On March 11, 1992, Manuel de Dios Unanue, the former editor of El Diario investigation Colombian cocaine traffic, was murdered under orders by the Colombia drug cartel in Meson Asturias, a restaurant in Corona. Cuban born De Dios moved to New York City in 1973 and joined the staff of El Diario – La Prensa, the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in New York City. De Dios worked there for twelve years as a journalist, columnist, and finally, editor-in-chief from 1984 to 1989. He was regarded a “just about the only journalist in New York who covered the city's multibillion-dollar drug trade with any degree of detail or intimacy.”
November 1992
Charles "Honi" Coles, the elegant tap dancer
and resident of East Elmhurst, died in Queens at age 81. Born in 1911 in Philadelphia,
Charles was street tapping by the age of 12. He came to New York and performed
his difficult tap routines at the Apollo Theater, the Harlem Opera house, and
on Broadway with Charles "Cholly" Atkins. An extremely graceful dancer,
Honi danced with the bands of Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington,
and performed with the Joffrey Ballet. Honi danced in the films The Cotton Club
(1984), Dirty Dancing (1987), and Tapdancin'. Later in life Coles taught dance
and dance history at prestigious eastern universities, performed occasionally,
and encouraged younger dancers. Singer Lena Horne once said, "Honi makes
butterflies look clumsy. He was my Fred Astaire."
April 02, 1995
April 2, 1995 The New York City and Transit Police Departments merge. According to the transit patrol website, the Transit Police started in November 17, 1933, when six men were sworn as New York State Railway Police. By 1947 they were granted peace officer status and in 1950 the force had grown to 563. The Transit Police were split from the New York Police Department in 1955, but over time, the separation between the NYPD and the NYC Transit Police Department created more and more problems with redundant units, difficult communications, and differences in procedures. Mayoral Rudolph Giuliani pledged to end the long unresolved discussion and merge all three of New York City's police departments (the NYPD, the Transit Police, and the NYC Housing Authority Police Department) into a single, coordinated force.
June 1995
Ellen Baker, Bayside native and daughter of former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, made her second flight on the space shuttle Atlantis as part of a mission in which Russians and Americans exchanged places between Atlantis and the Mir space station for the first time. In October 1989, she also flew on Atlantis as Queens’ first astronaut.
January 07, 1996
The "Blizzard of 96" socked Queens with over 20 inches of
snow. The 36-hour storm began on a Sunday afternoon and wrought havoc with the
city and northeast by Monday morning. Underground sections of subway routes
continued service allowing those intrepid souls that ventured out to make it to
work. Four-foot snowdrifts were reported in Long Island City and Fresh Meadows.
Air transportation in our borough was crippled. The local economy was set back
$50 million. As blizzards go, this one was fun for some but not for all!
February 15, 1996
Queens born Tommy Rettig died of natural causes, at 55. In 1954, Rettig became the first boy cast in the role of Lassie’s master on the hit TV show Lassie. Following his four-year stint on this show, his acting career stalled for casting directors had few roles for an aging child star that stood 5’ 4.” He led a checkered life of arrests and convictions for growing marijuana and importing cocaine, bankruptcy, and divorce. He held a string of jobs including photographer, tool salesman and health club manager. In the last years of his life, he managed to turn himself around and became a successful software developer.
October 06, 1996
Everyone knows that the “King of Queens” and “All in the Family” were staged in Queens, but few knew that Marlo Thomas’s fictional boyfriend was Flushing-born Ted Bessel. Perhaps not widely known today, he was a fixture on television throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
As a young man, he considered both the priesthood and a life as classical musician (as a 12-year-old child prodigy, he performed a piano recital at Carnegie Hall). Ted’s early career included guest appearances in soap operas, and had a role on “Gomer Pyle, USMC” (1964). His big break came on the widely successful Marlo Thomas television series “That Girl” (1966) in the role as Don Hollinger, her boyfriend.
His acting career stalled as the role stereotyped him in roles as ‘the good boyfriend.’ Ted moved towards the direction and production side of television by directing episodes of “The Tracey Ullman Show” (1987) and others throughout the 1990s. Ted died October 6, 1996 aged 61.
December 15, 1996
The St. John's University men's soccer team won the NCAA
Division I championship. Led by goals from Jesse Van Saun, Wojtek Krakowiak,
Ben Hickey, and Medufia Kulego, the Red Storm defeated Florida International
University 4 goals to 1. Led by coach Dave Masur, St. John's vanquished Fordham,
George Mason, William & Mary, and Creighton to get to the finals. It was
the university's first NCAA title game since 1952 and their first national title
in any sport.
June 15, 1997
With the opening of its new presses at College Point, Queens,
The New York Times prints its last daily paper in the 84-year-old building west
of Times Square. After cleaning up a swampy, trash-strewn section of Queens,
the paper built the most highly automated newspaper facility in North America.
October 1997
Douglas Manor, the eastern Queens community, is designated an official
Landmark District joining seventy other historic districts in New York City.
As occurs when an area receives this distinction, designation dramatically increases
a community's property values. Areas surrounding Douglaston are now seeking
designation. People who live in Landmark Districts strongly want them dispelling
the rumor started by developers that landmarking is bad for Queens.
February 1998
Two incidents notched airport security to "a high priority"
at JFK Airport. First, international tensions reach a favor pitch when Saddam
Hussein blocks a U.N. team's access to potential weapon sites in the face of
American retaliation. More ominously, two men who are arrested Las Vegas had
both anthrax and maps of the city's subway system. Congressman Charles Schumer
of Queens accuses New York as "woefully unprepared if targeted by a biological
or chemical attack." Mayor Giuliani sharply disagrees, pointing to New
York being better prepared than most of the country.
May 1998
The roof of the Landmarked 1856 St. Monica's Roman Catholic Church
on the York College campus in Jamaica collapsed. Heavy rains finally undermined
the ailing structure as agencies in the city, state, and Landmarks Commission
clashed over its ultimate fate. Historically significant, it was one of the oldest
Roman Catholic parishes in Queens. Former Governor Mario Cuomo was an altar boy
there. "Naturally we regret the loss of a church that once served its parish so
well,' read a statement from the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens. The
walls and campanile were ultimately shored up, and saved for a new building
on the campus of York College.
June 19, 1998
The Queens Borough Public Library opens its latest branch in
Flushing. According to the American Library Association, it is the largest system
in the country with about 9 million books, nearly 20 million in circulation at more
than 60 branches. A local newspaper reports that Gary E. Strong, Library Director,
host of the event, states "This is a sanctuary of the mind."
November 1998
During the election season, President Bill Clinton comes to St Sebastian's
in Woodside to stump for Chuck Schumer. Greeting the President is retiring Congressman
Tom Manton, leader of the Democratic Organization in Queens County. Schumer
go goes on to upset Senator D'Amato and win. In other races, Astorian Peter
Vallone is defeated handily by Governor Pataki. The governor is mentioned as
a strong vice-presidential candidate.
