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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.
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.
“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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