nyc has been arount for a real long time. i try to match the nyc accent with foreign accents and to me its seems closest to the british accent, which makes sense, cuz the brits were the first to settle there if i remember correctly. but it seems to have been twisted by other accents, mainly italian i think. and it seems like italians have somewhat claimed the nyc new jersey accent and parade it around because deniro was born and raised in nyc (even tho hes only a quarter italian) and the sopranos generation which grew up into the situation snooky etc...
it would be interesting to hear the nyc accent evolution, hearing it before the italians and everybody else came.
of all the english accents, i like south african and australian the baste