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Among those who turned up at Besan Café on East Railway Avenue were city inspectors, who'd shut the business down following a police raid earlier this year.
Addressing illegal clubs is both a quality-of-life and regulatory issue, authorities say. For one thing, they tend to attract crime. For another, the owners and operators avoid both regulation and the necessary fees and taxes that honest business owners pay.
City authorities said community members had previously complained about the Besan Café, where a couple was shot shortly before dawn on Jan. 6.
SEE: Paterson Officials Raid, Close Hookah Lounge Where Couple Was Shot
This time, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale, a weekend bash scheduled to run from 3 to 6 a.m. was “publicized and posted throughout the city.”
Shortly after 4 a.m., police and fire inspectors moved in, backed by uniformed officers and detectives.
Owner Fadi Abuawad told the inspectors that he’d been paid $700 by an entertainment company to host an after-hours bash, Speziale said.
Police had arrested Abuawad, 36, on weapons possession charges during January's raid after finding a Pietro Beretta 6mm BB gun and a machete with a 16-inch blade at the club. They also charged him with selling hookahs being used indoors.
City officials ordered the business closed at the time until certain requirements were met.
This time, Abuawad received summonses for allowing smoking in the establishment and for not having an entertainment license, Speziale said.
Police also seized 50 hookahs, 136 hookah hoses, and “various amounts of hookah supplies,” the director said.
City fire inspectors determined that there were “minor maintenance issues with the fire system, but that the establishment could remain open,” he said.
ALSO SEE: Paterson police raided an after-hours club that they said was operated by two 19-year-olds, served minors and even advertised on social media.
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