A new statue has popped up in New York City's Battery Park honoring Porkchop, the purported bulldog of "gentleman smuggler" William "Bill" McCoy.
Sculptor Joseph Reginella of NYC Urban Legends, an organization that blurs the line between reality and fiction, is taking credit. You may remember their "Ed Koch being attacked by wolves" statue.
In 1927, Battery Park was a hub for rum runners and organized crime to distribute whiskey and spirits throughout NYC. It's a little known fact that bulldogs were used to help make these deliveries to speakeasies all over the city. They are the unsung heroes of the Prohibition Era. Pioneered by Bill McCoy, an infamous bootlegger, who ran his yacht from Florida up to the Battery, he used his gang of bulldogs to deliver the goods. McCoy is actually the inspiration for the phrase "the real McCoy" meaning it's not "bathtub booze", it's the real deal; the good stuff…
