Community News
Show Palace Shut Down
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM
Show Palace, a gentleman’s
club in Long Island City that
was recently busted for pro-moting
prostitution, was pad-locked
The closure
of Show
Palace is an
important and
hard-fought
success
for our
community.
MICHAEL GIANARIS
State Senator
by the NYPD Vice Squad on
Jan. 19.
According to the Daily News, cops shut
down the club located at 42-50 21st St. at
about midnight. Owner Gus Drakopoulos
must go to court if he wants to re-open
Show Palace, the Daily News reported.
22 FEBRUARY 2018 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
On Dec. 8, five women from the ages
of 20 to 35 years old were arrested at
the clubfor prostitution. Shortly after,
local officials and community leaders
held a press conference outside of the
site to urge the NYPD to shut it down.
Bishop Mitchell G. Taylor, the ex-ecutive
director of Urban Upbound, a
nonprofit that serves Queensbridge
Houses residents, argued that the 3,000
children living in the public housing
development should not have to walk
past the establishment.
“There have been numerous reports
of fights, shootings, drug distribution,”
he said at the press conference. “This
has become the hot bed of criminal
activity and I don’t think that we can
just stand on the sidelines and allow
businesses like this to be active in our
community.”
The all-nude nightclub had its ap-plication
for a liquor license denied by
the State Liquor Authority (SLA) three
times, most recently in January 2016.
The nightclub has also made head-lines
for violating liquor laws, selling
drugs, weapons charges and several
shootings.
On Dec. 13, Gianaris wrote a letter
to Queens District Attorney Richard
A. Brown asking that he invoke the
Nuisance Abatement Law, a law used
by the NYPD to shut down violent
clubs and bars and crime-prone busi-nesses.
It was first enacted in the ’70s
to curb the sex and drug industry in
Times Square.
“The closure of Show Palace is an
important and hard-fought success for
our community,” Gianaris said in a Jan.
21 statement. “Thanks to the NYPD and
the Queens District Attorney for continu-ing
to protect our neighborhoods. I will
remain vigilant in case this establishment
attempts to reopen.”
Photo by Dean Moses
Photo courtesy of Senator Michael Gianaris
