I used to pack my bags and get myself and my cat 🐈⬛ to Maryland, Eastern Long Island, or Connecticut for July 2- July 5. The one year I stayed, 1991, the Latin King kids and wannabes broke into my building through a basement window after prying off the AC unit. They went up to the roof, threw fireworks down the air shaft, and set the telephone wires on fire. I lugged a huge heavy oak dresser in front of the door and was ready to exit via either front or back fire escape.
These were the “not too bright’ crew. They made a lot of smelly smoke, disabled the phones, and were all arrested. They tried leaving the way they came in but the super locked them all in the boiler room! The NYPD just had to cuff and chain them up and lead them out the back into the paddy wagon.
Once it got dark, some more kids dragged a discarded stove into the street, filled the oven with fire works, poured some lighter fluid on top, tossed a few matches, and ran back with a camcorder. Remember camcorders? They filmed the stove blowing up. Shrapnel flew everywhere imbedding itself in parked cars, buildings, a few trees, and unfortunately, a number of innocent people including four children. They took off running, the hood with the camcorder dropping it in the process. I had a bad feeling when they dragged the stove out of the alley and went up on the roof where I had a bird’s eye view. I recognized most of the kids as coming from the block to the north of mine. I heard the cops had no trouble identifying them because the camcorder film was still intact. I’ve noticed that criminals like to film themselves committing crimes.
After that, I always planned to be out of town on July 4. Halloween, too. It’s best to be elsewhere on those days.