By Kathianne Boniello
While the owners of Little Corner Tavern at 254-25 Northern Blvd. in Little Neck and of Alley Park Tavern at 224-07 Union Turnpike were not implicated in the drug activity, both were expected to appear before judges this week in separate hearings to learn the fates of their businesses, police said.
The owners of each bar could not be reached for comment as of presstime Tuesday.
Capt. Kevin Fitzgerald, who took over command of the 111th Police Precinct last week from Capt. Anthony Mullen, said last Thursday's closures underscored the NYPD's commitment to shutting down drug activity.
“Even though there's not much drug activity in the 111th Precinct,” he said, “this shows that we do try to go in there and knock them out.”
The closures of both the Little Corner Tavern and Alley Park Tavern occurred during Fitzgerald's second day on the job at the 111th Precinct. The former head of Queens Patrol Borough South's Narcotics Squad said he would work to continue to reduce crime in the precinct, which has seen some of the lowest crime statistics in the city over the last several years.
Capt. Anthony Mullen was promoted late last month to the position of Deputy Inspector at the 110th Precinct in Corona. Fitzgerald is a 16-year veteran of the NYPD.
Detective Gene Madden, of Queens Patrol Borough North's Narcotics Division, said undercover officers were allegedly able to buy cocaine at the Little Corner Tavern 10 times during an investigation conducted between April and August 2000.
“Right now they're closed and the investigation is ongoing,” he said. Madden described last Thursday night's raid on the tavern as peaceful.
The investigation into the suspected drug dealers' operations in the Little Corner Tavern has led detectives to several different locations, including Brooklyn, Madden said.
Madden said people were coming from all over Queens and Long Island to purchase illegal drugs at Little Corner Tavern.
Two arrests were made over the summer in connection with the alleged drug activity at the tavern, said Madden, who declined to release further information because of the ongoing investigation.
The closing of the Alley Park Tavern in Hollis Hills was equally quiet, said Detective Joseph Fusco, also of Queens Patrol Borough North's Narcotics Division.
During an investigation dating back to early April, Fusco said, undercover officers looked into suspected drug sales at the bar and arrested five people who allegedly possessed both marijuana and cocaine in October.
After obtaining search warrants, Fuss said, narcotics detectives found that at least one of the dealers suspected of using the Alley Park Tavern as a place to sell drugs allegedly had four pounds of marijuana, Ecstasy and Viagra in his possession.
Both investigations were supervised by Sgt. Bryan McNulty of the Queens Borough Patrol North Narcotics Squad, Madden said.
