One of the best memories in pool in the 73 years I’ve been on this earth was my poolroom on Long Island. The 9-table room was in the town of East Islip on Main ST/Merrick RD and called East Islip Billiards. When you first walked in you thought you were inside a railroad boxcar. It was just a 30’ by 60’ room with no windows. I had eight old Brunswick pool tables, one three-cushion billiard table, and a Foosball game. There was a coed bathroom, a radio and 18” TV on a shelf in back of the front glass counter.
We didn’t have too many good players in there. Gary “the bushwacker” Nolan and my Dad were the best regulars. We had a few 100-ball runners. Most were all under 25 years old. Gary, my Dad, Ritchie Grasiano, Tami Mauriello’s son, who’s Father, fought Joe Luis. Drivers from Roosevelt Raceway use to come in a lot and play on the back table rehearsing the night’s races. Some of the biggest drug dealers and bookies on the island hung out there. The biggest stolen car-ring in NY history hung there. My Dad bought a one year-old Pontiac for $1500 from them a few days before it was busted. He lost the car and the $1500 LOL. Some of the people that were regulars were Tami the boxer, along with a funny mixture of others. We had clam diggers, racecar and drag-strip drivers, harness drivers, a guy that would fence just about anything, and of course the mob guys getting scoop on how the harness races were going to run that night and other reasons. I must have been brought in and questioned at least a dozen times. Never spent a night in jail for anything going on in the poolroom.
You could walk in my room and buy anything from a hot carburetor to a car or a boat. Play the horses and sports bet with the bookie. I bought about 50 2-piece cues from a guy that had robbed a sports store the night before for $2 a cue. As the guy walked out the detectives grabbed him and the cues that were still on my counter. I had some explaining to do and 2 $50 bills for the boys. I could go on and on about what went down in that room, but this is too long as it is. JT
We didn’t have too many good players in there. Gary “the bushwacker” Nolan and my Dad were the best regulars. We had a few 100-ball runners. Most were all under 25 years old. Gary, my Dad, Ritchie Grasiano, Tami Mauriello’s son, who’s Father, fought Joe Luis. Drivers from Roosevelt Raceway use to come in a lot and play on the back table rehearsing the night’s races. Some of the biggest drug dealers and bookies on the island hung out there. The biggest stolen car-ring in NY history hung there. My Dad bought a one year-old Pontiac for $1500 from them a few days before it was busted. He lost the car and the $1500 LOL. Some of the people that were regulars were Tami the boxer, along with a funny mixture of others. We had clam diggers, racecar and drag-strip drivers, harness drivers, a guy that would fence just about anything, and of course the mob guys getting scoop on how the harness races were going to run that night and other reasons. I must have been brought in and questioned at least a dozen times. Never spent a night in jail for anything going on in the poolroom.
You could walk in my room and buy anything from a hot carburetor to a car or a boat. Play the horses and sports bet with the bookie. I bought about 50 2-piece cues from a guy that had robbed a sports store the night before for $2 a cue. As the guy walked out the detectives grabbed him and the cues that were still on my counter. I had some explaining to do and 2 $50 bills for the boys. I could go on and on about what went down in that room, but this is too long as it is. JT
