No Fare - The Wrath Of The Taxi King

Gene Freidman owns more cabs than anyone else in New York City.

- Simon Van Zuylen-Wood

Gene Freidman’s got a new hairdo. For as long as the New York tabloids have been taking photos of him, which is to say a while, Freidman has worn his hair in a ponytail. It is, along with the Euro scarves and Bono sunglasses, something of a trademark. Today, though, sitting in a courtroom in Lower Manhattan, he’s opted for a close crop. “Just, you know, this new beginning of getting f---ing divorced, you know?” he explains.

“So I was like, f--- it, let me get a haircut.” A new beginning would be nice. On this late June afternoon,

Freidman, 44, is in New York City criminal court to defend himself against charges that he harassed and attempted to assault his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Sandra. There are also related allegations concerning some forged signatures and a smashed watch. Oh, and his taxicab empire is faltering.

Freidman doesn’t seem overly stressed. He’s wearing a blue pinstripe suit and monogrammed cuffs. He gives off a whiff of cigarette. He denies the forgery claim, the assault claim, and every other claim lobbed at him today. “Listen, listen, listen,” he says during a break in the proceedings. “I’m not worried about it. If you read the papers, right, and you see what’s going on, I might as well already be dead.”

According to the city, the Taxi King controls 860 cabs (Freidman says he actually operates more than 1,100). That’s more than anyone else in town. Factor in the hundreds of vehicles he has in Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia, and he’s almost certainly the most powerful taxi mogul in the country. Freidman makes money by leasing the cabs to drivers on a daily or weekly basis.