Manny Dizon owned the house off Butler and Court, and Benny Taroc rented the place off Butler and Smith. They were both good guys, veterans that everybody knew. Their kids were good kids, everybody liked them. They got into that music, and everything changed. You could smell the pot everytime you passed the houses. Lots of drugs, and they were drunk all the time. They played that music so loud you could hear it from both ends of the block. If it wasn't for their fathers it would've been stopped way before they finally gave up.
I guess everybody felt sorry for them. They were trying to be musicians but they had no talent. They played the Puerto Rican bars in the neighborhood but that was about it. Manny's son was always a nice kid but since I could remember his friends were always getting in trouble. Everybody always figured he put them up to it. Even with that music stuff, he had these strange kids coming around and doing stupid stuff. Lots of people were watching them but they never went too far, which was good.
It started getting bad there towards the end. It was funny, because they started sounding a lot better. Only it looked like they had started a gang, the way they were acting. They started playing out of the neighborhood, and they started hanging out in Brooklyn Heights a lot. I know the cops had been watching them, but everybody knew that they were harmless. Just kids acting up.
They just disappeared after awhile. I guess they all grew up and moved away. It got a lot quieter. All I know is, these days it could have been worse. Still, if you remember back then, when you walk by Manny's house you can't help but remember all that noise.
---Pat the Bartender