DISCO OWNER CALLS DRUG RAID A PAYBACK

Gene La Pietra says his Hollywood secession bid sparked reprisal. Hahn aide
calls claim absurd.

State authorities arrested five people in a drug raid at a Hollywood
nightclub over the weekend, a move the club's owner called retaliation for
his efforts to make Hollywood an independent city.

"The police call this a drug raid. I call it a raid on my reputation, and
I'm very disappointed," Gene La Pietra, the leader of the failed Hollywood
secession movement, said of the action Saturday at his club.

A spokesman for Mayor James K. Hahn dismissed La Pietra's claims.

"It sounds like Gene La Pietra needs to focus more on cleaning up his
businesses than on making these absurd charges," said Matt Middlebrook,
deputy mayor for policy and communications.

Among the five people arrested Saturday night on drug charges by the state
Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control were two employees of La Pietra's
Circus Disco, said Lupe Garcia, ABC assistant director.

Over seven months at the club, investigators from ABC and the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration bought more than 10,000 Ecstasy pills, worth
more than $200,000 on the street, Garcia said.

ABC investigators, aided by the DEA, bought the Ecstasy, along with
cocaine, marijuana and katemine, on 26 occasions from 25 individuals,
Garcia said. On six occasions, club employees either facilitated or sold
the drugs.

La Pietra was not arrested during the raid, and no official has called him
a target of the investigation. Garcia said, however, that the ABC would
look into possibly requesting penalties, such as a suspension or revocation
of the club's liquor license.

In response to La Pietra's claim that he was targeted because of secession,
Garcia said, "This is a state investigation. We initiated this over seven
months ago."

"We've been checking nightclubs, not only in this area, but elsewhere in
the state" looking for Ecstasy sales at rave events, he said.

La Pietra said he has never had any kind of violation in more than three
decades of owning the club. He also said that if the investigation began
seven months ago, it was just at the time that Hollywood secessionists won
their fight to put a secession measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.

At a news conference outside Circus Disco on Monday afternoon, La Pietra
said he was present at the raid, which began about 11:15 p.m. Saturday. He
said he saw about 100 Los Angeles Police Department officers entering his
property through three gates--evidence, he said, of the city's involvement.

LAPD spokesman Sgt. John Pasquariello said police deployed 15 uniformed
officers, three plainclothes detectives and one supervisor to assist about
40 ABC investigators.

"This is entirely an ABC investigation. We had a supporting role in the
service of the search warrant, as we would with any outside agency serving
a warrant in the city of Los Angeles," Pasquariello said.

Prompted by Flier

Garcia said the investigation began when ABC investigators saw a flier on a
car windshield "inviting people to a rave event at Circus." He said
investigators also found references to rave parties at the club on Internet
sites.

The investigation relied, in part, on the work of Trinka D. Porrata, whom
an ABC press release described as "one of the nation's leading experts on
Ecstasy and rave events."

The ABC said Porrata visited the club and described what she saw as a rave
event because of "lack of drug or weapon searches at the front door,
extensive security, numerous patrons under the influence of designer drugs,
the type of music, laser lighting, glow sticks, sales of water bottles and
so-called power drinks with a high concentration of caffeine such as Red
Bull, an outside cooling off area, and other factors."

The press release said that caffeine enhances the Ecstasy high and "creates
a super high which gives a hallucinogenic effect," and that loud music,
laser lights and glow sticks add to "the psychedelic effect." It said water
counters dehydration from Ecstasy and other designer drugs.

La Pietra said the club is not the site of raves.

"Raves are for kids, for teenagers. My club is 21 and over," he said.

He said the club also doesn't have a cooling off area, but does have an
emergency medical technician on hand in a tent outside.

"So does Disneyland. So do a lot of churches," he said.

As for selling the caffeinated drink Red Bull, he said it's available
everywhere, "from high schools to the Super Bowl."

"And water! Everyone sells water," he said. "It's the national drink."