The tollbooth

Mitchel Field — Garden City, Long Island

In the New York guide · Plan a day here

On screen

Connie calls in tears: Carlo has beaten her again. Furious, Sonny drives off alone, speeding towards Long Beach. At a causeway tollbooth a car blocks him in and gunmen open fire from every side. It was exactly what Carlo had planned with Barzini: to get Sonny out of the house without his bodyguards.

The place today

Mitchel Air Force Base closed in 1961; its land now holds college campuses, an arena and “Museum Row”, home of the Cradle of Aviation Museum. According to Scouting NY, a small remnant of the runway where the tollbooths were built, runway 5/23, survives by one of Nassau Community College’s parking lots.

Did you know? According to Wikipedia, three tollbooths were built on a runway at Mitchel Field. Shooting began on 22 June, took three days and cost over $100,000. Movie-locations names Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn instead, but Wikipedia and Scouting NY both point to Mitchel Field.

🔗 Later in the story · The Godfather in SicilyThe car bomb — Castello degli Schiavi (“Castle of the Slaves”), Fiumefreddo di Sicilia

Sources: Wikipedia EN · Wikipedia IT · Scouting NY