The Hole is a small neighborhood in New York City on the border between Brooklyn and Queens.[1] It is a low-lying area, with a ground level that is 30 feet (9.1 m) lower than the surrounding area.[2][3] The area is run-down, and suffers from frequent flooding.[4] It has been described as a "lost neighborhood",[3] and as resembling a border town from the Wild West.[2] It is generally bordered by Eldert Lane, 78th (Sapphire) Street, South Conduit Avenue, and Linden Boulevard. Nearby neighborhoods include East New York, Lindenwood, and Ozone Park.
In the 1960s, the level of some streets within The Hole was raised and the streets paved, facilitating passage between South Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard. This required homes adjacent to the raised streets to build retaining walls with the first level of their houses now below grade. In 2004, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) made plans to connect the neighborhood to the city's sewer system to combat the flooding by raising the land.[2] As of 2023, a plan to raise the streets and connect the neighborhood to the surrounding sewer system remained in the city's capital budget but had not been implemented.[7][8]
Alternative plans have also been advocated, including buying out residents and restoring the area as a natural floodplain.[8] The city is also exploring less-expensive plant-based drainage infrastructure.[8] Some drainage upgrades made in 2023 helped water drain more quickly after Tropical Storm Ophelia compared to Hurricane Ida in 2021, but did not prevent flooding that trapped some residents in their homes.[9]
While waiting for solutions from the city, residents have implemented some systems to deal with flooding, including tapping into public utilities to provide electricity for outdoor sump pumps to remove water from streets.[9]
Media
In 2010, filmmakers Courtney Fathom Sell and Billy Feldman made a short documentary about the neighborhood. The film includes interviews with some of the residents as well as members of the Federation of Black Cowboys. The film premiered at Rooftop Films in 2011 and has since been archived at the Brooklyn Historical Society & Anthology Film Archives.[10][3][11]
Another film, focused on the residents living in the Hole, was made in 2016.[12]
Brooklyn-based photographer Robert Stribley created a photoessay about The Hole in May 2016. [13]
Mafia graveyard
The Hole is the site of an old Mafia graveyard, located in a vacant lot off of 75th Street between Blake and Dumont Avenues.[14] In 1981, children playing in the lot found the body of Bonanno crime familycapoAlphonse "Al" Indelicato, who, along with fellow Bonanno capos Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera, had been killed several weeks before in a Brooklyn night club store room by rival Bonanno capo Joseph Massino and his associates.[15] In 2004, the bodies of Giaccone and Trinchera were dug up in the lot by FBI agents and New York City police detectives.[14][16] The bodies were disposed of in the lot as a favor by the crew of John Gotti, who had grown up with Massino.[15] Although not all of their bodies have been found, as many as six Mafia murder victims are believed by authorities to have been buried in the lot in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[14] These include John Favara, a Queens furniture store manager killed because he accidentally ran over the 12-year-old son of John Gotti, and Lucchese crime family members Joseph Spione and Thomas DeSimone, on whom Joe Pesci's character Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas was based.[17]
^Howard, Hilary. "Snakes, Spores and Sewage: Life in the Neighborhood Called 'the Hole', The New York Times, December 17, 2023. Accessed December 24, 2023. "Also known as the Jewel Streets (street names include Ruby, Emerald and Amber), the swampy area sits at one of the lowest elevations in the city, about four feet above sea level. For this reason, it is not connected to the sewer system — residences rely on septic tanks and cesspools — and the streets flood just about every time it rains."
^ abcRashbaum, William K. (October 12, 2004). "F.B.I. Finds Human Bones at a Mob Dig". The New York Times. p. B1. Retrieved 2019-12-13. They had closed off several square blocks, including the narrow thoroughfare closest to the dig, 75th Street, between Blake and Dumont Avenues, a street that is flanked by overgrown vacant lots.
