January 4, 1997 Fire Marshals and Suffolk police raid Webster Hall East at 900 West Jericho Turnpike in Smithtown. The Marshals find 75 violations including most of the exit doors being locked, preventing any escape in the event of a fire or other emergency. There were numerous electrical violations and there was no fire alarm system as required by law. There were flammable liquids being stored in the building and illegal space heaters were being used. There was no certificate of occupancy for the bar and no liquor license. A 1000 gallon oil tank that should have been buried, was jury rigged and was being used above ground and quite a bit of oil was on the ground. An environmental recovery company was brought in to clean it up. The owner, Ricky Lynch, 31 of Coram was arrested.
Because the bar was operating illegally, the owners put signs up at night and took them in during the day to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Prior to Webster Hall, this bar was occupied as “Infiniti”, a gay bar which had reportedly been owned by the son of Mobster John Gotti. Brofman and Anderson handle the investigation. 75 violations are found.
There are Photos and story in the 1/9/1997 Smithtown News
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