Nearby strip club troubles Astoria cops and Community Board

Oct. 23, 2014 By Michael Florio

A gentlemen’s club that has been a persistent problem for the 114^th Police Precinct is seeking to renew its liquor license.

Perfection, located at 65-02 30^th Avenue, has drawn the ire of both the community board and the police precinct in recent times. Both are likely to try and block the strip club’s application to renew its license.

The club has been a magnet for crime and has required constant monitoring, according to Detective Edwin Negron, the community affairs officer at the 114^th precinct, who spoke at Tuesday’s Community Board 1 meeting.

Negron said that while it is hard to get a liquor license revoked, the precinct will be providing the State Liquor Authority (SLA) with its findings, and was calling on the board to block the SLA application.

Negron said that in the past two years there have 25 crimes that have taken place inside or directly outside the premises—including one murder; three shootings; and nine incidents involving violence causing physical injury. He said four of the 25 crimes involved employees such as bouncers.

Negron said the police have made 16 arrests over the two-year period. He said the constant problems continue to stretch the police’s resources that would be better used elsewhere.

He told the board that on one February night this year the police had to go to the establishment several times.

He said the first incident occurred at 2:50 am, when an individual attempted to enter the premises with a loaded handgun. Then at 3 am an individual was observed attempting to punch several people. Then, an hour later, there was a shooting where the victim was hit in the torso by an unknown perpetrator.

Negron said that these crimes are not the only problems Perfection brings to the community.

He said patrons are often seen urinating in public, as well as walking around with open containers of alcohol. These incidents often result in summonses and are left off the crime statistics.

He also added that these crimes have been linked to gang activity. Many of the individuals involved are not from Astoria or Woodside.

“We get a lot of people from different boroughs coming in, wreaking havoc and then leaving,” he said.

Representatives of the club could not be reached for comment.

Community Board 1 Chairman Vinicio Donato, after hearing the litany of problems, recommended that the Public Safety Committee, led by Tony Meloni, meet and come up with a recommendation.

That committee’s recommendation will then be put up for a vote at the next full board meeting on November 18^th.