Cyndi Lauper is one of the most well known people to come from Ozone Park. Lauper was born in Queens and moved to Ozone Park with her mother and two siblings after her parents got divorced. The ‘80’s pop singer had several top five hits including “All Through The Night,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and “Time After Time,”which became a number one hit single. Lauper is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, including winning four Grammys for the song “We Are The World,” which was a charity single recorded by the super group USA For Africa. Although she reached the height of her popularity during the mid-1980’s, Lauper continues to make music. Her most recent album was “Memphis Blues,” which was released in 2010.
Jack Kerouac was another famous Ozone Park Resident. Kerouac, who was a well-known novelist and poet, was born in Massachusetts in 1922, but moved to Ozone Park in 1943. He lived in an apartment at 133-01 Cross Bay Boulevard with his parents. It was there that he wrote his first book, “The Town and The City.” He also started his most famous novel “On The Road,” which was released in 1959, while living in that apartment. Kerouac died in 1969 and is buried in his hometown of Lowell, Mass.
Actor Joe Lo Truglio was born in Ozone Park in 1970. The comedic actor grew up in Margate, Fla. and attended college at New York City University, where he was a part of the school’s sketch comedy group,which included comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter. Lo Truglio has appeared in movies such as “Wet Hot American Summer,” “Superbad,” ”Pineapple Express” and “I Love You, Man.”
Mob boss John Gotti lived in Howard Beach but was the leader of the Gambino crime family in New York City, which was based in Ozone Park at the Bergin Hunt & Fish Club on 101st Avenue.
During his mob career he committed many crimes including committing cargo thefts near John F. Kennedy Airport in 1968. Ozone Park residents enjoyed Gotti’s fireworks show that he put on every 4th of July. In 1992, Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He remained in jail until 2002 when he died of complications of neck and head cancer.
