Romual Piecyk was a New York City refrigerator mechanic. In September 1984, he was angered when John Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero parked their Lincoln sedan in front of his truck so that Gotti could make a phone call. Piecyk left his truck with a baseball bat and repeatedly bothered Gotti with asking him if that was his car; Gotti hung up the phone and confronted Piecyk. Piecyk asked if the Lincoln was his car, to which Gotti responded by asking which car. As Piecyk turned to identify the car, Gotti punched him in the face, and he proceeded to assault him. Gotti was later restrained by construction workers and arrested by a nearby NYPD policeman, and he was charged with assault.