NYC- Less than two weeks after it sued Unicorn DVD seeking to close the porn shop for allegedly allowing prostitution, the New York City police department has withdrawn that lawsuit with no explanation.
"Plaintiff has discontinued that action as against all parties pursuant to the annexed notice of voluntary discontinuance dated January 27, 2009," Judge Michael D. Stallman wrote in a February 2 court filing.
The police department sued the shop, located at Eighth Avenue and 27th Street, on January 14, after three men were arrested for prostitution there on September 28 and another two were busted on the same charge on October 8.
At least 27 men were arrested on prostitution charges in Manhattan porn shops last year. The busts are seen as false arrests and have sparked an angry community response.
Altogether, police have arrested at least 52 men in eight different Manhattan porn shops dating back to 2004. Citing those prostitution arrests, the city brought nuisance abatement lawsuits against seven of the eight businesses, including Unicorn, seeking to close them.
Four of the seven lawsuits came in 2008, with one of the four shops closing. Two businesses were sued in 2007, with one closing. The remaining businesses stayed open under agreements with the city that restricted their operations.
Why the department abandoned the Unicorn case so quickly is unclear, but it may be related to four of the five men contesting the charges against them. Gay City News has not identified the fifth man arrested there or determined the status of his case.
The city's nuisance abatement law requires "two or more criminal convictions of persons for acts of prostitution in the building, erection or place... within the one-year period preceding the commencement" of a lawsuit. If the city were to lose the four cases being contested, it would have only one conviction, assuming the fifth man pleaded guilty.
Gay City News has reviewed dozens of nuisance abatement lawsuits that concerned prostitution, unlicensed massage, gambling, drug dealing, or selling counterfeit goods and found only one other suit that was withdrawn.
There have also been persistent rumors among defense attorneys - and they are only rumors - that detectives and police officers in the Manhattan South Vice Enforcement Squad, who made many of the arrests, may have submitted flawed paperwork in the porn shop arrests.
Asked in an email if the withdrawal had anything to do with questions about the integrity of the police documents that support the lawsuit, Paul J. Browne, the police department's chief spokesman, responded "No" in an email, but otherwise did not explain why the case was ended.
Alicia Maxey Greene, spokeswoman for Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, said, "I decline to comment" in response to an email asking if her agency had an inquiry into flawed police documents.
The outcry over the prostitution arrests may also have contributed, though the lawsuit against Unicorn was initiated well after that outcry began.
"It sounds to me like because of the pressure that is coming down," said Joel Czarlinsky, a member of the Coalition to Stop the Arrests. "If it's in a court case, it's going to be exposed... That's what it sounds like to me."
Unicorn's owner did not know the police had withdrawn the suit when contacted by Gay City News, and the landlord did not respond to a call seeking comment.
"To me it seems plausible that because of the attention brought about by the town hall and the media attention in the aftermath of the town hall this nuisance abatement suit might have been withdrawn because of that," said Robert Pinter, who was arrested for prostitution in Blue Door Video last year and founded the coalition. "We're going to keep the spotlight on this conduct until these false arrests end."
A town hall on the arrests drew some 300 people to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center on January 15.
Gay community anger over the arrests launched the coalition, which will hold a noon rally on February 14, Valentine's Day, outside of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's home at 17 East 79th Street and a February 21 rally at 4 p.m. in Sheridan Square.
At a January 29 coalition meeting held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, activists blamed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for the arrests and generally felt that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an out lesbian who represents Chelsea, was not being sufficiently forceful with police or the mayor.
"She needs to confront the mayor," Czarlinsky told a Quinn staffer at the meeting. "This comes from the top down."
Quinn is seeking a meeting with Ray Kelly, the police commissioner, and the police have been asked to supply the City Council with data on the arrests.
"We're going to stay on top of this until the end," said Tony Simone, the Quinn staffer.
Andy Velez, a longtime gay and AIDS activist, said it was Bloomberg who should be the community's target.
"The wealthiest people in the world do not like to be embarrassed," Velez said.
