The Suite

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[edit] The Suite Layout

The Suite was a nightclub located at 111-20 Queens Boulevard in the Forest Hills section of the New York City borough of Queens. It was owned by Henry Hill from 1966 to 1972. It had a reputation as a somewhat rough nightclub and when it was owned by mobster Henry Hill it was a hangout for the Vario Crew, Lucchese crime family and Gambino crime family members. The walls of the nightclub were decorated with cherubs and had naugahyde banquettes. It had glazed walls, ornate sconces, and a rumpus room bar. The nightclub also came with a small elevated stage where Parnell Edwards would entertain the customers with rock and roll or blues music on his acoustic guitar. It was within short driving distance of Robert's Lounge, JFK International Airport's Air Cargo Center, Don Pepe's Vesuvio Restaurant, the Aqueduct Race Track, the "Bargain Auto Junkyard" owned by Clyde Brooks, and the Queens County, New York courthouse in Kew Gardens, Queens where the Vario Crew would receive their court trial postponements. The Suite was strategically situated in a prime real estate location, located right along the way from the heavily-populated areas of Queens, New York, Brooklyn, New York and Long Island, New York. To reach the restaurant from Manhattan, one would have to simply take the 59th Street Bridge to Queens Boulevard. Commuters coming to, or leaving New York City would stop in for a drink.

[edit] Henry Hill and the nightclub business

Little is known about the history of the bar prior to Henry Hill purchasing it in 1966, other than the previous owner was a Colombo crime family mob associate and a pathological gambler from New York, New York named Joseph Cussumano. By the early 1960's Joseph had fallen deep into debt from gambling at the Aqueduct Racetrack. In 1966 Cussumano was being threatened by the bank to have his lease revoked after a gang land murder occurred on the premises, earlier that same year. Henry Hill, with the backing of Paul Vario, muscled in and took over leaving the wiseguys high and dry with the owner's gambling debts and the jockey's name on the lease. Paul Vario wanted the place to be a semi-straight joint and told the crew, Tommy DeSimone, Anthony Stabile, and Angelo Sepe not to socialize at or enter the night club. The restriction order did not last long and Hill's criminal associates started to use the nightclub as headquarters for hijackings and other scams. In the long run it did not replace Jimmy Burke's notorious Robert's Lounge in South Ozone Park, Queens which was still in operation until 1978. Henry's wife, Karen Hill, helped write up three different books; one for the SLA, one for the IRS and the real books for Paul Vario. Henry Hill had six bartenders employed at the restaurant in three-man shifts, but soon fired them all after they were caught skimming from the cash register. Henry Hill set up his mistress Linda in a bachelor apartment directly across the street from The Suite. He hired a Chinese chef who hardly spoke any English to work in the kitchen and deliver meals specially to his mistress Linda's apartment. Jimmy Burke would rig up pails of water and when someone walked in the door he would dump the buckets on their heads. Paul Vario would sometimes cook in the kitchen and stink the place up with heavy doses of garlic. The bar also served bootleg Crown Royal, which was illegal in New York at the time. Henry Hill moved from Island Park to Queens, away from The Suite, shortly before his arrest for extortion in 1972 after the Nassau District Attorney raided Paul Vario's "Presto Pizzeria" in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and arrested Hill's associate, Raymond Montemurro, in the union-official sting operation. Soon after Montemurro's arrest, Karen spotted FBI agents taking surveillance photographs of her and their daughters outside The Suite.

[edit] The Beating of James Breslin

In 1969 or 1970 Jimmy Breslin was viciously attacked and beaten at The Suite by mobster Jimmy Burke. At the time of the attack Breslin lived in Rockville Center in Nassau County, New York and would stop into the restaurant every day on the way home, to talk with his mob informants and drink. Breslin was a pseudo-Irish tough guy, who had written something that Jimmy Burke did not like. The Newsday article involved their capo Paul Vario and a powerful African-American bookmaker. Burke grabbed Breslin by his necktie and almost killed him. He tightened the knot of the tie and slammed his face down against the bar counter. Breslin begged for his life. At the time of the attack there were at least fifty people dining in the restaurant. Burke and Henry would later laugh about the incident in later years. Breslin was left with a broken nose and a concussion, battered and bloody.

[edit] The Billy Batts Murder

Gambino crime family mobster William Devino was drinking at Henry Hill's bar, The Suite, in Queens New York. Henry thought Batts might leave, because it was getting late, when Tommy walked in. However, Henry didn't want a murder in his own bar, but he knew he couldn't control a sociopath like Tommy DeSimone. Tommy saw Batts, who was so drunk that Hill said he couldn't have fended off an old lady. Burke placed his hand loosely around Batts' neck, suddenly Batts saw Tommy and Burke proceeded to put Batts in a headlock. Tommy then began beating Billy with a .38 revolver. Hill ushered out Alex Corcione, a member of Burke's crew, and his girlfriend so that he was not mixed up in the murder. Hill was scared that Corcione might tell Paul Vario or the Gambinos, however a more pressing fear he had was that Burke and DeSimone, the latter of whom had lost all self- control, may kill Corcione and his girlfriend, due to the delicate nature of this killing. They then laid him onto a mattress cover Tommy had brought in and pulled around Hill's car. They loaded Batts into the mattress cover, which in turn they loaded into the trunk and Tommy drove off.

[edit] The kidnapping of Frank Manzo

In 1972 Francesco Manzo was drinking at Henry Hill's night club, The Suite. He was grabbed by Thomas Genovese, Irish-American mob associate James McBratney, Edward Maloney, Warren Schurman and Richard Chaisson. The gang contacted the Lucchese crime family don Carmine Tramunti directly and demanded $100,000 for Frank's safe return. The ransom was paid and Frank was returned unscathed.

[edit] The murder of Emmanuel "Manny" Gambino

Carlo Gambino's nephew Emanuel Gambino was kidnapped by Thomas Genovese, a distant relative of Genovese crime family founder Vito Genovese, James McBratney, Edward Maloney, Warren Schurman and Richard Chaisson on December 28, 1972 as he drank at The Suite. The gang believed they could get $100,000 for each kidnapping. They had previously kidnapped a Gambino crime family capo Francesco Manzo.

[edit] The closure of The Suite

As Henry Hill's ten year prison sentence in 1972 for extortion neared an end, he "busted" out the joint, as mobsters refer to it. He ran up excessive bills with tax creditors and sold off all the liquor and fixtures to other bar owners, even after the IRS had padlocked the front doors. On the night before the dinner club was to be put up for public auction, IRS agents found that all the silverware, glassware, furniture, electrical appliances and even ashtrays had disappeared. Karen Hill sold some of the sconces from The Suite's walls, Henry stole from the forclosed night club to Bonanno crime family mobster Jerome Asaro, the son of Vincent Asaro Karen was left, still waiting for the money after Henry Hill was sent away to prison. Jerome took the fixtures and never paid a cent. Many of Henry's mobster friends, Angelo Sepe, Thomas DeSimone, Anthony Stabile and Stanley Diamond also renagged on paying their overdue bar tabs for drinking at The Suite. After The Suite closed Henry bought into a restaurant called "Roger's Place" on Queens Boulevard so Karen and their two daughters could have some means of income when Henry was sent away.

Karen and her two children Gregg and Abagail, unable to afford their house with the closure of The Suite and the incarceration of Henry, had to move to a Valley Stream, New York apartment and survive off her mother Ruth.

[edit] In reality

In the 1990 film GoodFellas The Suite is featured in various scenes and renamed "The Suite Lounge", but most famously in the vicious murder of Billy Batts. In the ‘Suite Lounge’, where William Devino portrayed as the character "Billy Bats" by Frank Vincent gets beaten by Tommy DeSimone and Jimmy Burke. "The Suite Lounge" is currently called the "Sogdiana Restaurant" (formerly named "The Spartan"). It is located at 7320 Grand Avenue at 73rd Place in Maspeth, Queens. The restaurant is still recognizable by its exterior as shown in the film but the streamlined 1950's exterior, as featured in Goodfellas had been remodelled since the filming of the movie. The building now currently houses The Quest Pool & Spa as of 2007.

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[edit] External sources

  • GoodFellas
  • Hill, Henry, as told by Gus Russo. Gangsters and GoodFellas.