54 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • JANUARY 25, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Ex- Met and Yankee slugger Darryl Strawberry talks addiction
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
eye from the 1980s into the early 2000s.
Queens saw 172 suspected fatal drug
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Th e eight-time All-Star and four-time
overdoses in 2017, according to District
World Series champion was suspended
Attorney Richard A Brown. Nearly a
Darryl Strawberry may have fi nished
three times by MLB for substance abuse.
third of these overdoses involved fentanyl,
his baseball career years ago — but his
Aft er retiring from baseball, he had several
a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100
purpose in life has only just begun.
drug-related run-ins with the law.
times stronger than heroin. Fentanyl been
Th e ex-New York Met and Yankee
Now 14 years clean, Strawberry is a
the latest source of concern in the escalating
slugger visited staff and educators at the
Christian minster and author. He signed
national crisis.
Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks to
copies of his most recent publication,
In a visit to a Long Island church a
discuss his personal struggles with drug,
“Don’t Give Up on Me…Shedding
few years ago, a young man approached
alcohol and sex addiction and his road
Light on Addiction,” for attendees at the
Strawberry and told the minister he was
to recovery.
January appearance. Th e book was written
taking 30 opioids a day. Strawberry found
“America itself is in a crisis like never
in conjunction with psychologists and
a treatment center for the man, whose
before,” Strawberry said at the Jan. 22
addiction experts.
story mirrors those of thousands of young
talk. “We have so many young people
“We’re dealing with a deadly disease,”
people across the United States.
OD’ing, dying and losing their lives. And
Strawberry said. “Addiction is just like
“We as people need to stop saying it’s
it’s because we never paid attention to
cancer; it’s just like anything else. We
not in our neighborhood,” he said. “It’s
the fact that addiction is real and it could
have rallies for cancer: why not rallies for
in every neighborhood, everywhere you
happen to anybody.”
addiction?”
look, everywhere you go.”
Strawberry’s personal struggle with
Th e national opioid crisis is a major
For those who may be dealing with a
drug addiction played out in the public
concern, he continued. On a local level,
loved one facing addiction, it’s important
to “take a step back.”
“It’s always important to love people
right where they’re at, but that doesn’t
mean you have to tolerate their behavior,”
he said.
As for baseball — the catalyst that
fi rst thrust him into the limelight —
Strawberry has left that part of his life
behind.
“I don’t talk about baseball. I don’t even
like it,” he told attendees.
For parents who may be worried their
child is developing an addiction, the most
important advice is to “pay attention,”
Strawberry told QNS.
“We need to get back to family. We
need to get back to talking about problems,
real problems, at the dinner table,”
he said. “Put the cellphones away, turn
the computer off , turn the TV off , and
let’s talk.”
DeNiro fi lms scenes for Scorsese movie at bank in Astoria
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Robert De Niro paid a visit to Astoria
on Jan. 18 when he fi lmed scenes for
upcoming Martin Scorsese crime drama
“Th e Irishman.”
De Niro shot scenes at First Central
Savings Bank at 35-01 30th Ave., which
includes unique architecture like vaulted
ceilings and chandelier lighting. Th e
fi lm, which is set to be released in 2019,
is based on the book “I Heard You Paint
Houses: Frank ‘Th e Irishman’ Sheeran
and the Inside Story of the Mafi a, the
Teamsters, and the Final Ride by Jimmy
Hoff a” by Charles Brandt.
In “Th e Irishman,” De Niro plays Frank
Sheeran, a mob hitman who recalls his
criminal past and his possible connection
to Hoff a’s death. Hoff a, an American
labor union leader, was involved with
organized crime throughout his career
and in July 1975 he mysteriously disappeared.
Th ough Sheeran, also known as Th e
Irishman, was never charged, the book
claims that he was responsible for Hoff a’s
death.
Since the movie takes place in the ’60s
and ’70s, the bank was the perfect location
to fi lm scenes, according to Michael
Serao, Senior VP and Director of Retail
Banking.
“Th e distinct architecture, the ornate
feel with an old-world touch is the epitome
of banking like it used to be but only
better,” he said.
Al Pacino will play Jimmy Hoff a and
other actors involved in the fi lm include
Anna Paquin, Bobby Canavale, Joe Pesci,
who plays mobster Russell Bufalino, Ray
Romano, Jesse Plemons and Kathrine
Narducci.
Photos courtesy of First Central Savings Bank
Robert De Niro was spotted shooting scenes for
“The Irishman” in Astoria.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Strawberry addresses the crowd in Queens