The Hole, New York City

Boundaries

The Hole is generally bounded by Drew Street to the west, South Conduit Avenue to the north and east, and Linden Boulevard to the south. The area is sometimes called the Jewel Streets neighborhood because several streets are named after gems.

Demographics

Because The Hole is not an officially designated neighborhood, no direct census data are published for it. However, The Hole largely overlaps with census tracts on the Brooklyn–Queens border near East New York and Lindenwood. In the 2020 United States Census, the surrounding tracts that include The Hole reported the following characteristics:

• The combined population was approximately 3,500–4,000 residents.
• The racial composition was about 45% Black or African American, 35% Hispanic or Latino, 10% White, and 8% Asian.
• Median household income in the area was about $45,000–$50,000, lower than the New York City average.

While The Hole contains relatively few homes and many vacant lots, its demographics generally reflect those of adjacent neighborhoods: predominantly working-class, with significant African American and Latino populations.

Flooding

In the 1960s, the level of some streets within The Hole were raised and the streets paved, facilitating passage between South Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard. This required homes adjacent to the raised streets to build retaining walls, with the first level of their houses now below grade. In 2004, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) made plans to connect the neighborhood to the city's sewer system to combat the flooding, by raising the land. As of 2023, a plan to raise the streets and connect the neighborhood to the surrounding sewer system remained in the city's capital budget, but had not been implemented.

Alternative plans have been advocated, including buying out residents and restoring the area as a natural floodplain. The city is also exploring less-expensive plant-based drainage infrastructure. Some drainage upgrades made in 2023 helped water drain more quickly after Tropical Storm Ophelia, compared to Hurricane Ida in 2021, but did not prevent flooding that trapped some residents in their homes.

While waiting for solutions from the city, residents of The Hole have implemented systems to deal with flooding, including tapping into public utilities to provide electricity for outdoor sump pumps to remove water from streets. In late 2025, the city government began collecting information from homeowners who lived in the Hole. At the time, the city was considering launching a buyout program. That October, the administration of outgoing mayor Eric Adams announced plans to upgrade the Hole's sewer system and other infrastructure. The project, costing $146 million, would include new street infrastructure, a Bluebelt draining into Spring Creek, and as many as 5,000 residences (including 1,400 on a 17 acre plot owned by the city).

Media

In 2010, filmmakers Courtney Fathom Sell and Billy Feldman made a short documentary about The Hole. The film includes interviews with some of the residents and members of the Federation of Black Cowboys. The film premiered at Rooftop Films in 2011 and has since been archived at the Brooklyn Historical Society & Anthology Film Archives.

A film focused on the residents living in The Hole, was made in 2016.

Brooklyn-based photographer Robert Stribley created a photoessay about The Hole in May 2016.

An episode of the third season of the HBO comedy docuseries How To with John Wilson explores the difficulties of finding a public restroom in New York City. It features a segment on The Hole and includes interviews with residents who deal with being disconnected from the city’s sewage system.

Mafia graveyard

The Hole is the site of an old Mafia graveyard, located in a vacant lot off of 75th (Ruby) Street between Blake and Dumont Avenues. In 1981, children playing in the lot found the body of Bonanno crime family capo Alphonse "Al" Indelicato, who, along with fellow Bonanno capos Philip "Philly Lucky" Giaccone and Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera, had been killed several weeks before in a Brooklyn night club store room, by rival Bonanno capo Joseph Massino and his associates.

In 2004, the bodies of Giaccone and Trinchera were dug up in the lot by FBI agents and New York City police detectives. The bodies were disposed of in the lot as a favor by the crew of John Gotti, who had grown up with Massino.

Although not all of their bodies have been found, as many as six Mafia murder victims are believed by authorities to have been buried in the lot in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These include John Favara, a Queens furniture store manager killed because he accidentally ran over the 12-year-old son of John Gotti, and Lucchese crime family members Joseph Spione and Thomas DeSimone, on whom Joe Pesci's character Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas was based.

References

References

1. Maldonado, Samantha. (October 21, 2025). "Hope for The Hole? Eric Adams Promises Sewers and Redevelopment as Parting Gift".
2. Dorr, Nate. (July 22, 2009). "In the Hole {{!}} Photos {{!}} Impose magazine".
3. Fisher, Janon. (October 17, 2004). "Echoes of the Wild West Mark an Urban Frontier". [[The New York Times]].
4. Asch, Mark. (October 27, 2010). "Brooklyn's Lost Neighborhood: The Hole".
5. (April 3, 2011). "Two Water Tables". BLDGBLOG.
6. "Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan".
7. Kilgannon, Corey. (October 10, 2006). "Black Cowboys Ride the Range in Queens, and Keep a Sharp Lookout for Traffic". The New York Times.
8. Waddell, Robert. (August 6, 1995). "THE FRESH AIR FUND; Black Cowboys Share Their Art With Urban Children". The New York Times.
9. "Jewel Streets Neighborhood Plan". New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
10. Asch, Mark. (October 27, 2010). "Brooklyn’s Lost Neighborhood: The Hole".
11. "NYC Population FactFinder". New York City Department of City Planning.
12. "American Community Survey 2019 5-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau.
13. Howard, Hilary. (December 17, 2023). "Snakes, Spores and Sewage: Life in the Neighborhood Called 'the Hole'". The New York Times.
14. [[Hilary Howard. Howard, Hilary]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/17/nyregion/snakes-spores-and-sewage-life-in-the-neighborhood-called-the-hole.html "Snakes, Spores and Sewage: Life in the Neighborhood Called 'the Hole'], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 17, 2023. Accessed December 24, 2023. "Also known as the Jewel Streets (street names include Ruby, Emerald and Amber), the swampy area sits at one of the lowest elevations in the city, about four feet above sea level. For this reason, it is not connected to the sewer system — residences rely on septic tanks and cesspools — and the streets flood just about every time it rains."
15. Gwynne Hogan. (April 26, 2022). "City officials offer a glimmer of hope for 'The Hole,' after decades of neglect". [[Gothamist]].
16. (October 5, 2023). "Soggy Residents Unimpressed After Mayor Adams Touts Sewer Upgrades to The Hole".
17. Maldonado, Samantha. (October 3, 2025). "They Live Below Sea Level in NYC. Now, the City Could Buy Out 'The Hole'".
18. Guglielmo, Kristen. (October 23, 2025). "City to invest $146M into Jewel Streets".
19. Howard, Hilary. (October 22, 2025). "A Swampy New York City Neighborhood Could Get a $146 Million Upgrade".
20. Hurlburt, Gray. (December 13, 2010). "The Hole: New York's Sunken Border Town". Death and Taxes.
21. "Home".
22. Evans, Lauren. (October 5, 2015). "Welcome To The Hole, John Gotti's Rustic Body-Dumping Ground". Gothamist.
23. Stribley, Robert. (May 29, 2016). "Way Down in the Hole". Medium.
24. Rashbaum, William K.. (October 12, 2004). "F.B.I. Finds Human Bones at a Mob Dig". [[The New York Times]].
25. Rashbaum, William K.. (October 8, 2004). "In Court, Evidence Suggests Gotti Associates Buried Victims in Lot". [[The New York Times]].
26. (December 21, 2004). "Metro Briefing – New York: Manhattan: Human Remains Linked To Mob". [[The New York Times]].
27. Castellani, Anne. (December 21, 2004). "Remains of Mafia captains identified". [[CNN]].