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NFT: Inside the Rise & Fall Of A 1970s Upper West Side Cult

DanMetroMan : 9/21/2016 5:23 pm
(Interesting read about something I knew nothing about)

Quote:
On the evening of July 29th, 1985, members of a mysterious group called the Sullivan Institute broke into and terrorized an apartment at 100th Street and Broadway. Dressed in dark colors and stocking caps, some beat the tenants with sticks, while others slit open mattresses and smashed the sink, toilet, and television set. It was a coordinated revenge attack, intended to send a message to the group’s neighbors, who allegedly started the drama by spilling paint on the institute’s wall.
After the raid, the pillagers returned to their seven-story co-op at 2643 Broadway. “We were prepared for them to invade,” says Paul Sprecher, a member of the Sullivan Institute for over a decade. “We had security down at the front door to make sure they would be duly chastised. I don’t remember, I think one guy showed up to complain and he was manhandled.” (According to a 1989 New York Magazine article, the complaining tenant was “beaten by more than a dozen members,” one of whom “broke four knuckles punching the young boy in the face.”)
The paint splatter that started the ordeal is still visible today, on the brick wall just above the Metro Diner on 100th and Broadway. It is perhaps the last physical reminder of a psychotherapy cult—informally known as the “Sullivanians”—that once had 500 members living in three buildings on the Upper West Side.

Link - ( New Window )
the Sullivanians - there's a blast from the past.  
Del Shofner : 9/21/2016 5:31 pm : link
I lived on the UWS '75-'79 and I knew some of those folks ... those were the days. (Good times for reasons having nothing to do with them :-)).
Will it happen again  
Tony-in-Wichita : 9/21/2016 9:16 pm : link
??
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