Hudson County Facts

One opponent consistently bested Jersey City Karate expert Don Nagle: the shot glass. A certain match almost turned out to be his last. Late one night, Don Nagle arrived home so drunk that he could barely walk. Two men shadowing Don’s house jumped the incapacitated Nagle. (As spin, the papers reported that the assailants were professional wrestlers. That wasn’t true. They were just a couple of husky guys.) As one pinned Don to the ground, the other produced a gun. While the wannabee assassin tried to figure out how to release the weapon’s safety, Don Nagle’s wife — a sharpshooter — picked off both of the attackers.

The Reprobate parked his ’74 Oldsmobile 98 across the street from Lupe’s house on Hutton. As always, before unlocking the door to get out of the car, the Reprobate glanced up the block. Walking down the other side of the street was Jersey City police officer and Karate expert Don Nagle. Don was dressed like a bum in dirty, ragged clothes. The Reprobate slumped down into the seat, hidden from view, but still able to peek out the bottom of the car’s window. Don Nagle walked through the front gate of Lupe’s house and then lay down on the concrete next to the garbage cans.

Through the rear view mirror, the Reprobate saw Steve Curly. Seemingly strolling on a soft cushion, Curly had spent the day enjoying the best Colombia has to offer. Curly spotted the Reprobate’s car. Crossing the street, Steve Curly approached the vehicle.

“Hey, whady’a scrunched down like that for?”

The Reprobate stayed below the level of the dashboard. Opening just the driver’s side vent window of the car, “Steve, go tell Lupe that the guy layin’ in front of the house is a cop.”

“WHAT GUY?”

“Shhh. That’s Don Nagle there on the ground.”

“That’s just some wino. You’re seein’ cops all over the place now.”

“Steve, just do what I said. Go tell Lupe that the guy is a cop.”

Steve Curly rang Lupe’s bell and then went inside. Less than a minute later, Lupe, resplendent in pajama bottoms and a winter coat with fur-trimmed lapels, came running out the door. Lupe quickly descended the stairs and bounded over to the prone figure.

Don Nagle appeared to levitate instantaneously off of the ground. Simultaneously, Nagle kneed the husky Lupe in the groin, grabbed his throat and pushed him against the side of the building.

Undercover police came running from every direction and poured into Lupe’s house. Nagle and a couple of other police followed, half pushing and half dragging the stunned and helpless Lupe.

When Don Nagle closed the door behind him, the Reprobate started the car and drove away.

Don Nagle, Karate expert and Jersey City police officer, had a part-time job in the office at White Rose frozen foods, then located just outside the Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel. Don’s job was tracking overages and shortages. As the odds are just about nil of a truck driver reporting any extra freight, Don’s work load was immediately cut in half. Since shortages were not of much consequence either, Nagle basically spent less than an hour filling out the forms.

Somewhere along the line, Don Nagle began personally rehabilitating a substance abuser that he had arrested — an attractive Marilyn Monroesque peroxide blond. Don then had the pretty Miss do the paperwork for the freezer warehouse job. Don passed the time drinking coffee and chatting with the crew.

Jersey City Karate expert Don Nagle practiced a form of consumer protection. Whenever a martial arts studio opened in Hudson County, Don Nagle visited while a class was in progress. Don then challenged the teacher and nearly inevitably delivered a solid thrashing. The wanabee was told to close the school or to expect the same every day.

Always the innovator, Don Nagle, Jersey City Police Officer and Martial Arts expert, developed methods that made it unnecessary for law enforcement to run after the bad guys. Don had ways of tricking the bad guys into chasing after him.

Late one night, Don Nagle dressed as a woman. Then, in a way to suggest that the Bacardi might have been 151 instead of Gold, staggered about the ill-lit portions of Lincoln Park clutching a hand bag. When someone with more hormones than brains came bounding out of the bushes, Don spun the pocket book against the side of the assailant’s head. As the bag contained a brick instead of a hanky, a swoon to the sidewalk followed by a trip to the pokey was the result.

In 1976, I worked loading trucks at White Rose Frozen Foods (just outside the Holland Tunnel). Karate expert Don Nagle had a part-time job there in the office.

I saw Don Nagle in action twice (though in relatively low-intensity situations). With phenomenal speed and agility, his moves seemed at times to be humanly impossible.

It’s interesting to compare Don Nagle with Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee never competed in a tournament. It’s not documented whether the film star ever was in a real fight. As a Jersey City Police Officer, Don Nagle engaged in hand-to-hand combat with criminals almost every day.

I met Don Nagle again in the late ’80s. He was planning on running for Sheriff and asked me to get a white coat for his Chihuahua dog. He wanted to put NAGLE FOR SHERIFF on the coat as a campaign stunt!