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Exit/SF Shutdown!!! [Update: SF Reopening]
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| LuNaSeA |
It's all here:
PRESS RELEASE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2003-011
Friday, February 7, 2003
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan announce closure of two nightclbs in Manhattan on charges of ongoing illegalL "designer" drug activities.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan today announced the closure of two large nightclubs in Manhattan on charges of ongoing illegal drug activities. The Sound Factory, at 616-620 West 46th Street, and Exit, at 610 West 56th Street, were closed on Friday, February 7, by order of the New York State Supreme Court. These closing orders are subject to modification by the court.
"The New York City Police Department is combatting the illegal narcotics trade everywhere in our city – not only in the streets, but also in nightclubs," said Commissioner Kelly. "Our detectives did a terrific job throughout this investigation. Thanks to their hard work, we are sending a clear message to nightclub owners: If you allow illegal drugs to saturate your business and endanger your patrons, we'll shut you down."
Special Narcotics Prosecutor Brennan said: "Most of those we are prosecuting are college students who seemed to have no preciation of the legal consequences to themselves or the harm that their distribution of the drugs brought to their customers. The special treatment they received in the exclusive areas of the clubs enhanced their sense that they could conduct criminal business with impunity."
Both nightclubs have been the scene of numerous narcotics crimes, usually involving illegal "designer" drugs, such as Ecstasy (methylenedioxy methamphetamine or MDMA) and Special K (ketamine). In Exit, undercover detectives not only purchased drugs easily, they also observed many club patrons using them in the open. In other incidents, detectives purchased benign substances that the sellers claimed were illegal drugs, a common ploy used by narcotics dealers to defraud naive drug buyers.
The nightclub was previously the subject of a nuisance abatement action, in September 2000. After extensive negotiations with the club owners at that time, Exit was allowed to operate after club management agreed to institute numerous anti-drug policies, including hiring an independent private-sector inspector general, or IPSIG, to monitor and report on club activities. The IPSIG agreement covered a nine-month period, from October 2001 to June 2002.
At Sound Factory, the larger nightclub with a capacity of more than 1,400 people, undercover detectives purchased Ecstasy, Special K, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. During the investigation, drug use by patrons was clearly in the open. In fact, on Jan. 26, 2003, a 19-year-old woman overdosed and was removed from the club in an unconscious state. The Sound Factory was also temporarily closed by nuisance abatement order on April 30, 1999.
This investigation was initiated by the Narcotics Division of the New York City Police Department and the investigation was assisted by the office of the Special Narcotics prosecutor and the NYPD's Civil Enforcement Unit. The Civil Enforcement Unit secured nuisance abatement closing orders against 649 locations across the city in 2002, for charges including illegal narcotics, gambling, ostitution, auto crime, stolen property, alcohol beverage control law, and trademark infringement offenses.
Eleven defendants are being prosecuted for drug sales inside the clubs by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
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Arena's gone too....
Word is that Arc is next.. |
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| drizzt81 |
| quote: | Originally posted by LuNaSeA
___________________________
Arena's gone too....
Word is that Arc is next.. |
I know why I am going back home to germany. |
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| TECHno addict |
WOW.
Im sorry to hear this NYTA's......hopefully they dont go completely insane and close down all the big clubs you guys have. Youre always welcome up here in Toronto.....you can carry a bag of weed around and only get a ticket if ya get caught!! Plus weve got some pretty sweet talent comin in the near future...... |
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| drizzt81 |
| quote: | Originally posted by TECHno addict
WOW.
Im sorry to hear this NYTA's......hopefully they dont go completely insane and close down all the big clubs you guys have. Youre always welcome up here in Toronto.....you can carry a bag of weed around and only get a ticket if ya get caught!! Plus weve got some pretty sweet talent comin in the near future...... |
*breathes in*
*ready for rant about values in the usa...*
-nah.. not at 4am |
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| Starfox |
damn...I hope roxy is not shutdown, at least not before Paul's gig.
xxx
f0x |
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| stringfelowhawk |
I really didn't like those clubs but this totally sucks for a couple reasons.
1) Meatheads and the rest of the crowd that exists at those places are gonna fill to other places (Thank god Arc doesn't have a liquor license)
2) I fear this is only the beginning |
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| kid nyce |
| i dont wanna think about anything before pauls gigs except the night running smoothly with banging van dyk |
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| amdmaxx |
| imagine how PACKED Roxy gonna be if SF and EXIT stay closed? |
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| LuNaSeA |
i understand you guys don't want to have anything mess up paul's gig... me neither... but there's a MUCH bigger issue at hand that everyone seems to be disregarding in place of their own interests.. :( i'm a bit shook up by this.. not bc i liked these places but bc something good was actually happened and this is a Huge blow to the scene.. again... and i'm def. not mad at the cops for doing this. so anyway, these are my random ramblings/thoughts about this..
everyone says "so what if exit and sf closed down? they sucked anyway." i def. wasn't a fan of their crowd/music either. however, they did stand for something since they were among the most popular clubs in nyc-- who really knows what's next? if they have the capability to shut down these two huge clubs, then what?
but even more importantly... clubs are another kind of spiritual home for us.. they don't understand how much we love this kind of music, and that's why i'm taking this to heart, as much as i didn't like sf or exit.. cops just think that if you get rid of the clubs, the people will just stop doing the ish they were doin there in the first place.. everyone knows that's not true.. and like cockroaches, they will all just go to another place in darkness to continue what they love doing... for the most part, ppl didn't care about the music so much as they did looks/drugs, u know the deal...
so, we know the people will go someplace else to enjoy what they love most.. however.. the music/the djs have very few places left to go. they can't just migrate to another club play there when they want, how they want... after twilo closed for example, it took So long to get the regular djs back into the scene regularly.. (take pvd for example..) so, as everyone believes here, the music comes first.. and that's really the trouble here..there are few places left to go.. how much can roxy take? and arc?
i just have two other things to say in relation to this..
1> it's the people's fault. i'm sorry to say that everyone who does drugs is at partial fault to this. it's the primary reason of the cops to shut down clubs in general. i'm not saying it's the only reason why clubs are shutdown, i donm't know what other motives the cops had but that was blatantly listed as one of them..
2> it was also they club's fault. some of these places had drug dealers for promoters, working/dealing inside the clubs... corrupt staff, etc.. they also didn't have consistent security.. sometimes they would pat down, sometimes they wouldn't.. mostly bc of laziness to protect themselves and other.
so what's the solution? i don't know. i'm just getting out what i feel, how i feel, etc..i'm clueless as to what's to happen now.
on another note, i just wanted to make clear that i don't hate people who do drugs.. not at all.. i don't do drugs myself but i Do Not have anything against anyone who does something (could be anything, really..not just drug taking) and knows the full consequences of their actions... relating to the situation... people who did drugs at these places really shouldn't be shocked at what happened bc they knew they perpetrated club stereotypes,as well as the facts that people like ABCs, Narcs, undercover police crawled in thes places to seek out evidence to raid.. and in general, everyone who has partied at lesat for a year and a half or so in nyc knows how fragil the club scene is...
ah, ok, that's enough random crap for now.. FFF (Feel Free to Flame) hehe.. but that's just my calm/honest opinion on the matter.. |
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| kirbtastic |
the days of the mega clubs have been numbered ever since peter gatian got busted. if u look at the people that go to exit and sf, id say 75% of the people are not there for the music. they say they are there for the music, but what they mean is im here for the way the music makes me feel when im on k or e. they go the because its big, dark and drugs are readily available and easy to get away with doing.
the only thing that sucks is that like this will scare away people who want to open legit clubs. although i love NYC and couldnt even think about lving anywhere else, we will never have the type of clubs that they have over seas. our drug laws are way to strict and people have way to much to lose if caught. |
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| Mysteriousss |
| quote: | Originally posted by LuNaSeA
i understand you guys don't want to have anything mess up paul's gig... me neither... but there's a MUCH bigger issue at hand that everyone seems to be disregarding in place of their own interests.. |
Don't expect 99% of the people to give a about this.. Did you happen to read PVD's interview from a while ago when he was talking about Twilo being shut down and in general about authorities shutting down clubs thinking it'll stop kids from doing drugs? He was totally on point but of course they'll do what they wanna do..
I'm seriously pissed off even though I haven't been to either SF or Exit in at least 6 months.. I really hope they find a better way to deal with this issue other than simply shutting down places.. Coz people will take their drugs and go to bars, lounges, house parties, etc.. |
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