Flash Back – Carnegie Deli Shooting

Carnegie Deli waiters, look as a stretcher is taken to the wounded on May 10, 2001, due to a drug deal gone bad, resulting in a shooting, with three people being murdered and two wounded. (Hayden Roger Celestin image)

By Hayden Roger Celestin

News Americas, BROOKLYN, NY, Fri. Dec. 30, 2016: The world’s famous Carnegie Deli, known as one of the best Pastrami Delicatessen, in New York City, closed its doors, after 80 years, at 12 a.m. on Friday December 30, 2016.

People from all over the world lined up around the block to get the chance to eat there for the very last time but on Thursday May 10, 2001, it was a different scene in front of the deli.

New York City police cordoned off the block in front of the deli on that day due to a shooting 5 floors above the deli, resulting in three killed and two wounded. It was a drug deal gone bad and the two men who started the shooting were eventually captured and found guilty and sentenced to 25 years to life.

The deli was opened in 1937 adjacent to Carnegie Hall and became a famous Jewish delicatessen in New York’s  theater district near Carnegie Hall.