A surprise apology from the Big Apple’s departing nightlife czar to Peter Gatien – the city’s infamous “King of Clubs” – came as an “unexpected” surprise that left some shaking their heads after he was deported two decades ago, Side Dish has learned.
Ariel Palitz toasted Gatien, now 70, at a nightlife summit in Manhattan and lamented the raw deal that forced the eye-patch sporting club magnate into exile after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1999.
“When the hammer came crashing down, Peter had four of the biggest clubs ever,” Palitz told Side Dish. “We recognized that it was so unfair and excessive, since he was acquitted of what he had been accused of and deported after paying restitution and it ruined his life and reputation. We recognize it was an injustice.”
Palitz’s contrition came despite Gatien’s clubs earning a reputation as crime- and drug-ridden dens of sin – where the scene was described as “Caligula with music.”
The lawlessness hit rock bottom in 1996 when “Club Kid” Michael Alig, who worked for Gatien at the Limelight, and Robert “Freeze” Riggs beat to death and dismembered Angel Melendez, a small-time drug dealer whom Alig owed money.
Gatien had ruled the city’s nightlife scene throughout the 1980s and 1990s as owner of four of the biggest clubs – Limelight, Palladium, the Tunnel, and ClubUSA.
His dance palaces supplanted Studio 54 as the epicenters for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd to meet the “Bright Lights, Big City” movers-and-shakers in a nonstop orgy of drugs, dancing and debauchery.
But the music abruptly stopped after then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani went after Gatien as part of a campaign to cleanse the city of the criminal behavior rampant at his clubs on the heels of the brutal murder by Alig.
By 1998, Gatien had been charged with drug-racketeering and conspiracy after being accused of peddling Ecstasy to clubgoers, many of whom were underage. Gatien was acquitted of those charges, but he couldn’t beat the rap for tax evasion in 1999 and was sent packing to his native Canada in 2003.
A former worker at one of Gatien’s clubs was left flabbergasted by Palitz’s olive branch to Gatien at the summit held two weeks – which was attended by club owners and nightlife officials from Washington, DC, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Austin, Texas, Orlando, Pittsburgh and even Bogota, Colombia.
“Why the hell did she apologize?” the source told Side Dish. “The clubs were drug dens.”
Gatien, who lorded over the clubs in his pirate-like eye patch after losing his left eye in a childhood accident while playing stickball, has never denied that drugs were prevalent at his clubs.
“There were drugs at the clubs, just like there were drugs at Madison Square Garden, but they never shut down the Garden,” he told Side Dish.
Palitz, a former Lower East Side bar owner appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio five years ago, said she had spoken at the summit as a nightlife community member and not in an official capacity. She recently announced she is leaving the role.
“Look at how far we’ve come since the notorious ‘90s,” Palitz said. “If there had been an office of nightlife then, there would have been more fairness. Giuliani thought we were the enemy of the state.”
Richie Romero, a nightlife veteran and restaurateur who got his start as a 16-year-old party promoter for Gatien in the early 1990s and who spoke at the summit, called Gatien “a pioneer who was unfairly targeted” by Giuliani.
He said the racketeering charges made no sense.
“He was making money as a club owner, from admission and the bars, not from drug dealers,” Romero said.
Gatien’s four clubs drew 12,000 to 14,000 people on Friday and Saturday nights, Romero said.
Palitz’s “unexpected” apology was a welcome gesture, Gatien said.
“It was really nice to hear. I’m not obsessed about it, but when Giuliani’s name came up, there’s some karma there,” he told Side Dish. “Things have definitely turned. He was definitely the force behind my demise. The city was relentless and basically bankrupted me. After I was acquitted of all charges, I thought in my naivete that they’d leave me alone.”
Instead, Guiliani “held a press conference promising to shut us down,” Gatien said.
After being deported, Gatien opened a club in Toronto that didn’t last and wrote a book. He is now developing a series with his daughter, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Gatien.
His daughter said Gatien’s legal troubles continue to haunt her father.
“He needs to apply for a special waiver to enter the United States, and has to show up four hours early to the airport — and he can still be refused entry, as it is up to the discretion of the US customs officers,” she said.
Romero has tried to keep some of Gatien’s legacy alive. One of his current hotspots includes the Jue Lan Club in part of the former Limelight space, where “The Forbidden Room” is dedicated to Gatien.
Lining the hallway walls leading to the room are party snaps from the club’s heyday, including one of Gatien, Donald Trump and publicist John Carmen. Romero even got married in Gatien’s former office at the Limelight last December.
“Peter has always been a legend to me. He created a lot more than Studio 54,” Romero said. “He created four mega clubs, and the nightlife experience that everyone is searching for today.”
Romero said Gatien’s ‘genius’ came from bringing people together from different backgrounds and letting them express themselves under one roof – long before they could share selfies on social media.
“The clubs were where music and fashion were broken. New York was a melting pot, and people mixed,” Romero said. “The stage was bigger than the DJs. New York was king and Peter was ‘King of the Clubs.’”
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