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Woodside Honors ‘ the Wrong Man’

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Lawmakers and civic leaders renamed a Woodside intersection last Saturday, Sept. 27, in honor of a jazz musician wrongfully accused of robbery whose story was the inspiration for a classic Alfred Hitchcock film. As noted, the intersection of 41st Avenue and 73rd Street was renamed Manny “The Wrong Man” Balestrero Way, honoring the resident who was arrested in the 1950s for two robberies he did not commit. He was exonerated of the crimes at trial, when the real culprit confessed to the crimes and several other robberies in the area. Balestrero’s story was the basis for Hitchcock’s 1956 film The Wrong Man, starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles, which was filmed in Woodside and Jackson Heights. Shown at the street renaming are (from left to right) Assemblyman Francisco Moya, Community Board 4 District Manager Christian Cassagnol, City Council Member Daniel Dromm, Manny Balestrero’s sons Robert and Greg Balestrero and Assemblyman Michael Den Dekker. Not pictured, but also in attendance, was State Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky.


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