I met Terry Iacuzzo
months ago on Mulberry Street when she told me a great story about a little
garage that’s right next to her house. I met up with her again and asked
her to repeat that story, among other things.
AskaNewYorker: Hi Terry. Could you repeat that story you told me months ago?
Terry: I met you in front of my brother’s house. My brother bought that
house in the early 60s and then came John Gotti’s gang, the Gambino family.
Anyway, they had the Ravinite Social Club just a half block away from my brother’s
house on Mulberry Street. So when I met you in front of his house you were photographing
this little tin garage that is where John Gotti kept his Mercedes. And now John
Gotti is supposedly dead, but that’s another story. I don’t believe
it. I think he’s had his face redone. I don’t think we should get
into that, though. I have my whole theory about John Gotti and Giuliani. Allegedly
he died in prison. Anyway, the garage is still there. We used to watch them
take the Mercedes out. It took three people to get the car out, and I guess
it depended on your ranking in the hierarchy, but the first person unlocked
the garage, the second person lifted up the garage, and the third guy turned
the engine on. You would see this whole thing. It was a lot of fun in the early
days. You would see John Gotti in the street with a big crowd, with lots of
big men in suits. All that color that used to be on Mulberry Street is so different
now.
AskaNewYorker: What is the Ravenite
Social Club?
Terry: It was the headquarters for the mafia. That’s why John Gotti was
arrested. It was a social club for Italian men. Then when we got high tech,
more in the later 70s when there were bugging devices, they would have the meetings
on the sidewalk.
AskaNewYorker: Tell us about your family.
Terry: I come from Buffalo, New York. My mother was born in Cappa Bello de
la Cotta in Sicily and my father is from near Palermo. They came in that Ellis
Island flood of immigrants. I just wrote this book called Small
Mediums at Large, the True Tale of a Family of Psychics. It came out in
January, published by Putnam. I tell the story of my family because we all have
our own individual psychic gifts. People know what that word means. But, it’s
the natural way of being, and I think the family becoming psychic had a lot
to do with the timing of my parents coming as immigrants. Growing up speaking
Italian, both lived on the waterfront of Buffalo and had street smarts. They
were very poor and needed to be sharp and aware. Their DNA, I’m sure,
had those psychic genes.
AskaNewYorker: What’s the difference between a psychic and a palm reader
or a fortune teller or someone with a crystal ball?
Terry: Well, my brother, sister, and I are all professional psychics and have
been for over thirty years. So what does it mean to be psychic? It means we
have what I call a natural ability where we can see the future, the past, and
other realities and choices people can make. We are highly defined, sensitive
people. I constantly ask myself, “how does this work?” !
AskaNewYorker: You’re not, like, reading my future as I sit and talk
to you here, are you?
Terry: These are the kinds of questions people ask me all the time and I say,
yes, I do! I can turn it on and off.
AskaNewYorker: What would a reading by you be like?
Terry: A reading means not looking at that person, but looking inside of me,
and reading the visuals, reading images, hearing with my ears. Whatever way
it comes to me. I’ve compared it to the coming attractions you see when
you go to a movie. Sometimes I sit with someone and a little movie will be actually
running in my mind, like almost MTV style. Flash flash boom boom.
AskaNewYorker: Are you reading me right now?
Terry: There are many levels I can go on. I can kind of glance and pick up
on a lot of things. I can take it deeper if I want to.
AskaNewYorker: How would you describe yourself?
Terry: I’ve titled myself skeptical and irreverent. I am an outrageous,
outspoken person about my field of work because I am very upset about what I
see from the store front gypsies to the store front advisors to the TV psychics.
AskaNewYorker: What’s the most important question people generally ask
you?
Terry: Living in New York City, people want to know if there will be another
terrorist attack here and when. And I can answer that question. Again, I am
a psychic who sees future visions.
AskaNewYorker: I’m thinking at this point, do I really want to know the
answer to that question.
Terry: Can you promise me that it will help you feel safer, calmer, happier?
Are you going to move, change your life or be terrified and hide underneath
the bed? I am here to help you liberate yourself from fear and terror.
AskaNewYorker: OK, now I’m thinking that if I knew for certain that NYC
was getting hit again, I may at least try to make the date coincide with my
summer vacation plans or be out in Montauk or something. OK, tell me. Please
tell me, are we going to be attacked again and if yes, will it take place in
the next year?
Terry: It’s not going to be in the next year and it’s not going
to be in New York City.
AskaNewYorker: Sigh of relief.
Terry: Now everyone will want to move here!
AskaNewYorker: Can you bend spoons?
Terry: No, but I’d love to be able to!
AskaNewYorker: Last question: will Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt get married?
Terry: No!
AskaNewYorker: Thank you so much for your time!
Terry’s book Small Mediums at Large can be purchased at Barnes
and Noble.
