The ice cream man cometh

on Sep 22 in Uncategorized by

iceweek.jpgThe world of ice cream isn’t all sprinkles and sauce, it has a dark side too. In 1984 the Scottish city of Glasgow saw horrendous violence during its infamous ice cream wars. The fighting was not just about ice cream sales, the ice cream vans were used as fronts to sell stolen goods and drugs. Rival gangs fought over turf and control of the market. Van drivers who resisted becoming involved were intimidated and punished.

Eighteen year old driver Andrew “Fat Boy” Doyle refused to sell drugs on his round, and as a result the flat in which he lived was set alight in the early hours of the morning. Andrew, along with his father, sister, two brothers, and 18 month old nephew were all killed in the blaze.

In 2002 in Melbourne Australia 46 year old Mr Whippy salesman Francesco Mangione was feuding with his cousin and rival ice cream vendor Denis Giunta over trade routes. Mangione snuck into Giunta’s house and stabbed him 55 times with a home made sword as Giunta stepped out of the shower. Giunta’s wife, who was asleep was awoken by her husband’s screaming, only escaped the same fate by jumping out of the window.

All over the world there are stories of ice cream men slashing tires, hitting each other with baseball bats, or just ending up with their decapitated heads on their bicycle seats. It’s a dangerous world out there. So remember, next time you send your kid out to get you a cone, make sure you send them in a flack jacket.

Related posts:

  1. I hereby officially designate this to be International Ice Cream Week.
  2. A tale of two shops
  3. Three fat ice creams, number seven!

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