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.
NYCHICK
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figures..............
Lisa Rose
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hmmmm....like that is a surprise???
june262004
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Posted by Lisa Rose
hmmmm....like that is a surprise???
Seriously I laughed when I heard it on the news.
julz33
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Posted by june262004
The club also had a policy of not calling 911 when patrons overdosed on drugs, officials said, alleging dozens of overdoses, including two fatalities.
One of these was a kid from my highschool senior year
june262004
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Posted by julz33
Posted by june262004
The club also had a policy of not calling 911 when patrons overdosed on drugs, officials said, alleging dozens of overdoses, including two fatalities.
One of these was a kid from my highschool senior year
OMG Julz....
djkatscan
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Well duh...Sound Factory and Exctacy? hmm BIG SURPRISE! I'm also not surprissed they did not call 911 when someone ODéd....prolly was not that big a deal to them.
butterfly20
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Posted by Lisa Rose
hmmmm....like that is a surprise???
Ronnie&Theresa
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Viva Sound Factory
I am so happy Richard is going DOWN!!!!
But JP is opening black on Sat so the drugheads will be off to Black!
eroxgirl
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Posted by Ronnie&Theresa
Viva Sound Factory
I am so happy Richard is going DOWN!!!!
But JP is opening black on Sat so the drugheads will be off to Black!
they never really disappear, they just move to a different club. And in 5 years, they'll shut that one down and another will open....
allure
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Sound Factory is a Hole In The Wall
Valentinegirl
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This was bound to happen sometime. It will probably reopen w/ a new name or something.
Ronnie&Theresa
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I don't think it will ever open..
Since there are 2 deaths on these people's hands people aren't going to take this so lightly...
The crowd follows the DJ and the DJ bought Exit...
Valentinegirl
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Posted by Ronnie&Theresa
I don't think it will ever open..
Since there are 2 deaths on these people's hands people aren't going to take this so lightly...
The crowd follows the DJ and the DJ bought Exit...
Youre right. They will all go there now.
Danielle&Scott
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I cannot believe it took so long for them to be busted. I have never been there but I have heard things about that place.
Ronnie&Theresa
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3/9/04 Sound Factory Article - Front Page Measure of justice for mom
Federal drug raps for nightclub owner, security bosses
By ROBERT GEARTY and GREG GITTRICH DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
William Perweiler, who runs ambulance crews at St. Vincent's Medical Center in midtown, says Sound Factory was notorious spot for late-night drug emergencies.
Two years after her son took a deadly dose of Ecstasy inside a Hell's Kitchen dance club, a mother found comfort yesterday as the hot spot's owner and security bosses were arraigned on federal drug charges. 'Nothing is going to replace my child,' said the grieving mother, who asked not to be identified. 'But you don't want to see anyone else get hurt. The club has to be closed for good.'
Cops and federal agents stormed the Sound Factory on W. 46th St. early Sunday after spending months gathering evidence that the club encouraged drug dealing in order to keep crowds coming.
'How could the club owner not know that so many drugs were there? It's disgusting,' the mother said of Richard Grant, 61, whose club pocketed $6 million a year in cover charges alone.
'I know my son was an adult and was responsible for his actions. But the drugs should not have been so easily available.'
Grant and his security chiefs, Ronald Coffiel and Randell Rogiers, were arraigned yesterday under a federal statute that makes it a crime to provide a safe haven for drug dealers.
Grant's lawyer Kenneth Aronson said the club had no role in the drug dealing and the three could not be held responsible.
But there was nothing secret about what went on inside the Sound Factory, according to paramedics who grew accustomed to carting convulsing patrons from the club to St. Vincent's Medical Center in midtown.
'It's notorious,' said William Perweiler, who manages the hospital's ambulance crews. 'We'd average three to four patients on Friday and Saturday nights out of there.
'It was so expected that one or two of our ambulance crews would patrol up and down 11th Ave.,' Perweiler said. 'Mostly, it was drug overdoses with multiple drugs.'
Grant, Coffiel and Rogiers all pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to charges that could put them in prison for up to 20 years.
Authorities also revealed yesterday that a club bouncer, Albert Rodriguez, was arrested and charged with taking payoffs from drug dealers.
The Sound Factory remains open but federal prosecutors, who are seeking $18 million in fines, have asked that the club be closed as part of any bail package for Grant.
'It's a good possibility that's going to happen,' Aronson conceded. 'If the government is after you, it's not a good thing.'
Three guns and ammunition seized during Sunday's raid allegedly belonged to Coffiel, whose bail was set at $2 million. Grant and Rogiers were awaiting bail hearings.
Prosecutor Benjamin Lawsky charged that Coffiel knowingly let drug dealers into the club and admonished a bouncer for attempting to kick out a dealer.
Coffiel allegedly told the bouncer: 'If you're going to be the sheriff around here, you're not going to work out.'
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MarcellaBella
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Posted by Danielle&Scott
I cannot believe it took so long for them to be busted. I have never been there but I have heard things about that place.
This isn't the first time and to be honest, I'm impressed that only 2 people died there.. Considering that if you OD'd you were thrown into a closet and doused with water..
SF used to be an awesome place back in the day until all the crackheads got out of hand.. lol
