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is a suburban neighborhood in the southwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. Bordered in the north by the Belt Parkway and South Conduit Avenue, the south by Jamaica Bay, the east by 102nd-104th Streets and the west by 78th Street. Howard Beach borders the neighborhoods of Ozone Park to the north and Broad Channel to the south. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 10.
Heavily Italian-American, Howard Beach is well known for being home to many organized crime figures; notably, mafia bosses John Gotti and Joe Massino resided here. Howard Beach is home to a strong and close knit Italian community. Irish-Americans, German-Americans and Jewish-Americans also are a small amount of its population. The zip code of Howard Beach is 11414.
Howard Beach was established in the 1890s by William J. Howard, a Brooklyn glove manufacturer who operated a 150 acre (0.61 km²) goat farm on meadow land near Aqueduct Racetrack as a source of skins for kid gloves. In 1897, he bought more land and filled it in, and the following year he built 18 cottages and opened a hotel near the water, which he operated until it was destroyed by fire in October 1907. He gradually bought more land, and formed the Howard Estates Development Company in 1909. He dredged and filled the land until he was able to accumulate 500 acres (2 km²) by 1914. He laid out several streets, water mains and gas mains, and built 35 houses that were priced in the $2,500-$5,000 range.
The Long Island Rail Road established a station that was first named Ramblersville in 1913, and a Post Office by the same name opened soon thereafter. A casino, beach and a fishing pier were added in 1915, and the name was changed to
on April 6, 1916. Development continued, and the ownership was expanded to a group of investors who sold lots for about $690 each starting in 1922.