Oral history interview with Nicholina, 1980

Biographical Note

Nicholina was born to Italian immigrants on November 6, 1915 in Newark, New Jersey. Her formal education ended after eighth grade, but she later received her high school equivalency while incarcerated. At fourteen years of age, she began working as a seamstress in various sweatshops, she worked fifty hours per week for eight dollars. At seventeen years of age, she left Newark and moved to New York City, where she became involved with sex work. She first tried opium when she was eighteen years of age. When opium became scarce during World War II, Nicholina transitioned to using other drugs like paregoric, morphine, Dilaudid, and heroin. She got married in 1930, and her husband passed away in 1950. That same year, Nicholina began shoplifting from department stores on Fifth Avenue and selling heroin, earning upwards of fifteen hundred dollars per week. In 1952, she was arrested and spent five years incarcerated in Bedford Hills. She remarried in 1959. She and her husband made a living selling stolen meats and luxury accessories to a curated clientele. During this time, Nicholina was using heroin, cocaine, and a barbiturate called Tuinal. In the 1960s, Nicholina began seeing a private doctor for a Dilaudid prescription, and in 1970 she joined a methadone program. Nicholina was interviewed for the project that led to the book Addicts Who Survived. The name is likely a pseudonym for the project. In the book, Nicholina was referred to by the pseudonym "Sophia"

Scope and Contents

In this interview, Nicholina discusses her life in New York City, focusing on her drug use. She discusses moving to New York City from her hometown of Newark, New Jersey at the age of seventeen, and how she immediately became involved in sex work. She describes the circumstances of her first use of opium at eighteen years of age. She describes how the drug trade changed when control switched from Jewish crime syndicates to Italian mafia in the early 1930s. She compares opium users to heroin users, and discusses popular attitudes ascribed to both groups. Describes her enjoyment of "lay-down joints," or rooms in hotels dedicated to opium smoking where patrons could pay five dollars to smoke. She describes the broad array of people that would visit these joints using metrics of class, race, and occupation. Nicholina describes a period of opium scarcity, during World War II, and her transition to using opium in other forms like yen-shee and yen-pox, as well as other drugs like paregoric, morphine, Dilaudid, and heroin. She discusses her arrest history and time she spent incarcerated. Facilities included: Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and Women's House of Detention. She describes how she smuggled heroin into Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. She describes her various methods of earning money including shoplifting and drug dealing. Nicholina explains how the quality of heroin deteriorated from the 1930s to the 1960s. She describes how she joined a methadone program in 1970, and stopped taking all other drugs

Subjects

• Courtwright, David T., 1952- interviewer.
• Crime--New York (State)--New York.
• Drug abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Drug addicts--Rehabilitation--United States.
• Drug addicts--United States.
• Drug traffic--United States--History--20th century.
• Heroin abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Imprisonment--United States.
• Interviews.
• Joseph, Herman, 1931- interviewer.
• Methadone maintenance--United States--History--20th century.
• Nicholina--Interviews.
• Opium abuse--United States--History--20th century.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prostitution--United States--History--20th century.

Access Conditions

Copyright by David Courtwright