On an ever-changing island Stapleton resident Domenick Frascello offers a reassuring dose of constancy. Looking North recently took a moment to tap the thoughts of the man many call The Conductor.
Looking North: So you're out here every morning, standing and watching the traffic go by. Is this a favorite pastime or something?
DF: This is what I do. This is what I do, you know: Come out for a couple hours in the morning. Go back in around 9, 9:30. I come back out again one, two o'clock in the afternoon. I walk around for a couple hours. Then I go back home. I don't go to the city no more. I stopped going to the city, y'know. Forget about me busin'. I don't like these buses, no place no more. I go back and forth to the Brooklyn VA and that's it.
LN: So you're a veteran?
DF: Yeah, I'm a veteran. They want me back on the 27th, y'know?
LN: Why? What's goin' on?
DF: Chemo. Chemotherapy. I got cancer. I'm fightin' cancer, liver cancer, y'know?
LN: I'm sorry to hear that.
DF: Liver and colon. I got two different types of cancer, y'know? So I go in for treatment. My next date is the 27th.
LN: Are you beatin' it.
DF: Ah, they took an MRI, but they seen somethin'. They said something's...It's not...I still got the cancer after takin' all that chemo, y'know? Chemo's not doin' any good, y'know?
LN: Is the chemo making you sick?
DF: No, I feel great. I feel fine. That's why I come out. I go back and forth. No aches. No pains. I feel fine, great. If they could keep me from that chemo....
LN: So you're a veteran...when did you serve?
DF: Korean War, Fifties, '51,'52, '53. I was in the Marine Corps, Marine Corps, back in the Fifties, y'know. I'm an ex-Marine, Korean vet.
LN: Once a Marine, always a Marine?
DF: Once a Marine, always a Marine. Right. Semper Fi. Always faithful. That's what they say.
LN: Pardon my asking, but did you see any dramatic action?
DF: Nah. I went over when they were signin' the treaty. The war started when I was in boot camp. When I got there, it was all over then. They were just signin' the peace treaty, signin' the papers, y'know.
LN: That's still pretty serious, though. You don't want to be the last guy who gets shot just before the treaty gets signed, I'll bet.
DF: That's it. When you're the first one over...it all started in the Fifties...but I went over there when it was all over. They were talkin' peace, y'know. They were signing the papers. Panmunjom. Panmunjom
LN: So how long have you been retired?
DF: I worked the first week in '83, and that was it. Then I went and retired. I worked security. I worked at all these Con Edison sites out here. I was a security guard: Lance Investigations. Did I show you the card?
LN: Sure. Go ahead.
[Shows ID card of a much younger, much beefier-looking Domenick Frascello with a cop-style walrus mustache]
DF: I showed you that card. Lance Investigations. That was my last job, see.
LN: Lance Investigations.
DF: That was back in '81, right?
LN: So you protected the equipment?
DF: Security guard. I worked all these substations down here in Staten Island. That was my last job. I worked the first week in '83, and then I retired.
LN: Any interesting stories from your security work?
DF: I worked a lotta hours. I worked like two weeks in one, 50 hours overtime. I worked 14 hours Saturday, 16 hours Sunday. I worked 8 to 4 then 4 to 12; 8 to 4, 4 to 12.
LN: Why so much? We're you supporting a family?
DF: I never got relieved. My relief never showed, so I gotta stay and work another eight hours. You can't just walk off the post, y'know? So you stay and work his shift, too. Your shift and his shift.
LN: Did you at least yell at the guy when he finally showed up?
DF: I told the guy, look, I want to go home at 4 o'clock. I don't wanna be stickin' around another eight hours, y'know. I hate doin' it often. Too much. You work and come on duty at 4 o'clock. I go home at 4 o'clock. He said, "I can't make it. I can't make it."
[car horn]
LN: So where'd you grow up? Did you grow up on Staten Island?
DF: No, Brooklyn. Brooklyn. Carroll Gardens, President Street, that side of Brooklyn. Red Hook.
LN: So you were in Red Hook or Carroll Gardens?
DF: Red Hook: President [St.], Union [St.], Columbia [St.], Van Brunt [St.].
LN: Was it rough back then?
DF: Oh yeah: cobblestone streets, y'know? We had trolley cars at that time -- 1933. 1933, that's a lotta years, huh? Union, Van Brunt, Columbia, First Place, Second Place, Third Place. Joey Gallo's neighborhood. Crazy Joey Gallo.
LN: Did you ever run into Joey Gallo?
DF: Oh yeah. I knew 'em all. I remember all the boys. It was the old neighborhood, y'know. Graduated from P.S. 142, class of '47. I was the class of '47.
LN: So you enlisted in '50?
DF: In '47 I graduated. I enlisted. I went in the service. I went one year of high school. I didn't even finish high school. And then I come out of the service, I worked in the city: Time & Life Building.
LN: What did you do there?
DF: Fleet Messenger Service. Fleet Messenger Service. I worked there almost all of the Sixties.
LN: You weren't one of these guys that worked on the docks?
DF: Nah. I never worked on the docks. I'm no dockworker, no.
LN: So you're always out walking...
DF: That's my life. That's what I do. I come out for a couple of hours. I go back home. Back out again. I don't stay in the house all day long. I come out a couple hours at a time. Like I come out now today around 7:30 this morning. I'll go home around 9:30, 10. And then I'll come back out again now maybe after 1, 2 o'clock this afternoon.
LN: You always pick the side of the street that's got the sunlight.
DF: Over here. Maybe later, you'll see me down by the check cashing place there on Broad St., down by the projects, Stapleton projects. Sometimes youÕll see me standin' over on the other corner by the Superette [corner of Broad and Gordon Streets] . Sometimes you'll see me over here. I bounce around.
LN: And you're always pointing. What are you pointing at?
DF: I go like this [makes double Texas "hook 'em 'horns," sign]. I go like this [makes Nixon double "victory" sign]. I go like this [makes double upside down victory sign]. The bus drivers go by and I go like this [horns sign]. It's two fingers. They go like this [horns sign again]. Every so often they go like this [hand scraping chin "bafangul'" sign]. Or maybe the old arm [classic "up yours" sign]. They used to call this the "Old Italian salute" ["up yours" with a twist]. You give 'em the old ["up yours"], and then you hit the arm like that [twists arm].
They play with me. I play with them. But there's no harm done. They see me every day. I see them every day. The bus drivers. All of the bus drivers that come up here. They fool around. Telephone company, Con Edison trucks. "Hey, Domenick. Howyoufeel? Howyoufeel?" Y'know?
LN: How long have you been in the neighborhood?
DF: I moved here in '60. Moved over from Brooklyn.
LN: Lotta changes since then.
DF: Sure. The buses used to come up Van Duzer [points toward Ferry] and go down Wright St [points toward Tappen Park]. Now they come up Wright St. [points toward Tappen] and go down Van Duzer [points toward Ferry].
There was a barber shop right here on the corner [points to First Central Baptist Church fenced in parking lot]. A bakery [points to the Muddy Cup], a dry cleaner [points to Ira's Auctions.] Everything's changed.
Used to be a nice house and a drug store over there [points to corner of Beach and Van Duzer Streets].
LN: So everybody's complaining about the traffic. You're out here all the time. Have you seen any accidents?
DF: Yeah. That corner over there is a bad turn. You see it up there? They come down Targee [St.] and then they turn offa Targee onto Van Duzer. They come down Van Duzer. It's like an expressway. They take it all the way to the Ferry.
They got rails up there where you make the turn. That place was hit about four, five times. They're always replacin' that fuckin' rail up there. Ever notice it up there? They're always replacin' that rail.
LN: What do you think about when you're doing your morning walk?
DF: I got a lot on my mind. I wanna know what the windup is gonna be, y'know. With this cancer, with this cancer. These treatments they're givin' me, it's just a waste of time. Blood work, blood work. How much blood can they drain outta your fuckin' body? Always with the fuckin' blood work. But I guess that's how they can tell what's what, y'know? They say, "Your blood work is good, it's good, it's good, it's good." Now they want to give me a different treatment, different medication for the fuckin' cancer. They're givin' me one kind of chemo. Now they want to give me somethin' else. I'm just tryin' it for the first time. Maybe this will do. Mabe this will work. I don't know. We're just tryin' it, y'know?
LN: Do you keep in touch with your Marine buddies or Marines on the island? I know they got a lot of guys on the island.
DF: I'm alone. I'm alone. I don't have nobody. Don't have a friend in the world, y'know. All my friends I left in Brooklyn, y'know. That's it. Whaddya gonna do?
I talk to people I don't even know. People stop in vans. "Hey, howya feelin', Domenick? Howya feelin'?" This woman comes by, says, "Hey, Domenick, howya feelin'?"
I says, "Oh, I'm OK. I feel all right. No problem." I don't even know who this woman is, y'know?
And some other characters go by. They say, "Hey, go home! Go home! Go home!" They're chasin' me home, goin' up stairs and over here, y'know? Another guy come by, he says "I'm gonna shoot you. I'm gonna shoot you. I'm gonna shoot you." One of these fuckin' cab drivers, y'know? He musta thought I was pointing a gun at him or somethin'. Can't be too careful, y'know? Crazy people. They can't leave me alone.
LN: I'm sorry to hear that.
DF: That's the way people are. Whaddya gonna do? Kids...you got 'em all over. They see you standin' around, they don't know what you're up to, what you got on your mind. They don't know if you're up to no good or what. Cops go by. A police car come down, they go, "Hey, Bocciagalupe! Bocciagalupe!" One of these older cars. Street crime, street crime. All these cops in these white [cars]. Warrant officers all that. They come and knock on your door. Say I gotta warrant for your arrest.
LN: They come looking for you?
DF: No, I know who they are. They all work down around the park [points toward Tappen Park]. And these vans, different colored vans. Sometimes they stop and they start talkin' to me and say, "How you feel? How's everything?" They see me every day. They know I'm not up to no good. Just don't want to stay in the house all day. Want to come out and get some fresh air. That's all.
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