Robert's Lounge and Wickford, Rhode Island: Difference between pages

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'''Wickford''' is a small village in the township of [[North Kingstown]], [[Rhode Island]] named after [[Wickford]] in [[Essex]], [[England]]. Wickford is located on the west side of [[Narragansett Bay]]. The village is built around one of the most well-protected natural harbors on the eatern seaboard, and features one of the largest collections of 18th century dwellings to be found anywhere in the northeast. Today the majority of the village's historic homes and buildings (most in private hands) remain largely intact upon their original foundations.

[[Image:Roberts_Lounge_2.jpg|thumb|Present day site of Robert's Lounge, now a Latin restaurant.]]

[[Image:Roberts_Lounge.jpg|thumb|Site of Robert's Lounge, when it was turned into a church.]]

Wickford is generally said to have been established around 1637, when religious dissident and Rhode Island state founder [[Roger Williams]] bought a parcel of land from the sachem [[Canonicus]] and established a trading post there. Prior to [[European contact]], the lands in and around Wickford had long served as dwelling, fishing, and hunting grounds to the [[Narragansett (tribe)|Narragansett]] people, who were New England's most powerful and prominent tribe at the time when Williams found his way to their shores.

'''Robert's Lounge''' was a bar that was owned by gangster [[Jimmy Burke]] on 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in [[South Ozone Park, Queens]] from 1957 to January 1978 following the murder of [[Martin Krugman]] when police surveillance sparked from the [[Lufthansa heist]] was too intense for them to conduct their criminal activities. It was next to the [[Van Wyck Expressway]] and within driving distance of [[JFK Airport]] Kennedy Air Cargo Center, [[Aqueduct Race Track]], [[Paul Vario]]'s office in a trailer on Flatlands Avenue at the "''Bargain Auto Junkyard''", and the [[Queens County, New York]] [[court]]s in [[Kew Gardens, Queens]] where [[the Vario Crew]] would receive their court trial postponements. It was used as the hijacking headquarters.

The "front man" who managed the day-to-day operations of the bar was [[Richard Eaton]] who was murdered in 1979 by Burke. It had three card tables, a casino craps table and was populated with enough [[bookmaker]]s and [[loan shark]]s to cover all the action in [[Queens]]. It employed barmaids who were known to drink [[Sambuca]] in the morning hours while working. [[Parnell Edwards]] played [[blues-rock]] at the bar regularly, every Saturday and Sunday. The basement would be so packed with boxes of stolen goods that there was hardly enough room to play cards. A [[bartender]] that regularly worked at the bar was [[Michael "Spider" Gianco]] who was later shot to death in the basement by [[Thomas DeSimone]] over an insult. Robert's Lounge would be replaced as [[the Vario Crew]] headquarters by a classier night club owned by [[Vincent Asaro]].

At about the same time as Williams' purchase, Richard Smith, a religious dissident from Gloucester, England who had originally settled in the Plymouth Colony's town of Taunton, established a trading post on Narragansett Bay near the mouth of Cocumscussoc Brook. In 1637, Smith built what appears to have been a rather grand, gabled house on the site, which Williams in his letters described as the first English house in the area. This house was also heavily fortified, and thus became known as ''Smith's Castle''.

==Clientele==

During 1651 Smith purchased Roger Williams' trading post, and continued expanding his holdings over the years - building what came to be called the ''Cocumscussoc Plantation''. Smith's plantation became a center of social, religious and political life in the area. Many of the homes that were built during this bried period of expansion, however, were destroyed between 1675-1676 in the conflict called [[King Philip's War]]. One of the homes that went was Smith's Castle, which burned to the ground in 1676. Two years later, Richard Smith Jr. built a new home on the old foundation. Retaining the name "Smith's Castle," this structure remains standing today and is one of the area's most visited historic sites.

It was a hangout for transport [[truck driver]]s, [[freight]] [[handler]]s, [[cargo]] [[dispatcher]]s, and backfield airport workers who were degenerate [[gambler]]s that would drop their Friday paycheck before Saturday morning. The customers coming to buy stolen goods were often legitimate [[retail]]ers. The more shady clientele consisted of Mobsters such as [[Jimmy Burke]], [[Frank James Burke]], (who first drank at the club with his father underage), [[Paul Vario]], [[Tommy DeSimone]], [[Karen Hill]] (the wife of Henry), [[Tommy Lucchese]], [[Martin Krugman]], [[Stanley Diamond]], [[Anthony Stabile]] and [[Thomas Stabile]], [[Francesco Manzo]], [[Fredrick DeLucia]], [[Edward Finelli]], [[Peter "The Killer" Abbandante]], [[Michael Frazese]], [[Nicholas Blanda]], [[Raymond and Monte Montemurro]], [[John Mazzolla]], [[Bobby "The Dentist]]," [[Lawrence "Larry" Bilello]], Clyde Brooks, Daniel Rizzo, [[Alex Corcione]] and [[Michael Corcione]], [[Bruno Facciolo]], an ex-carpenter union representative, sportsbook manager [[Milton Wikler]], [[Parnell Edwards]], [[Angelo John Sepe]], [[Angelo Polisi]], [[Ronald Jerothe]], [[John Gotti]], [[Joe Manri]] and [[Robert McMahon]].

Following King Philip's War, Wickford grew steadily as a port and shipbuilding center. To this day, the waterfront remains very active and hosts, among other fine vessels, the Dutch sailing yacht ''Brandaris''.

==Murder of Burke's Best Friend Remo==

In 1755, painter [[Gilbert Stuart]] was born at Saunderstown, on the southern outskirts of Wickford, in a snuff-mill that still stands and is open to the public in season. Other famous residents have included novelist [[Owen Wister]], who for decades summered in a home just to the south of the village. Wickford was also home to Paule Stetson Loring, artist for ''Yachting Magazine'' and other publications, and longtime editorial page cartoonist for the ''Providence Journal''. A popular urban legend maintains that novelist [[John Updike]] hailed originally from Wickford - but this is not the case. Updike was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Updike did, however, use Wickford as the model for the fictional village of ''Eastwick'' in his novel, ''The Witches of Eastwick'' (Knopf: 1984).

Sometime in the late to early 1960's [[Jimmy Burke]] murdered his [[Italian people|Italian]] friend Remo, (referred to by his [[Italian language|Italian]]-based nickname). Little is known of the childhood friend of Burke's other than his grizzly murder. Remo had known [[Jimmy Burke]] since the 1930's and they had been close friends since including taking their wives together on vacation. Then Remo got arrested on a small [[cigarette]] hijacking and agreed to become an [[informant]] and help the [[NYPD]] arrest [[Jimmy Burke]]. Burke first got suspicious of his friend's actions when Remo invested only $5,000 in the $200,000 load when Remo usually would take a third to 50% of the hijacked load. Burke asked him why his friend wasn't investing so much as Remo's answer was that "he didn't need so much." Then when the transport truck was stopped by the police and the shipment was confiscated, this made Burke very suspicious of his friend. Burke asked a friend in the [[Queens County]] [[District Attorney]]'s office who confirmed Remo had informed on Burke. Later that very same week [[Henry Hill]], [[Jimmy Burke]], Remo and [[Thomas DeSimone]] including another member of [[the Vario Crew]], most likely [[Stanley Diamond]] or [[Angelo John Sepe]] were playing cards at Robert's when Jimmy suggested for Remo, he and Diamond or Sepe to take a drive. They went to the enclosed back parking lot and climbed into a [[Cadillac DeVille]]. Remo got in the front passenger seat and Tommy sat directly behind Remo in the backseat along with Burke with Sepe or Diamond in the driver's seat. Tommy [[garrote]]d Remo with [[piano]] [[wire]]. Remo hopelessly put up a fight. He kicked and shattered the windshield and swung his fists before [[defecate]]ing and [[urinate]]ing himself before he died. [[Jimmy Burke]], [[Tommy DeSimone]], and [[Angelo John Sepe]], or [[Stanley Diamond]] buried him in the enclosed backyard of the bar under a layer of cement next to the [[boccie]] court. Since that day, every time, Burke or DeSimone played they would jokingly say, ''"Hey Remo, how're you doing?"'' [[Henry Hill]] witnessed the murder. Nobody was ever convicted of Remo's murder.

(Nevertheless, a branch of the Updike, or Op Den Dyck, family was among the first settling families of Wickford; the original village was at one time called <i>Updike's Newtown</i>. The descendants of Richard Smith and Lodowick Updike intermarried and the Updikes were residents of Smith's Castle in the colonial era.)

Burke had his body removed and relocated shortly before a search warrant was issued for Robert's Lounge. His remains were never found.

This murder imitates the on screen depiction of [[Martin Krugman]]'s murder in [[Martin Scorsese]]'s 1990 film [[Goodfellas]].

The Wickford Art Festival - held in July of every year since 1962 and hosted by the Wickford Art Association - is one of the leading such events on the eastern seaboard, attracting hundreds of prominent artists and thousands of spectators from across the country and around the world.

==References==

* [[Nicholas Pileggi|Pileggi, Nicholas]] ''Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family'' [[Simon & Schuster]] (January 1986) ISBN 0671447343

==External Links==

[[Category:Drinking establishments in the United States]]

* [http://www.beautyandthebath.com/ Beauty and the Bath of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.yachtbrandaris.com/ Brandaris - Dutch Sailing Yacht of Wickford, RI (Official Website)]

* [http://www.byy.com/wickford/visit.cfm Brewer Wickford Cove Marina (Official Website)]

* [http://www.canvasri.com/ Canvasworks of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.differentdrummerri.com/ Different Drummer Gift Shop of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.wickfordbaptist.org/ First Baptist Church of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.gwillakers.com/ G. Willakers Country Store of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.gilbertstuartmuseum.com/ Gilbert Stuart Birthplace Museum at Saunderstown, RI, on the outskirts of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.goldladyjewelers.com/ Gold Lady Jewelers of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://herbwyfe.com/ The Herb Wyfe of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [https://www.the-hourglass.com/shop/ The Hourglass, Wickford, RI (Official Website)]

* [http://www.npj.com/homepage/teritowe/histwick.html Photo-Tour of Wickford, RI]

* [http://www.pswri.com/ Pleasant Street Wharf, Wickford, RI (Official Website)]

* [http://www.ryansmarket.com/ Ryan's Market, Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.smithscastle.org/ Smith's Castle (Official Web Site)]

* [http://www.stpaulswickford.org/ St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Wickford, RI (Official Website)]

* [http://www.teddybearskins.com/ Teddy Bearskins of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.wickfordart.org/ Wickford Art Association (Official Website)]

* [http://www.wickfordgourmet.com/ Wickford Gourmet (Official Website)]

* [http://www.wickfordvillage.org/ Wickford Village (Official Website)]

* [http://wickfordyc.org/ Wickford Yacht Club (Official Website)]

* [http://www.wilsonsofwickford.com/ Wilson's of Wickford (Official Website)]

* [http://www.woodwater.com/ Wood & Water of Wickford, RI (Official Website)]

[[Category:Villages in Rhode Island]]

{{RhodeIsland-geo-stub}}

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[[Category:Towns in Rhode Island|Wickford]]