Yes, and Dion went to high school with my cousin. They used to harmonize on the street corner, and on Sunday nights, my Aunt Grace would throw pots of water out the window at them to get them to shut up. She used to tell them that she had to get up for work the next morning, and they needed to go home so that she could get some sleep.
Scenes like that were memorialized in "A Bronx Tale" and every neighborhood had a few corners on which the local wannabes would practice their singing. (In fact, "A Bronx Tale" was the same neighborhood that Dion came from). My brother remembers The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight") singing in Coney Island and he used to be in a group (not very good) who would stand on the corner and doing their doo-wop (Rico Petrocelli, who went on to play for the Red Sox, was another group member).
Jay and the Americans and the Four Seasons were two other big named groups who perfected the "New York sound", but Dion and the Belmonts were truly from the streets.
If you ever wanna watch a really good New York based movie with some awesome music, see "The Wanderers" with Ken Wahl. Its based on an Italian Bronx gang and its a damned good movie.
