The Lobster Mobster

The New York Times Magazine has a fascinating profile of Ingrid Bengis-Palei, the 66-year-old owner of Stonington-based Ingrid Bengis Seafood:

She has lived in Mexico, Nicaragua, Greece, France, Russia and Israel and is
proficient in Russian and French. She is quite possibly the only seafood
procurer to be nominated for a National Book Award. Her first book, Combat in
the Erogenous Zone, published in 1973 by Knopf and called “remarkable” by
Newsweek, recounts in frank detail her efforts to come to grips with feminism
and the sexual revolution, exploring “man hating,” lesbianism and love. Combat
made her the toast of New York’s literary establishment, and she became friends
with Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut and other writers. But she could not handle
the pressures of fame and fled to Stonington. “I settled for notoriety here
versus celebrity in New York City,” she said.

- John C.L. Morgan