RV fireball torches NYC diner from ‘Goodfellas,' sparking calls for camper crackdown
A fireball from a parked RV sparked a fire that tore through an iconic Queens diner from the movie 'Goodfellas' – and now one mayoral candidate is calling for a camper crackdown.
The fire erupted at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at GoodFellas Diner in Maspeth with 60 firefighters eventually arriving to put out the flames, according the FDNY.
The blaze came seven years after the same diner caught fire.
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3 A raging blaze erupted from an RV in Queens and quickly spread to the iconic Goodfellas Diner on Saturday night while mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa was already on the scene.
Curtis Sliwa/X
Two civilians were evaluated on the scene and refused medical attention, the department said.
Guardian Angels founder and Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa had just wrapped a fundraiser at nearby Clinton Hall when the blaze erupted and posted a video talking in front of the swarm of firetrucks on X.
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'We were talking about all the RVs and debris in the garbage and the problems that come with this epidemic of RVs on the streets of the outer boroughs, and that's when boom!,' Sliwa said. 'We all came running out of the Clinton Hall, and we saw the truck exploded on fire and watched as the fire spread to the Goodfellas diner.'
3 Sliwa had just wrapped a fundraiser at nearby Clinton Hall when the blaze erupted.
Curtis Sliwa for NYC Mayor
The fire has reignited debate over illegal RVs in the outer boroughs neighborhoods like Maspeth, Red Hook, and Hunts Point, which have seen streets taken over by dilapidated campers, local outlets have reported.
Sliwa blamed City Hall for the latest.
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'There's no police response, no DOT response, nothing like this right here, you got campers parked on the lot of the Goodfellas Diner?! The Buildings Department should be out here asking what the hell is going on, but nothing,' he said.
'If you go and you talk to them, you find out some of them are migrants, some of them are drug sellers, some of them are drug users, some of them just have no place to stay, and it's happening all over the outer boroughs,' Sliwa warned of the RV inhabitants. 'People are getting arthritis calling 311, and nothing is happening.
3 The iconic diner known for its big-screen cameos already experienced a devastating fire in June 2018.
WAYNE CARRINGTON
Truck driver and longtime Queens resident Savo Jernic, 54, parks his 18-wheeler across from the GoodFellas lot during his monthly long hauls and said the situation has deteriorated.
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'Six months ago, it was empty. Clean. Now, too many [RVs] to count,' Jernic said, pointing to a heap of garbage blocking a sidewalk. 'One guy in a camper said for $20, he'd watch my truck. That's where we're at now.'
Sliwa is now calling for a sweeping crackdown, more inspections, and stronger penalties for property owners allowing commercial vehicle storage in violation of zoning codes.
'The quality of life is just hitting the skids… It's as if the city is just saying who cares? I'll tell you who. The people who live here and the people who do business here, they care,' he said.
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Trump signs measure blocking California's ban on new sales of gas-powered cars
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It comes as the Republican president is mired in a clash with California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, over Trump's move to deploy troops to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests. It's the latest in an ongoing battle between the Trump administration and heavily Democratic California over issues including tariffs, the rights of LGBTQ+ youth and funding for electric vehicle chargers. The state is already involved in more than two-dozen lawsuits challenging Trump administration actions, and the state's Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the latest one at a news conference in California. Ten other states, all with Democratic attorneys general, joined the lawsuit filed Thursday. 'The federal government's actions are not only unlawful; they're irrational and wildly partisan,' Bonta said. 'They come at the direct expense of the health and the well-being of our people.' The three resolutions Trump signed will block California's rule phasing out gas-powered cars and end the sale of new ones by 2035. They will also kill rules that phase out the sale of medium- and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and cut tailpipe emissions from trucks. In his remarks at the White House, Trump expressed doubts about the performance and reliability of electric vehicles, though he had some notably positive comments about the company owned by Elon Musk, despite their fractured relationship. 'I like Tesla,' Trump said. In remarks that often meandered away from the subject at hand, Trump used the East Room ceremony to also muse on windmills, which he claimed 'are killing our country,' the prospect of getting electrocuted by an electric-powered boat if it sank and whether he'd risk a shark attack by jumping as the boat went down. 'I'll take electrocution every single day," the president said. 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'And this time he's destroying our clean air and America's global competitiveness in the process,' Newsom said in a statement. 'We are suing to stop this latest illegal action by a President who is a wholly-owned subsidiary of big polluters.' The signings come as Trump has pledged to revive American auto manufacturing and boost oil and gas drilling. The move follows other steps the Trump administration has taken to roll back rules that aim to protect air and water and reduce emissions that cause climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed repealing rules that limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants fueled by coal and natural gas. Dan Becker with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the signing of the resolutions was 'Trump's latest betrayal of democracy.' 'Signing this bill is a flagrant abuse of the law to reward Big Oil and Big Auto corporations at the expense of everyday people's health and their wallets,' Becker said in a statement. California, which has some of the nation's worst air pollution, has been able to seek waivers for decades from the EPA, allowing it to adopt stricter emissions standards than the federal government. In his first term, Trump revoked California's ability to enforce its standards, but Democratic President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2022. Trump has not yet sought to revoke it again. Republicans have long criticized those waivers and earlier this year opted to use the Congressional Review Act, a law aimed at improving congressional oversight of actions by federal agencies, to try to block the rules. That's despite a finding from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog, that California's standards cannot legally be blocked using the Congressional Review Act. The Senate parliamentarian agreed with that finding. California, which makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, has significant power to sway trends in the auto industry. About a dozen states signed on to adopt California's rule phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Bracing for an Israeli strike
With help from Eli Stokols, Benjamin Guggenheim, Jack Detsch and Daniel Lippman Subscribe here | Email Eric Washington's Middle East specialists have been spending today gaming out scenarios for what an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could look like, and whether there's any way it could happen without sparking wider regional war. Analysts and former U.S. officials say the level of escalation would ultimately come down to the scope of a strike, the role the United States plays in any attack and the degree of internal pressure from hardliners within the Iranian regime. There's no indication that a strike is imminent, but with the U.S. evacuating diplomatic posts, Iran threatening to hit U.S. installations and Israeli officials scheduling emergency meetings with the U.S. Middle East envoy, officials in the region and in Washington are on alert. Per MARK DUBOWITZ, who leads the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank in Washington, Israel has a few options at its disposal and they're all escalatory. Israel, Dubowitz says, might use airstrikes alone, or use a combination of airstrikes and operations by special forces to penetrate deep into Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel could also target Iran's nuclear scientists as a way to degrade the program's ability to rebuild. There's also the question of whether the U.S. would play any role facilitating or participating in the strikes. Israel has long been loathe to take such actions without at least a tacit nod from the U.S., but that doesn't mean they wouldn't go ahead without it. Dubowitz argues that U.S. involvement could actually prevent more escalation, saying that Supreme Leader ALI KHAMENEI 'knows that the United States, unlike Israel, has the firepower to really bring down his regime.' President DONALD TRUMP said today 'I'd love to avoid the conflict' and reiterated his hope for a deal, but added that an Israeli strike against Iran 'looks like something that could very well happen.' A person close to Trump's national security team told our own Eli Stokols that there is some frustration with Israeli Prime Minister BENJAMIN NETANYAHU over Israel's insistence on threatening strikes. The person, granted anonymity to speak freely because of a fear of reprisals, also noted that the Trump administration isn't aligned with hardliners such as conservative commentator MARK LEVIN who want an Israeli strike on Iran. There is consensus that Iran, regardless of the nature of the strikes, would respond, and that it would exercise some degree of restraint. 'Iran's not suicidal,' said AARON DAVID MILLER, a veteran Middle East peace negotiator who worked for both Democratic and Republican administrations. 'The supreme leader has got to worry about regime stability.' 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The Inbox AUSSIES' AUKUS CALM: The Australian government is keeping calm and carrying on in the wake of news that the Trump administration is reviewing the AUKUS deal, which links the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom in an effort to jointly develop submarines and hypersonic missiles. A spokesperson for Australian Deputy Prime Minister RICHARD MARLES told our own Paul McLeary that AUKUS member nations were notified about the review and that the Australian government considered the U.S. review a normal and expected part of the process. The spokesperson said that Trump discussed the AUKUS agreement with top Australian officials twice since taking office. RFK ASSASSINATION DUMP: The CIA — perhaps picking its moment carefully — released 54 declassified documents today about the 1968 assassination of presidential candidate and New York Sen. ROBERT F. KENNEDY. There were no smoking guns, but there were some interesting details. The Associated Press' David Klepper reported that according to the around 1,500 pages of previously classified documents, the former attorney general met with the CIA in 1955 after touring the Soviet Union to relay observations about the country, all as a voluntary informant. The release of the new pages comes two months after the administration released more than 10,000 pages related to RFK's assassination. And it reflects a focus from this administration to declassify more government documents in an effort to keep the nation's intelligence agencies accountable. ZELENSKYY'S ADVOCACY: Ukrainian President VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY is urging Trump to make up his mind about whether or not to trust the Russian government's efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, arguing that time for peace is running low. 'Russia is simply lying to Trump,' Zelenskyy said in a Wednesday interview with the Axel Springer Global Reporters network, of which POLITICO is a member. 'Most heads of state and government share my opinion, and I very much hope that America sees and understands this. That is the most important thing. How you respond to that is America's decision.' During the same interview, Zelenskyy said he regrets how negatively his meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February went, when Trump and Vice President JD VANCE harshly criticized Zelenskyy for not being grateful enough for U.S. support in Ukraine's war with Russia. Zelenskyy praised the later meeting with Trump at The Vatican in April as being more productive and 'friendly.' 'We were able to discuss much more than at the other meeting, which felt like it lasted a lifetime,' Zelenskyy said. IT'S THURSDAY: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily! This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at ebazail@ and follow Eric on X @ebazaileimil. While you're at it, follow the rest of POLITICO's global security team on X and Bluesky at: @dave_brown24, @HeidiVogt, @jessicameyers, @RosiePerper, @ @PhelimKine, @ak_mack, @felschwartz, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @reporterjoe, @JackDetsch, @samuelskove, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130 and @delizanickel Keystrokes NATO ON CYBER: The upcoming NATO summit this month will give countries the chance to show how they're upping their defense spending — and the Trump administration is hoping cyber initiatives will be part of the discussion. Shawn Powers, a spokesperson for the State Department's cyber bureau, told Maggie in a statement when asked about whether the U.S. would support any cyber initiatives at the summit — which runs June 24-25 in The Hague — that 'the world faces different threats than we did in 1949, and our spending requirements should reflect that. You can't stop a cyberattack with a tank.' Powers went on to say that NATO should focus on cyber intrusions and other hybrid threats, stressing that 'we expect allies to spend on infrastructure, invest in civilian protection, and ready their cyber, space and hybrid threat defenses.' While it's not clear which allies the statement was referring to, some NATO members have already stepped up their funding for countering cyberattacks. ANNA-MARIA OSULA, cyber and economic counselor at the Estonian Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that while Estonia — arguably the most cyber-focused nation in NATO — will 'not have major cyber/tech messages as this will not be the focus in the Hague discussions … it remains relevant to support Ukraine in every way, including Ukraine's cyber defence via the IT coalition.' And earlier this week, the Canadian government announced a major increase to its defense spending, which includes $560 million Canadian dollars, or around $409 million in American dollars, to strengthen cyber and digital efforts. DOD DENIAL: Defense Secretary PETE HEGSETH denied today that he ordered a pause on Cyber Command's operations around Russia earlier this year, reiterating an earlier Pentagon denial but contradicting a key member of Congress. 'It's false, we said it then,' Hegseth testified during a House Armed Services Committee hearing in regards to a report from February that he had ordered Cyber Command to stand down its operations on Russia. The Pentagon denied this report days later, but Rep. DON BACON (R-Neb.), chair of the committee's cyber subcommittee, said last month that he understood the pause had lasted a day. The Complex THE BEST OF HEGSETH: Hegseth today wrapped up his multi-day spree of testimony on Capitol Hill, as he and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. DAN CAINE work to convince lawmakers that the military merits a major ramp-up in funding via the reconciliation process. Our Defense team closely watched the various Armed Services and Appropriations committee hearings this week. Here are some key takeaways from their coverage (for Pros!). One, Hegseth got a lot of questions about the deployment of Marines to Los Angeles. Today before the House Armed Services Committee, Hegseth demurred as to whether he'd comply with a court order against the deployment of the Marines. And he's defended the deployment over the course of several days — even if he's struggled to explain why they should be deployed. Meanwhile, Republicans have repeatedly lashed Hegseth for stopping short of voicing support for Ukraine in the face of Russian attacks, including White House ally Sen. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-S.C.). Hegseth also got pressed for specifics from House appropriators on submarines, the Golden Dome initiative and other key marquee defense spending programs. On the Hill REPUBLICANS' IRAN STRIKE CALM: Republicans on the Hill aren't voicing too much concern with Israel's potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, or much confidence in the president's efforts to secure a nuclear deal. 'Israel has every right to defend itself against its neighbors,' Sen. PETE RICKETTS (R-Neb.) told NatSec Daily on Capitol Hill. Some Republicans couched their thinking in their pessimism about the prospects for a nuclear deal and Iran's commitment to ditching enrichment. 'It doesn't appear to me that Iran is going to voluntarily stop developing nuclear weapons. So if that's true, all right, then probably somebody is going to have to strike,' said Sen. RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.). Sen. MIKE ROUNDS (R-S.D.), who serves on both the Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told NatSec Daily that he doesn't have confidence the president can secure a nuclear deal with Iran. He also said it wasn't appropriate for the U.S. to tell Israel how to act vis-a-vis Iran. The comments stand in stark contrast to those of other White House allies today, signaling a rift in Republican circles over how to engage with Tehran and Israel. MAGA personalities, including far-right commentator JACK POSOBIEC and Breitbart editor MATT BOYLE, warned that an Israeli strike could undermine the president's political coalition and be counterproductive to the president's aims. Not every prominent GOP lawmaker was pessimistic about the state of talks. House Foreign Affairs Chair BRIAN MAST of Florida told our colleague Benjamin Guggenheim: 'We're still speaking. We're still talking. It's not past a point of no return.' He also said that while these talks were 'a steeply uphill battle' and Iran's continued enrichment aims complicate matters, 'we believe in the diplomacy process, and we're not going to abandon that at any point.' Broadsides MEANWHILE AT THE IAEA: While Israel seems poised to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, the U.N. nuclear watchdog is slamming Tehran for not complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The resolution from the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors was expected. It accused Iran of not providing the IAEA with complete information about its nuclear facilities and the state of its nuclear program. And the resolution, per The New York Times' Steven Erlanger, could serve as the pretext for the U.N. Security Council to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Tehran, for its part, is doubling down. It slammed the IAEA, saying the resolution 'completely called into question the credibility and prestige' of the agency, and vowed to launch a new enrichment site. Transitions — Trump's top Africa diplomat, TROY FITRELL, is stepping down in mid-July, Semafor's Mathias Hammer and Yinka Adegoke scoop. Fitrell's departure follows the removal of Major General JAMI SHAWLEY, the top White House Africa official, from the National Security Council and the merger of the NSC's Africa and Middle East offices. — DANIEL WHITE is now chief of staff at Metropolis Technologies. He most recently was deputy assistant secretary for strategy and policy planning at the Department of Homeland Security. — HENRIETTA LEVIN is now senior fellow for the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. She most recently was deputy China coordinator for global affairs at the State Department. What to Read — Jamie Dettmer, POLITICO: Will Netanyahu never learn? — Ian Cloud, Responsible Statecraft: The terrible cost of bringing Ukraine's bodies home — Kori Schake, Foreign Policy: Congress Must Constrain Trump Tomorrow Today — National Institute for Deterrence Studies, 10 a.m.: 'The Implications of a Nuclear Armed South Korea.' — Jerusalem Fund, 12 p.m.: Vietnam Then, Palestine Now: U.S. Subversion of Liberation Movements — George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, 3:30 p.m.: A book discussion on 'The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing.' Thanks to our editors, Heidi Vogt and Ester Wells, who always escalate conflicts about this newsletter unnecessarily.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
DeSantis omits references to LGBTQ, Hispanic communities in latest Pulse remembrance
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) didn't directly reference LGBTQ or Hispanic people in an annual order issued Thursday to honor the victims of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, a substantial omission that echoes recent actions by President Trump's administration against diversity and inclusion. DeSantis, who has led the state since 2019 and sought the 2024 Republican nomination for president, has mentioned the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities — the groups most devastated by the attack that killed 49 and injured dozens more — in near identical orders issued during each of his last five years in office. In those statements, DeSantis called the massacre 'a horrific act of terrorism against the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.' Thursday's order says the attack was 'a horrific act of terrorism' without mentioning any specific groups. In 2019, his first year as governor, DeSantis was forced to issue an amended proclamation after an initial statement that also omitted references to LGBTQ people attracted widespread backlash. He said at the time that he was 'not involved' in drafting the first proclamation and requested his office issue a new one once he became aware of the exclusion. 'Sometimes these things happen, and you've got to correct them,' DeSantis said during a 2019 news conference on an unrelated matter. Multiple spokespersons for the governor did not return a request for comment on this year's omission or say whether the office would issue a new statement. Florida has recognized 'Pulse Remembrance Day' each year on June 12, the date on which the 2016 attack occurred, since its creation in 2018 by former Gov. Rick Scott (R). Now a U.S. senator, Scott said in his original proclamation that the state 'continues to mourn the tragic loss of life and recognize the lasting impact it has on our state and communities, including Florida's LGBTQ community.' In a statement on Thursday, Scott called the shooting, one of the deadliest in U.S. history, 'an act of terror targeting Orlando's LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.' A statement from Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.), Florida's former attorney general who DeSantis appointed to replace Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate in January, makes no mention of LGBTQ or Latino people. DeSantis's decision to delete references to the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities from his annual order mirrors Trump administration efforts targeting diversity and inclusion and LGBTQ rights. References to diverse historical figures, including Jackie Robinson, were removed from government websites in an initial purge related to Trump's executive orders against DEI and 'gender ideology.' Last week, reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plans to rename an oil tanker named for the assassinated gay rights activist Harvey Milk. The Navy is also considering renaming other ships named after prominent civil rights leaders, including Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall and Lucy Stone, according to a CBS News report. DeSantis has also campaigned against diversity efforts, frequently saying that DEI, which stands for 'diversity, equity and inclusion,' actually means 'discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.' Laws signed during his tenure, including one forbidding classroom instruction on sexuality and gender, have been criticized for targeting the LGBTQ community. 'Governor DeSantis's erasure of the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities today may say a lot about what kind of person he is, but it doesn't change the fact that those were the communities most directly impacted at Pulse,' said Brandon Wolf, a Pulse survivor who serves as spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy organization. 'His erasure doesn't change the fact that families have empty seats at dinner tables, friends have missing faces at birthday parties, and our communities still bear the scars.' 'Today, rather than letting the governor's petty political cowardice write our story, I hope people choose to remember those stolen and impacted, reflect on the costs of violent hate, and recommit to honoring those we loved and lost with action,' Wolf, who lost two friends, Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero, in the shooting at Pulse, said in a text message. Florida state Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat and the first openly gay Latino person elected to the Legislature in 2016, called DeSantis's omission 'a petty slight.' 'The Governor's on again, off again acknowledgment of those impacted by the Pulse shooting shows he cares more about scoring political points in the moment rather than showing authentic solidarity with his own constituents,' Smith said in an emailed statement, speaking on behalf of the LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, for whom he is a senior adviser. 'Either way it would be a mistake to focus on the Governor's bigotry and exclusion. That's already well-known,' Smith added. 'Today is about remembering the 49 taken by gun violence, as well as remembering the strength and courage of those who survived and the families impacted. They will not be erased.'
