Rosalle Furs, which operated stores in Freeport (Long Island) and New Rochelle (Westchester County), had a checkered history. In December, 1967, an REA truck filled with several hundred furs was hijacked in New York City. A few months later, an informant tipped off the FBI that the stolen furs could be found at the Rosalle stores, which led to raids and the arrest of four men, including Frank "The Boss" Moccardi of the Gambino crime family. Four years later there was another raid, this time for illegally selling furs from endangered species.
The Freeport location was later a Christian book store and was most recently a T-Mobile store, though it is currently empty. The word "FURS" can still be seen in the tilework at the entrance, though it appears the Roselle name was rather artlessly covered up.
Ya know. our country was run better when the mafia ran things :)
ReplyDeleteI wonder why they left half of the old tile behind. Seems like they should have just left it alone or covered the whole thing up.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading about the stolen furs in a true crime book way back when. That brick patch is hideous, it's too bad someone couldn't have rescued the tiles before they did that.
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