by Geoff Cobb 
420 Graham Avenue seems like many other wood frame houses in our area. Today, it is an architect’s office, but in the 1970’s it was the Motion Lounge, the clubhouse of the infamous local Mafioso “Sonny Black” Napolitano. The Motion Lounge also witnessed the most successful F.B.I. undercover operation against the mafia in its history when agent Joe Pistone posed as a jewel thief called Donnie Brasco and…
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Greenpointers has covered Greenpoint & Williamsburg since 2007 — community boards, rezoning fights, local businesses, and the people whose lives and work give the neighborhood its character. Local news is collapsing across the country, but we're still here: independently owned, no corporate backing, no paywall. 18+ years, 280k+ monthly readers and followers, funded by the community we serve.
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420 Graham Avenue? My maternal Grandparents owned the large Apartment Buildings on 460 and 462 Graham Avenue where I lived, as a child, until those two buildings were demolished to make way for the Humboldt Street Exit on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The land where these buildings once stood is now the Our Lady of the Snow Square. It is a tribute to the people from Sanza, Italy who formed an Organization in 1882 to help newcomers to the area.
wow igrew up in GreenPoint .lived on meeker .monitor & lastly dimond, i remember that place on the corner. use to pass it going to the bodega. on my way to School. the good ole days.