motor Inn

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The Kew Motor Inn is a popular Lucchese crime family hangout and headquarters. It is a motel/hotel in Kew Gardens Hills located at 139-01 Grand Central Parkway from when it first opened in 1969 to the 1980s.

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[edit] The Inn's Layout

The Kew Motor Inn is a large white building with a huge parking lot that offers sixty-nine spacious rooms, many of which offer specific themes. It was named for being in the Kew Gardens, Queens neighborhood. The hotel offers special themed rooms like "Arabian Nights", "cupids", "Egyptian", "Fantasia", "New York skyline", "Oriental delight" "Safari", "South-Western Oasis", and "waterfall". The Inn also offers special inexpensive short stay rates as well as overnight rates. The hotel is open twenty-four hours a day. The rooms come with cable television and free HBO including free music channels like BET, TNT, and Univision with in room movies available for guests. It has a full size bar and restaurant with a wide ranging menu offering breakfast, lunch and dinner.

[edit] The Lufthansa Heist

Lufthansa heist criminal Peter Gruenwald went to the Kew Motor Inn in 1978 in hopes of organizing a team of hijackers and burglars to pull off what would become the 1978 Lufthansa heist. His attempts at finding a crew for the job failed miserably, and Louis Werner would later successfully get in touch with a team of robbers.

[edit] Clientele

The hotel since it opened in 1969 has been a frequent meeting place in New York City for organized crime figures from the Lucchese crime family, Colombo crime family and Genovese crime family. Some of the more distinguished patrons and regular habituates of the hotel include Henry Hill, Paul Vario, Joseph Sullivan, Stanley Diamond, brothers Anthony Stabile and Thomas Stabile, Angelo McConnach, Francesco Manzo, Fredrick DeLucia, Edward Finelli, Peter "The Killer" Abbandante, Michael Frazese, Nicholas Blanda, Peter Morales, Frank Sorace, Edward Barberra, Robert Nalo, Robert Scola, Steve DePasquale, Casey Rosado, Edguardo Rigaud, Robert Amelia, Vincent "Vinny" Asaro, Raymond Montemurro and Monte Montemurro, John Mazzolla, Bobby "The Dentist", Lawrence "Larry" Bilello, Richard Bilello, James Santos, Joseph Allegro, Charles "Flip", Clyde Brooks, Daniel Rizzo, brothers Alex Corcione and Michael Corcione, the brother Bruno Facciolo and Louis Facciolo, Frank Abbandando Jr., Angelo Sepe, John Gotti, Robert McMahon and Joe Manri. This included many other mobsters who dined at the restaurant and took mistresses and prostitutes up to the rooms.

[edit] Trivia

The notorious Kew Motor Inn has a sister hotel/motel located at 13901 Grand Central Parkway in Jamaica, Queens.

[edit] References