8 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 27, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
LIC bar owner defends club amid SLA action over violence
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com
@QNS
Th e State Liquor Authority cited a history
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of violence at the Embassy Lounge
in suspending the Long Island City club’s
liquor license last month — but the club’s
owner says they got it all wrong.
“I’m here to clear up any discrepancies,”
said Mario Kokkonis, owner of the
Embassy Lounge, in an interview with
Th e Courier. “Sometimes facts are not put
into play the right way, that’s what I feel is
going on with my situation.”
Kokkonis has owned the Embassy
Lounge, located at 33-02 Queens Blvd.,
for the past 10 years. On Nov. 6, the State
Liquor Authority (SLA) suspended the
club’s liquor license, citing recent violent
altercations on or near the premises.
According to Kokkonis, the statements
that were released by the SLA are not
true. Th e Embassy Lounge is undergoing
a hearing process to get the decision
overturned.
“In the midst of a hearing, the SLA
shouldn’t be leaking stuff that isn’t true.”
said Kokkonis.
According to the SLA, the Embassy
Lounge pleaded not guilty to the charges
on Nov. 8. An initial hearing was held on
Dec. 7 to address the charges.
An Oct. 26 incident led the SLA to
take action against Embassy Lounge.
According to the SLA, a female patron
was stabbed by another patron, resulting
in the loss of her eye. Th e licensee
failed to call 911 to report the incident,
and refused to later share video surveillance
footage.
Kokkonis, who has video surveillance
from that night, states that the victim
didn’t lose her eye at all, and that his
bouncers broke up the fi ght, which had
taken place up the block from the club.
“You can write a report and confuse
anybody. Th e police report started out by
saying ‘Perp saw female inside establishment
which resulted in a female patron
being stabbed, losing eye directly outside.’
But later in the report it says that ‘the victim
is in danger of losing her eye,’” said
Kokkonis. “In another report from that
same night, they said that the girl “had
an argument with known acquaintance,
perp stabbed her above eye and sliced
her left cheek, and was able to get away.”
Th at’s three diff erent stories in two police
reports.”
Th e victim in this incident has not
returned a request for comment at the
time of publication.
Th e SLA cited other incidents of violence
at the Embassy Lounge — and for
each of them, Kokkonis had an explanation.
Th e SLA said that on Oct. 2, an altercation
took place at the Embassy Lounge
resulting in a woman being hit with a bottle
during a brawl on the premises. In that
incident, which according to Kokkonis
actually took place on Sept. 2, the woman
had fallen and hit her shoulder on a club
speaker.
Th e SLA went on to issue more charges
against the club at a later date, including
operating a disorderly premise, employing
a felon, failure to maintain books and
records, and improper conduct for refusing
to provide medical aid to an injured
patron.
A representative from the SLA noted
that the Embassy Lounge has a extensive
history of complaints and charges from
the SLA. Th e charges, dating back to 2014,
range from fi re and safety code violations
to selling alcohol to minors.
One incident in particular that drew
a lot of attention was a shooting outside
the club, which was operating under the
name Club Allure at the time, in October
2014 that left four people injured.
Other incidents that the Club Allure
faced in recent history include an alleged
stabbing on Nov. 9, 2014 and an incident
on Dec. 6, 2015 where three men
were arrested aft er one threatened to kill
a bouncer.
In December 2015, leadership from
the Long Island City area called on the
SLA to permanently revoke Club Allure’s
liquor license. Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer condemned the club for the number
of incidents, saying that “these numbers
should be troubling to every single
person, including the people who run,
operate and own this club.”
A representative from Community
Board 2 stated that Kokkonis had
expressed interest in meeting with their
Chair of City Services, but were unable to
provide further updates regarding the status
of the Embassy Lounge.
In many of the previous charges, the
Embassy Lounge pleaded “no contest,”
resulting in over $15,000 in fi nes, and the
rest of the charges were ultimately dismissed.
Kokkonis admits that his bar isn’t perfect,
and that there have been fi ghts on
his club’s premises before. However, as
the hearing process goes on, Kokkonis
wants the public to know that he is committed
to doing his best to keep the bar
out of trouble.
Read more about the Embassy Lounge
at QNS.com.
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