Feb. 26, 2016 By Christian Murray
The commanding officer of the 108 Police Precinct has put several nightclub owners on notice: Control your patrons or we will close you down.
Captain John Travaglia, who is in charge of the precinct, said Tuesday that he is working on closing down problematic clubs.
“We are very close to closing one [temporarily] now,” he told about 30 attendees at the precinct’s monthly meeting at the Sunnyside Community Services Center.
Clubs such as Secrets, Show Palace, Club Allure and CityScapes Gentlemen’s Club are all being closely monitored, he said, as the precinct attributes many of this district’s violent crimes to patrons of these clubs.
Travalgia said that there were four shootings last year, with three occurring near Show Palace, located at 42-50 21st St., and a fatal shooting by Secrets at 49-14 Queens Blvd. He said that that there are a handful of clubs that are responsible for most of the violent crimes on weekend nights.
Travalgia said the clubs stretch the precinct’s resources.
“It upsets me that on weekend nights I have to babysit nightclubs to prevent shootings and serious crimes,” he said. However, “statistics show that we have to be there since these are the most likely places where people can lose their lives.”
In November there was a murder outside Secrets. Travaglia said police have yet to make an arrest. Meanwhile, Show Palace and Club Allure, located at 33-02 Queens Blvd., continue to rack up violations.
“Just the other night we issued a disorderly premise summons following a fight outside this location,” Travaglia said, referring to Club Allure.
“I’m going to take every tool to make sure these clubs stay in control of their crowd and if they don’t I’m going to proceed with civil enforcement on them,” he said.
Secrets and Show Palace were both closed in December stemming from court-sanctioned nuisance abatements.
Secrets was closed 10 days after a fatal shooting there and Show Palace was closed after investigators found servers selling marijuana and cocaine along with non-alcoholic drinks and lap dances.
The establishments reopened after making a pledge to the court that they would operate in a manner agreed upon with law enforcement.
However, the fines can be severe. Then there are legal fees and loss of profit from closure.
“Places that have a lot of money can weather the storm for longer than others,” said Lt. Jon Cermeli, who handles special operations. “A ticket can cost up to $10,000.”
Meanwhile, crime continues to tumble in the precinct.
In 2015, the number of reported crimes was down 13 percent compared to 2014, with felony assaults and robberies noticeably down.
For the year through Feb. 21 2016, the number of reported crimes compared to the same seven week period in 2015 is down nearly 12 percent. There has been a drop in violent crime.
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16 Comments
Forget about pro/anti cop for a moment.
Why is the behavior of the patrons the responsibility of the proprietor?
It’s called “liability” while on premises by law.
I find it funny how the cops are complaining about doing their job !!! Smh …… Its all these influx of yuppies and hipsters , drinking their lemongrass shakes pushing the cops to get rid of small businesses !!
These clubs are forcing the cops to do their jobs. No wonder the cops hate them.
-Not forcing the cops to do their jobs just making it harder to performtheir job effeciently and effectively. The police won’t suffer, the public in general will suffer and ultimately pay the price.
What about Gallagher’s 2000? I’m surprised they’re not on this list since they probably have the largest capacity of all those other places. Maybe they’re able to keep solid security and should be looked at as an example for the other clubs.
I have worked at gallaghers not,as a stripper, and they are not mentioned because it is a higher class strip club with a Caucasian clientele. Not ghetto like many other strip clubs in Queens.
Here’s another example of “abuse of power”.
This captain makes threats against all these business’s because he can’t handle the job nor his crew. Where are these cops when you need them? Never to be found. Or if there’s the most minute problem 8–10 cops show up on one problematic person.
You can call the 108 seven times a week and if your lucky they show up once.
They are the most lethargic bunch of doughnut eating freeloaders to be found.
I went into the deli on skillman yesterday and the owner was so distraught by a bunch of kids harassing him and threatening him with a knife and he said he called 3 times for the police and they never came.
So what this captain is saying is basically that if someone is dead outside the club than he needs to work and so therefore don’t kill each other because he doesn’t want to have to wake up and work nor does the staff.
Useless beyond useless. Why do we even have a police force if they react this way.
I think these business’s have a good class action suit on there hands against the cops
Why would you need to call the cops 7 times a week?
Dont respect strippers bottle whores or bartenders that have to wear nothing to make money. Its sad that this is all women have to offer nowadays. .yea its fun to look at once in awhile but they willl NEVER be taking serious by any respectable person.
You will likewise never be “taking serious”.
What’s your native language? It sure isn’t English.
Many of the patrons were taking up valuable parking spaces.
To the readers of the Sunnyside post, and the attendees of the 108 pct community council. I am sorry to inform you that our Cpt. Travaglia is misinforming you. Making you form an opinion with out the real facts. Making one believe something that is NOT so is the same as lying and misleading. Here is the real truth…Queens North nightlife is a victim to a crime where patrons of these type of establishments are being targeted some how for there Jewlery, Either followed back home, or to their cars, and robbed at gun point. There have been so far 13+ of these type of crimes. The police are aware of this crime trend, and believe its the same crew. Chief of Queens has asked ALL Commanding Officers from EVERY pct. to put a detailed car in front of ALL establishments, whether they have fallen a victim of this crime or not, These details are provided by 1 PP downtown, until they can capture these really bad guys. Unfortunatly our Cpt. makes it sound as if these clubs have a rowdy clientel coming into the venues getting into fights that are spilling outside and resulting to a shootings. Having the community members form an opinion of these venues with false information.
It’s Western Queens, not Northern Queens.
Captain Travaglia’s statement about these clubs being a strain on precinct resources only solidifies the argument for red light districts. All in one place under one specific unit or one precincts watchful eye.