A strip club in Queens that has been the scene of three fatal shootings in the past three years has been shut down after a five-month investigation in which officers posing as patrons were sold drugs and offered sex for cash, authorities said Friday.
The nightspot, known as Club Phenomenon, located in the Woodside section of Queens, was padlocked Thursday night thanks to a court order, two months after the most recent shooting death. The drug side of the undercover probe has led to one arrest, according to the Queens district attorney's office.
The investigation into the club occurred amid a citywide crackdown prompted by the case of a New Jersey teenager who was abducted, raped and killed after a night of partying earlier this year at a Manhattan nightclub.
Last month, during one such undercover operation at the Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, Queens, police officers fired shots at three unarmed men and killed one, 23-year-old Sean Bell, on his wedding day. The case stunned the city. A man who answered the phone at the Kalua Cabaret on Friday said the establishment was still open.
On Friday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly applauded the closure of Club Phenomenon.
"Drugs and prostitution are neither harmless nor victimless crimes,'' Brown said in a statement. "They erode a neighborhood's quality of life, instill fear in its residents and create an atmosphere in which more serious crimes can flourish.''
A second nightclub, known as Club Fantasia, also was ordered shut Thursday because it is in the same building and shared an exit with Phenomenon. Phone calls to a number listed for Club Phenomenon resulted in busy signal Friday. There was no answer at Club Fantasia.
Toward the end of their investigation, officers in November arrested 29-year-old Billy Diaz of Queens on charges of selling cocaine to undercover officers six different times, the district attorney's office said.
Officials also allege that a club employee agreed to sell cocaine to officers but then told them he had sold out of stock for the night.
Diaz's attorney, Marvyn Kornberg, declined comment Friday.
The officers also were offered sex with various women at Club Phenomenon for prices between $400 to $500, but no arrests were made so as not to impede the drug investigation, the district attorney's office said.
A series of shootings have led to three deaths at the club scene, including the October death of 22-year-old Ernesto Salgado of Queens, who was sitting in a car outside the strip club. Also killed were Francisco Rosa, 32, an off-duty court officer working as a security guard at the club, in May 2004, and David Garcia, 23, who died after being shot during a fight outside the club in November 2003.
Charges have been brought against a suspect only in the case of Rosa.
The club's "closing will improve the quality of life for members of the community previously threatened by activities in and around this location,'' Kelly said in a statement.
Authorities pursued the court order for the club's closure under nuisance abatement laws. They also are seeking to have the club evicted from its building.
The body of Jennifer Moore, 18, of Harrington Park, N.J., was found in a West New York, N.J., trash bin in July. Draymond Coleman, 34, has been accused of killing Moore in a Weehawken hotel room after he lured the drunken teen, who had been partying at a Chelsea nightclub, into a taxi.
No comments:
Post a Comment