Just some random images that Sal and myself have taken as far back as 1927
I spent two years documenting a gay bar in Queens the music box the first gay sports club in New York City I actually got an appointment around there just so I could photograph to people in the surrounding area the owner let me do anything I wanted because I was giving him a category on my website portraitsofnewyork.com The category is in and out Anyway a couple nights a week this guy would come in and sit with different female impersonators and laugh have drinks with them and he knew they were female impersonators I got to talk with him one night he told me the great conversationalist
The four big masks you’re looking at were made by my great uncle Sal in 1937 this photo was taken in 1949 at his studio in the world of mirth a bizarre traveling carnival Sal use these masks for his mind reading hypnotizing act The two big ones on the right are at our house with 65 other ones trust me these masks are more than just masks because of the mixture in their papier-mâché mix pyramid scrapings from Egypt, Haitian voodoo dust, Cambodian opium, And then those secret potions from around the world one of them is actually looking at me right now as I’m working on my website
In 2002 my grandfather sold the rights to his life story for the third time the production company flew my dad and Captain Tony up to Elizabeth New Jersey where we were all raised they want to do a segment when my grandfather was in the mafia I took this portrait of him while he was telling In the late 20s my grandfather used to swim right here and rob many things on those docks It was a hell of a story he was telling them after we got done my dad the captain and himself we can go up to the Meadowlands race track they made me pay for everything I miss that old pirate
This picture really tells it all that’s me on the left with the star of my barrette I was the captain in charge what you’re looking at is smugglers police officers, A bunch of New Jersey gangsters, and some other random friends of mine we were in the captain Tony movie we were the hand picked commandos to assassinate Castro during the Bay of Pigs we all got machine gun down and killed special effects and everything The funny thing including the police officers we were partying like maniacs it was Key West the way it was you could rent the movie they change the name two Cuban crossing a major motion picture that flopped go through Amazon
It’s a small world I was photographing an event 10 years ago and I met this woman who is Miss Budweiser over 50 years ago and that was 10 years ago a month after I met her at the party I saw her walking down seventh Avenue and took this photo she must’ve been a real dish That’s what I told her 10 years ago
The man the myth the legend my great grandfather Luigi came to America 1909 his real last name Luigi Costello that should be my name Costello anyway he was related to Frank Costello in Chicago that’s why a great uncle Sal performed in all his clubs in Chicago you could check out all the original ads on this website with the Sal‘s face on it Luigi was a comedian puppeteer in Sicily he fled to America because of some thing he did when he got to America he started a scrap metal business never sold any metal never bought any metal and never had any metal
During the second world war in the early 40s if anybody was going overseas to fight and they were engaged or married so I will do a free portrait for them I have a box of over 100 different couples
In 2004 I spent a lot of time in Chinatown on Canal Street I New York City I took thousands of pictures you could see over 65,000 of them on my digital library mia5.com I would see this girl or guy a couple times a day walking back-and-forth with different outfits on I probably have 100 pictures of herm ha ha
A lot of families have skeletons in the closet my family is a little different my grandfather who owned the original Hemingway bar in Key West has a human skull still hanging in the bar that he said he got digging up the pool room since that building used to be a morgue this girl right here is from my Great uncle Sal‘s skull collection I have six of them this one here was from 1931 rumor has it this was the lawyer that disappeared that robbed Sal‘s mother and father my great grandparents when Sal went to prison There’s four more with incredible stories we’re saving them for the book
