NEW YORK: Reaching the Unreachables

Out of the night that shadows Harlem's filth and fear, two 1960 Ford station wagons raced north on the New York State Thruway toward Tarrytown and the comfortable hilltop home of James Arthur Vaus Jr., an ex-convict once known as a wiretapper for West Coast Gangster Mickey Cohen. From the 'cars sprang a group of boys representing two rival East Harlem street gangs, the Young Conceiteds and the Untouchables. They swaggered to the front door, where waited Vaus, 41, and his first lieutenant, a Puerto Rican named Piri Thomas. 32. who once...

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