Popular watering hole closes after bust

A recent drug bust has forced Dorney and Malone’s Tavern to close its doors. 

The New York State Liquor Authority suspended the liquor license for the popular Irish pub on Broadway, following the arrest of its owner Peter Patetsios, 48, on Aug. 23. 

Police said they found almost two kilos of cocaine and an assortment of illegal prescription drugs at his bar, located at 5993 Broadway.  

“A friend said she was passing the club — driving, I think — and saw the cops trying to smash a safe on the sidewalk in front of Dorney’s,” said Jim Wacker, a musician who has been performing at Dorney and Malone’s for three years. “She told me, via e-mail, that she was glad I wasn’t playing there anymore.”

But Mr. Wacker said he was disappointed. 

“It was part of the community. The end of a great tradition of live music on that two-block stretch of Broadway,” he said.  “I’d rather close the State Liquor Authority.”

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said it was Mr. Patetsios himself who triggered an investigation that led to his subsequent arrest and the shuttering of his bar.

On Aug. 23, at around 4 a.m., he told police he was robbed at gunpoint while counting money. Police said that it was while they were investigating Mr. Patetsios’ claims that they began to speculate the robbery was drug-related. They referred the case to the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, which was able to acquire a search warrant that it carried out that evening. 

Police returned to find 516 oxycodone pills, 124 hydrocodone pills, 18 alprazolam pills and almost two kilos of cocaine, according to charges filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. Lab test results of the drugs found are still pending. 

The officer carrying out the search told officials he observed “four prescription bottles and six plastic bags, each containing numerous pills” in a locked storage closet in the back office. He also reported he saw many loose prescription pills on the shelf. Underneath the shelf, the officer said he found a safe containing a one-kilogram brick, two large bags, 43 smaller Ziploc bags and 14 “twists,” each containing the cocaine, according to charges filed by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor. The officer reported to the Office that he also found two Ziploc bags of coke on the floor of the same closet.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said police seized more than $3,000 from Mr. Patetsios the day he was arrested.  She said he had $1,091 in cash on him.

“I am the sole owner of the bar,” said Mr. Patetsios to a detective after he had carried out the search, according to the charges. “What did you find in there, drugs?” 

Though a few Dorney and Malone’s patrons admit to never having noticed any suspicious activity in the bar, most said illegal activity there was anything but inconspicuous.