HOBOKEN SHOOTOUT: Despite persistent, "Sopranos"-fueled rumors of continuing mob influence, my adopted hometown of Hoboken really hasn't been a major gangster haven for decades, not since the "On the Waterfront" days of the '50s. But that all changed tonight, when a high speed chase resulted in gunfire and the shooting of cops at two different intersections, one of which was merely a block from my apartment. Thankfully, both cops survived.
The trouble began a little before 8PM when a passenger getting out of a cab on Washington between Fourth and Fifth Streets refused to pay the cabbie and instead shot him in the leg. The suspect then allegedly carjacked a Ford Explorer and sped towards Jersey City, stopping to shoot at a police officer outside of a convenience store at the intersection of First and Adams, which I had jogged past about 90 minutes before (I was able to hear the gunshots from my apartment, but at first I thought they were firecrackers). The chase then continued into JC, where one of the suspects was shot and killed about a half-hour later.
And even though we're at war right now, the Hoboken gunfire story led the late local news on both WCBS and WNBC.