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Security guards allowed fellow armed Trinitarios into the illegal club at the JMT Barbershop on East 18th Street, which opened at 3 a.m. and closed at 10 a.m., Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
"Staff” at the club sold cocaine while the owners and managers directed prostitution on the premises and outside the club, sold alcohol without a license and peddled hookah to be smoked outdoors, Speziale said.
Detectives conducted an undercover operation -- buying cocaine from within the business -- after a Trinitario was busted with an illegal handgun, the director said.
It culminated in an early-morning raid on Saturday, April 23.
Detectives from the Narcotics/Vice/ABC Division, assisted by the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and a city fire inspector found 85 people in the club, Speziale said.
They seized an imitation firearm along with 286 bottles of beer, 34 bottles of alcohol, three bottles of champagne, a bottle of wine, 13 hookahs and $22,216, the director said.
Nearly three dozen summonses were written and 14 criminal complaints signed, he said.
Among those busted on various charges -- including selling drugs, creating and risking widespread hazard and maintaining a nuisance -- were four Paterson residents:
- Owner Juan “Maravilla” Taveras, 38;
- Juan A. Osorio, a 28-year-old club security guard;
- Jose “King Kong” Nunez, a 34-year-old bartender;
- Danitza M. Reyes, a 39-year-old club manager.
Charged with obstruction for refusing to leave were Fabio Tavarez, 38, Rober Pujols, 43, and Ramon Vasquez, 40, all of Union City, and Ana G. Figueroa, 26, of Paterson.
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