Kenny Guido
Well-known member
Police charge drug use, raid club, arrest owner
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[/font]March 7, 2004, 5:09 PM EST
NEW YORK -- Police raided a Manhattan nightclub and arrested its owner on federal drug charges early Sunday, alleging the club's lax security policies allowed widespread illegal activity.
Federal agents and state and local police officers burst into Sound Factory on West 46th street around 5 a.m., arresting its owner and two members of its security team.
Owner Richard Grant, 61, and two employees face charges of providing a building for the distribution and use of narcotics, a so-called "stash house" charge that is more typically filed against owners of crack houses, U.S. Attorney David Kelley said.
Prosecutors charge that the club maintained a deliberately negligible security system that allowed the rampant sale of club drugs including Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine.
Police and drug enforcement agents said they made 90 undercover drug buys there over the past three years.
The club also had a policy of not calling 911 when patrons overdosed on drugs, officials said, alleging dozens of overdoses, including two fatalities.
Grant's attorney, Kenneth Aronson, disputed those claims.
"The club has gone way out of its way to prevent and discourage drug use," he said.
The city tried to shut down the club in civil proceedings in 1999 and 2003 but Sound Factory reopened after the owners and managers argued in court that they were installing security measures to prevent drug dealing in the club.
BTW........NO PAJAMA PARTY!!!!!!!!!!
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Top Stories
[/font]March 7, 2004, 5:09 PM EST
NEW YORK -- Police raided a Manhattan nightclub and arrested its owner on federal drug charges early Sunday, alleging the club's lax security policies allowed widespread illegal activity.
Federal agents and state and local police officers burst into Sound Factory on West 46th street around 5 a.m., arresting its owner and two members of its security team.
Owner Richard Grant, 61, and two employees face charges of providing a building for the distribution and use of narcotics, a so-called "stash house" charge that is more typically filed against owners of crack houses, U.S. Attorney David Kelley said.
Prosecutors charge that the club maintained a deliberately negligible security system that allowed the rampant sale of club drugs including Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine.
Police and drug enforcement agents said they made 90 undercover drug buys there over the past three years.
The club also had a policy of not calling 911 when patrons overdosed on drugs, officials said, alleging dozens of overdoses, including two fatalities.
Grant's attorney, Kenneth Aronson, disputed those claims.
"The club has gone way out of its way to prevent and discourage drug use," he said.
The city tried to shut down the club in civil proceedings in 1999 and 2003 but Sound Factory reopened after the owners and managers argued in court that they were installing security measures to prevent drug dealing in the club.
BTW........NO PAJAMA PARTY!!!!!!!!!!
