Rave crackdown results in Hollywood nightclub raid, drug arrests
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(Los Angeles-AP) -- The owner of a popular Hollywood nightclub
and where authorities raided for drugs over the weekend says the
bust was retaliation for his leading the area's campaign to secede
from Los Angeles.
Federal and state drug and alcohol agents descended on the
Circus Disco yesterday morning. They arrested five people on drug
charges and seized more than ten-thousand tablets of the club drug
Ecstasy.
Club owner Eugene LaPietra, who spearheaded the failed secession
measure, is accusing Mayor James Hahn of orchestrating the raid as
quote -- "political payback" for his activism.
But authorities say the raid caps a seven-month undercover
probe, following the September 2001 death of a 27-year-old man who
had taken Ecstasy at the club.
Investigators say they bought Ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana and
other drugs from 25 people at the club -- six of the sales were
either made or assisted by nightclub employees.
LaPietra says his staff has cooperated with past drug
investigations.
