“Last Wednesday, an enormous mob surged out of control, menaced citizens, pushed through police lines onto city hall steps, and blocked traffic on Broadway and the Brooklyn Bridge. But uniformed cops stood by, smiling — for the maraud­ers were fellow cops, thousands of them”

“The scene now is one of club kids who don't even have a 'fuck the rules' men­tality — they don't know any rules to fuck. They manage to combine a youthful, energetic wholesomeness with a jaded sense of decadence, as typified by their major domo, 22-year-old Michael Alig”

“How did the energetic upstart who single-handedly launched his own youth sub­culture in the '80s turn into the messed­-up sociopath and accused murderer of today? How did the twisted creativity of the original club-kid scene tip over into outright evil?”

Twisted tales of surviving the holiday season from Michael Musto, Ann Powers, Lynn Yaeger, Elizabeth Zimmer and a half dozen other Voice contributors

“Incidents of violence against black people in the United States have reached epidemic proportions. When the police department — which is supposed to stop these crimes — is in fact implicated in them, genocide as official policy against black Americans cannot be far behind”

“John Lennon held out hope. He imagined, and however quietistic he became he never lost that utopian identification. But when you hold out hope, people get real disappointed if you can’t deliver.”

“George Carlin is funny. Congenitally, genetically funny. He's got these harty-har-har chromosomes and genes. Carlin is TRANSLUCENTLY funny.”

“The notion that John Gotti — or any single mob figure — was some sort of omnipotent New York mafioso is ludicrous. The word 'Godfather' had a nice, Brando-­esque ring, but the title itself is a fraud.”

“The most popular explanation hinged on the impatience of one John Gotti, a violent little fat man from Howard Beach”

“The David Dinkins that David Dinkins wants voters to see is a man who can bring the city together, who cares about the city's growing underclass, and who can do something about New York's out-­of-control drug and crime problems.”