The
Fordham Baldies are another Bronx gang that are mythical in nature... Many people
have heard of them, but not many
have actually seen members of the Baldies.
I have
heard numerous stories from people of high
schools being closed due to an "incoming
invasion" of the Fordham Baldies. These
invasions never happened, and always surprised
the actual members of the Baldies when they
heard about it.
The
Fordham Baldies were indeed very real, albeit
secretive gang from the mid-1950's that centered
around
the
Little Italy section of the Bronx (East
187th Street,
Belmont
Ave,
Arthur Ave area). I have spoken to a few ex-members
and friends of the Baldies, and heard some
great stories.
One
of the biggest surprises to me is that the
Fordham Baldies were not actually bald, but
took their name from the Bald Eagle. There
is a story that the Fordham Baldies took their
name from Italian hero Giuseppe
Garibaldi, but that remains to
be verified. What is verified is that
most of the teenagers who were in the Baldies
had
no
idea
who Giuseppe Garibaldi was.
The
Fordham Baldies were a very organized gang
with a hierachy that could make many organizations
envious. There was a main core of leaders that
were so secretive that the regular members
never knew. But surprisingly quickly,
they could get all their members together for
a fight.
One
news-worthy fight was in June
1954 with the Harlem Red
Wings,
where after a fight at Orchard
Beach, a car-full of Red Wings shot
up three
members and associates of the
Fordham Baldies in front of Piggy's
Candy Store on East 187th
Street and Belmont Ave in the Bronx.
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The "usual" way
of getting into the Fordham Baldies
was going
into the Fordham
Daggers - the 14-15 year old group.
The Daggers were definitely a more dangerous
group to outsiders in that
they were always looking to prove themselves "tough
enough" to
get into the Baldies. Many innocent kids
were bruised
and sacrificed in order to get a Dagger
into the Baldies. In fact, the initiation
into the
Daggers was a few days of a "pledge" being
sucker-punched
by the members of the Daggers.
Dion
DiMucci's book "The Wanderer
- Dion's Story" mentions Dion's
own initiation into the Fordham Daggers
which included getting punched in the
stomach by everyone in the gang, and
then spending an hour hanging from
the ladder in a sewer.
Dion's
membership in the Fordham Baldies
and Daggers has been questioned
by quite a few people I've spoken
to. I haven't spoken
to
Dion, nor have I any evidence either
way, so I can't agree or disagree if
he was a member or not.
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Once
a teenager "made his bones" with the Fordham
Daggers, then he "graduated" into the Fordham
Baldies and usually became more laid back not
having to prove himself all the time. But he
was always at the ready to take care of any Baldies
business...
One
of the more interesting Fordham Baldies stories
is after the Wanderers movie
came out in 1979. A few ex-members of the gang
stormed into director
Philip Kaufmann's office and
complained about their
portrayal in the movie. In the director's commentary
on the Wanderers DVD, Kaufmann said that the
Baldies complained that they weren't criminals
and said (paraphrasing) "Sure we beat
people up, but there was no crime!"
Their
statement makes a lot more sense when you talk
to ex-members of the gang. The Fordham Baldies
honestly believed that they, and not the police
were the true protectors of the people of the
neighborhood... If you were from the neighborhood,
you felt safe walking down the street. But
if you were an outsider looking to make trouble,
you better watch out.
