A surprise apology from the Big Apple’s departing nightlife czar to Peter Gatien – the town’s infamous “King of Clubs” – got here as an “unexpected” surprise that left some shaking their heads after he was deported 20 years 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 got here crashing down, Peter had 4 of the largest 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 repute. We recognize it was an injustice.”
Palitz’s contrition got here despite Gatien’s clubs earning a repute as crime- and drug-ridden dens of sin – where the scene was described as “Caligula with music.”
The lawlessness hit all-time low in 1996 when “Club Kid” Michael Alig, who worked for Gatien on 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 town’s nightlife scene throughout the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties as owner of 4 of the largest clubs – Limelight, Palladium, the Tunnel, and ClubUSA.
His dance palaces supplanted Studio 54 because the epicenters for the bridge-and-tunnel crowd to fulfill the “Brilliant Lights, Big City” movers-and-shakers in a nonstop orgy of medicine, dancing and debauchery.
However the music abruptly stopped after then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani went after Gatien as a part of a campaign to cleanse the town of the criminal behavior rampant at his clubs on the heels of the brutal murder by Alig.
Peter Gatien pictured in 1984 in his office on the Limelight nightclub.Getty Images
Peter Gatien’s clubs earned a repute as crime- and drug-ridden dens of sin – where the scene was described as “Caligula with music.”WireImage
By 1998, Gatien had been charged with drug-racketeering and conspiracy after being accused of peddling Ecstasy to clubgoers, a lot 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 employee at one among Gatien’s clubs was left flabbergasted by Palitz’s olive branch to Gatien on 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.”
Ariel Palitz toasted Gatien at a nightlife summit in Manhattan.Instagram/arielpalitz
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 have been drugs on the clubs, identical to there have been 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 on the summit as a nightlife community member and never in an official capability. She recently announced she is leaving the role.
“Have a look at how far we’ve come because 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.”
Brooke Shields celebrating her twenty first birthday on the Palladium in 1986.Getty Images
Madonna on the Palladium in 1985.Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
Richie Romero, a nightlife veteran and restaurateur who got his start as a 16-year-old party promoter for Gatien within the early Nineteen Nineties and who spoke on the summit, called Gatien “a pioneer who was unfairly targeted” by Giuliani.
He said the racketeering charges made no sense.
“He was earning profits as a club owner, from admission and the bars, not from drug dealers,” Romero said.
Gatien’s 4 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 very nice to listen to. I’m not obsessed about it, but when Giuliani’s name got here up, there’s some karma there,” he told Side Dish. “Things have definitely turned. He was definitely the force behind my demise. The town was relentless and principally bankrupted me. After I used to be acquitted of all charges, I believed in my naivete that they’d leave me alone.”
Michael Alig pictured in 2015.
As a substitute, 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’s now developing a series along with his daughter, documentary filmmaker Jennifer Gatien.
His daughter said Gatien’s legal troubles proceed to haunt her father.
“He needs to use for a special waiver to enter the US, and has to indicate up 4 hours early to the airport — and he can still be refused entry, because it is as much as the discretion of the US customs officers,” she said.
Gatien stands near one among the unique Tiffany stained glass windows of a former church that became the Limelight.Bettmann Archive
Richie Romero, a nightlife veteran and restaurateur, is keeping a few of Gatien’s legacy alive and even got married in Gatien’s former office on the Limelight last December.Latest York Post
Romero has tried to maintain a few of Gatien’s legacy alive. One in all his current hotspots includes the Jue Lan Club partly of the previous Limelight space, where “The Forbidden Room” is devoted to Gatien.
Lining the hallway partitions resulting in the room are party snaps from the club’s heyday, including one among Gatien, Donald Trump and publicist John Carmen. Romero even got married in Gatien’s former office on the Limelight last December.
“Peter has at all times been a legend to me. He created lots greater than Studio 54,” Romero said. “He created 4 mega clubs, and the nightlife experience that everyone seems to be trying to find today.”
Donald Trump with Peter Gatien, right, and publicist John Carmen.Richie Romer
Romero said Gatien’s ‘genius’ got here from bringing people together from different backgrounds and letting them express themselves under one roof – long before they might share selfies on social media.
“The clubs were where music and fashion were broken. Latest York was a melting pot, and other people mixed,” Romero said. “The stage was larger than the DJs. Latest York was king and Peter was ‘King of the Clubs.’”