Kitty's Rules

Queens is an ever changing place. Originally settled by the Dutch and English it was soon populated by others of European stock, Irish, Germans, Italians, Poles, Greeks, and Czechs. That was its composite well into the 20th Century when things began to change. Now it is a polyglot of 140 ethnic groups with over 100 languages and many more dialects spoken on its streets and in its stores and restaurants.

What has not changed, though, is the makeup of its core civil servants, particularly the Police Department (NYPD) and the Court House crowd. They still come from Irish, Italian, and German Catholic stock following in the path of their fathers and grandfathers. James C. “Jimmy” Collins was such a person. Raised in the shadows of the ‘7’ train’s elevated tracks down 57th Street from Roosevelt Avenue and just steps from Queens Boulevard.

Jimmy had clear blue eyes and jet black hair, and a dark complexion that highlighted his strong facial features. A strikingly handsome man with a taut muscular structure on his six foot three inch frame - he was well aware of his good looks and his attractiveness to women. Jimmy was an opportunist who never passed up the chance when it came to pursuing a woman. As a result, his existance had become quite complicated – his personal life was a mess – like Bill Clinton he was addicted to women – controlling women, and the pleasure they could bring.

Jimmy’s real problem was a form of social anxiety. Most people with this personality disorder experienced conditional fear of something new. Jimmy’s usual response in such situations, especially with women, was to be aggressive in his pursuit, rather than passive. This unusual drive to conquer was an adverse reaction to two women who influenced him early on, beginning in his grammar school days.

Kitty Gentile, an exotic looking woman and a different breed of cat, had little in common with Jimmy. Unlike Jimmy, Kitty could not always restrain her emotions. She tended to be impulsive, whimsical, cunning, and controlling. Kitty exhibited the classic symptoms of psychopathic behavior. She was selfish, a trait nourished as an only child, had a huge ego, and was lacking in emotions. A child who was shunted off to summer camp at an early age, taught by strict nuns in grammar school, and then sent off to a girls’ boarding school in Connecticut for high school, Kitty exhibited distinct problems. She never showed emotions, rarely smiled, hoarded her toys when other children came to her apartment to play, and never showed concern when children she played with were injured, sometimes through her acts.

Kitty never developed the positive feminine traits of her childhood playmates. She would compete rather than cooperate. She was responsive, not reflective – intuitive rather than logical. Kitty was lacking in feeling and rationality in her relationships since her id controlled as she pursued her end to prevail over others.

Over the years, she lost any sense of guilt as she learned she could push the envelope in most of her life experiences, often creating chaos for those who made the mistake of trying to get close to her, daring to compete with her, or who happened to get crosswise with her. Those who knew her in school kept their distance, describing her as “a heartless bitch.” Kitty’s striking appearance and good background drew people to her, while her charismatic manner held them under her control until she no longer had any use for them.