Erik Fischetti was on a cigarette break outside Atlantic City’s Tropicana early Sunday morning when a man came up to him, lifted up his shirt and said, “They shot me.”
“Instinctually, I took my phone out and started recording,” he said.
The two subsequent
videos he posted to Instagram garnered attention, along with lots of opinions.
Some thanked Fischetti for getting police to the scene that seemed to be ignored by others nearby. But some questioned why he didn’t use the phone to call police.
“I chased (the cops) down on foot and practically dragged them over there,” he said.
The end result was medical help for the victim, along with the
arrest of two suspects.
Revealing the city’s unflattering angle isn’t new for Fischetti.
For nearly two years, he and his friends have captured a different view of Atlantic City.
As the Atlantic City Crust Kings, they try to inject some hilarity into some of the sadder sides.
He started the page with best friend Will Boothby, a Margate native, after their adventures led them to see the unflattering sides of the city in a very different way.
“We were just kind of like-minded in some ways that we saw things that were (screwed) up and tried to find the light and humor in that,” Fischetti explains.
A resident for a decade — and in active recovery for most of that time — Fischetti said he wants people to see the reality. And, that it’s not always what they see on the surface. Hence, Atlantic City “Crust.”
“The crust is like the outer layer,” he said. “It’s some people’s favorite part of the pizza and some people hate the crust, but it’s there right on the outside of everything.”
And Fischetti always seemed to be running into the “crusty” side.
“Part of the whole shtick is to expose people to uncomfortable truths,” he said. “The uncomfortable truth is that a lot of these people they see in the streets are good people. Talented people. Smart people. Funny people. These people who should be superstars in my eyes are now getting the attention they deserve.”
One of those people is “the Chinaman,” a near icon on the Crust’s Instagram.
The man’s hair first drew them in. The top of his head is shaved, then in the back is a ponytail.
“At first, we went up to kind of record him as a joke,” Boothby admits. “Then realized he’s one of the most loving and caring, nicest people I ever me.
“That kind of shed a lot of light on basically the meaning behind Atlantic City Crust,” he added. “These guys aren’t bad people. Hard times have fallen on all of us.”
Fischetti has been homeless on the streets. And been strung out. Now, with a job in marketing for a recovery treatment center, he is looking to help others while still finding the comedy in tragedy.
“Atlantic City’s definitely unique in the kind of characters we have out here,” he said. “It’s a culture unlike anywhere I’ve ever seen.”
As they gained a following, the friends “thought this is an opportunity to really get people’s attention and some insight into what’s going on here that they don’t see; they don’t care to see,” Fischetti said. “There are some endearing qualities. There are a lot of redeeming qualities.”
“It makes people proud to come from Atlantic City in a way,” said Amanda Ross, another part of the Crust team.
And the following has gone a long way.
Some people know Fischetti by his voice on the other side of the camera.
Boothby was hitchhiking in Florida when somebody stopped and yelled, “Atlantic City Crust!”
It got him a ride, and the knowledge that their reach had made it to Jacksonville, Florida.
“We get some ridiculously stupid stuff I throw up there and some crazy profound philosophical genius,” Fischetti says. “You never know. I’m always flipping on my camera.”
