Buffalo- from www.buffalonews.com – Jay Vellon never graduated from high school and got fired from his last construction job after a drug bust, but he was a card-carrying VIP whenever he went to the 24KT Gold strip club on Lake Shore Road in Hamburg.

Vellon would call ahead, so he always had his special table waiting. He would tip the doorman $50 or $100, tip the dancers while they stripped and then set up for business inside the club.

Vellon’s business, he told a State Liquor Authority hearing Tuesday in Buffalo, was supplying drugs to the dancers, disc jockey, night manager and, on four to five occasions, even club owner Mark Whipple.

“Every time I walked in the club, I’d have 30 to 40 baggies of cocaine, 15 to 30 Lortabs [pain pills] and five to 10 bundles of heroin,” Vellon testified under oath.

Last week, federal authorities named Vellon, 37, who appeared at the hearing with his head shaved and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, as the leader of a ring that supplied drugs to 24KT Gold and Rick’s Tally-Ho in Cheektowaga.

He was the first witness in the State Liquor Authority’s attempt to strip the 24KT Gold club of its liquor license. Rick’s Tally Ho’s hearing will be held later.

Vellon, a native of Puerto Rico who moved to Buffalo when he was 9, is testifying for the Liquor Authority as part of a deal that his lawyer, John J. Molloy, is negotiating with federal prosecutors.

Vellon was one of 27 people arrested March 2 when the FBI raided the two strip clubs, which they said were harboring prostitution and drug dealing.

In an emergency hearing March 25, the Liquor Authority pulled the clubs’ liquor licenses, ruling that activities at both constituted “a severe threat to public health and safety.”

Strippers still work at both clubs, which have remained open, serving only soft drinks while they fight the charges.

Phillip Dabney Jr., a Buffalo attorney serving as an administrative law judge, will decide after the hearing whether the Liquor Authority has proved its case and the liquor license should be pulled permanently.

David B. Smith, an attorney representing license holder Christine Whipple, Mark Whipple’s wife, described the testimony as “hearsay allegations of alleged felons.”

No charges have been brought against either Whipple, and Smith got Vellon to admit that he had never met Christina Whipple and could not identify the club’s co-owner, who sat next to Smith at the hearing.

Vellon also said that he never sold cocaine directly to Mark Whipple, because he felt uncomfortable selling to the owner. He said he would deliver the drugs to the club’s night manager, identified only as Tony.

Vellon told Lisa M. Bonacci, the Liquor Authority’s deputy counsel, that he made four to five trips a week to 24KT Gold after receiving cell phone calls or text messages from club disc jockey Robert Oliver, with a drug order.

Oliver, also charged by prosecutors, would call whenever any of the dancers or anybody else at the club needed drugs, Vellon testified.

“Did you deliver drugs to patrons?” Bonacci asked.

“Yes,” he said. “The girls would say, ‘this is for a client of mine.’ ”

Vellon said the dancers would take clients into private VIP rooms that rented for $22 a song or $135 for a half hour.

He said the women would have sex with clients in the rooms — private rooms that 24KT Gold never revealed to the Liquor Authority. When pressed by Smith for proof, Vellon said he had witnessed oral sex between the dancers and clients several times.

Vellon also said he rented the room frequently to have sex with the dancers, either paying them or in exchange for drugs.

Vellon, who said he is married and his wife is pregnant, named five dancers as his sexual partners.

How many times did he have sex with the strippers, the Liquor Authority’s attorney asked him.

“Numerous times,” Vellon replied. “Probably 40, 50, 60 times.”

Vellon said he brought his 18-year-old son to the club on his birthday over the Christmas holidays and bought him a drink. Bonacci added a serving alcohol to minors charge as he testified.

Vellon said he has sold drugs since he was 18 but seemed to take pride when he insisted: “I’ve never consumed any drugs in my life.”

He had trouble giving the last names of strippers and the exact dates when he sold them drugs, finally erupting at Smith, the defense attorney: “I’m under a lot of pressure. My wife is pregnant, I’m facing federal charges.”

The judge adjourned the hearings until federal prosecutors turn over business records seized from the club during the raid.