I want to preface by saying that this story is being treated as delicately as possible. It does contain discussion of hate crimes and violence. Unfortunately, queer history is filled with violence against us. (I’ll have to take time to go over the UpStairs lounge fire) but please if you’re easily triggered by discussion of violence, please read with caution.
Being from Staten Island, I knew some queer history about the forgotten borough. But only this year did I learn about this pivotal moment of both LGBTQ History but Staten Island History.
At the height of the AIDS crisis, there were these violent sprees where people would go out and beat the shit out of gay people until they were dead or until they were so bloody, bruised, and swollen, they were unrecognizable. This was partially due to the fact that homophobia was rampant during the time of AIDS but also because hateful rhetoric against the community was ramped up by all facets of the mainstream media. So, let me tell you about Jimmy.
Jimmy Zappalorti was a navy vet who served in Vietnam, he was a quiet and gentle person who was a troubled soul.
At least once a week, Robert Zappalorti thinks about his younger brother, Jimmy.
The elder Zappalorti was 49 years old when Jimmy was stabbed to death by two men intent on robbing him, heinously murdered near his parents’ house in his home community of Charleston on Jan. 22, 1990. The Vietnam War veteran, who was openly gay, was targeted because one of his assailants, Michael Taylor, “didn’t like queers.”
The hate crime murder of Jimmy Zappalorti: A Staten Islander’s stolen life, and the legacy that endures 32 years later By Lauren Lovallo, Silive.com, July 16 2022
Jimmy’s death was a horrible tragedy and in the Advance article, his brother discusses how in his 20s and 30s, he was beaten up a couple of times while traveling into manhattan to go to the bars in the West Village
“[When] Jimmy went up to the Village to visit his friends … he would go up there and and drink, and he was an easy target,” said Robert, who added it was only after Jimmy’s return from military service that the Zappalorti family learned of his sexuality. “We would worry about him, but he managed to survive. He managed to learn how to fight a little bit, protect himself, but … he had a lot of battle scars from getting beat up. My poor mother worried about him, most of all.”
But, Robert said, he always “managed to come home and just be Jimmy.”
“Jimmy was a quiet and sort of troubled soul, because while he was in the Navy he had some bad experiences, but Jimmy was happy in his own way,” said Robert. “He was a nice guy. He self-medicated when he got depressed by drinking Budweiser beer and [after drinking] would speak up for himself. … but for the most part, he was a gentle, a gentle person.”
The hate crime murder of Jimmy Zappalorti: A Staten Islander’s stolen life, and the legacy that endures 32 years later By Lauren Lovallo, Silive.com, July 16 2022
The assailants were Michael Taylor and Philip Sarlo. They accosted him while in a deli in Charleston (South Shore)
The pair — who spent time behind bars for beating a man with a tire iron, robbing him and stuffing him in the trunk of a car in 1986, according to Advance reports — allegedly had a history of harassing the 44-year-old. Taylor knew Jimmy and his routine well: The two were neighbors.
They followed Jimmy as he set out toward the secluded hut he built — which his family dubbed “The Shack” — near the Arthur Kill, close to his parents’ home. After drinking beer and talking for a while, Taylor pulled out a hunting knife.
Taylor, then 20 years old, demanded cash that he and Sarlo, then 26, believed Jimmy had in his possession. In response, Jimmy tossed his wallet into some nearby weeds. Enraged, Taylor stabbed Jimmy four times in the abdomen, Advance reports said. Two of the wounds proved fatal, according to the autopsy.
The duo rifled through Jimmy’s pockets, took $40 and the keys to his parents’ home and dragged the 44-year-old’s body to the edge of the water, leaving him for dead.
They went to Jimmy’s parents’ house to ransack the place, authorities said. When Jimmy’s mother confronted them, Taylor and Sarlo fled the property, Advance reports said. After the crime, Taylor remained in the borough, while Sarlo, who had no known address, headed south.
The hate crime murder of Jimmy Zappalorti: A Staten Islander’s stolen life, and the legacy that endures 32 years later By Lauren Lovallo, Silive.com, July 16 2022
Jimmy’s killers remained at large, Taylor for a week and Sarlo for a month. The pair plead guilty to 2nd degree murder charges. Taylor received a sentence of 23 years to life and Sarlo received a sentence of 18 years to life.
Robert never stopped fighting in his little brother’s memory, he and his brother Michael lobbied in Albany and made sure that Jimmy’s death would have the maximum impact. In 2000, in honor of the deaths of 3 members of the LGBTQ community: Jimmy Zappalorti, Julio Rivera, and Ali Forney, then-Governor George Pataki signed the Hate Crimes Act of 2000, making it a state law that any attack motivated by race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation was officially a hate crime as defined by new york state and had higher sentences.
On May 29, 2015, a portion of Androvette Street, on Staten Island, was co-named Jimmy Zappalorti Lane in memory of the Vietnam War veteran who was murdered because he was gay. The highly publicized murder became the borough’s first officially-designated gay hate crime and helped lead to New York State’s first hate crimes bill, which passed in 2000.
READ MORE: https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/jimmy-zappalorti-lane/
https://www.facebook.com/nyclgbtsites/photos/a.1696349297307424/2651960315079646/
To learn more about Robert’s efforts to keep Jimmy’s legacy alive, you can go to http://stainedglasswindowsjimmy.com/. Thanks for reading this. The community is has come soooooo far but still is way behind. We need to remember that hate crimes still exist and according to the williams institute, LGBT people nine times more likely than non-LGBT people to be victims of violent hate crimes. So, be aware of your surroundings and stay safe. please! Happy Pride and I’ll be back again tomorrow!
Finnoula’s corner 