Looting & rioting no big deal, but don’t you dare open your business.
NYC Sheriff’s officers showed up at Mac’s Public House in Staten Island and arrested co-owner Danny Presiti for defying state and city mandates by opening.
The Staten Island Advance Newspaper reports:
Five officers from the Sherriff’s office stood outside Mac’s Public House as Danny Presti was taken away in handcuffs by sheriffs at 7:15 p.m. He and Keith McAlarney own the Grant City tavern.
State Sen. Andrew Lanza was also on the scene. He delivered a speech to the crowd, which included dozens of restaurant owners from across the Island who came to show McAlarney and Presti their support.
“This order simply says that they need to cease and desist,’' Lanza told officers at the scene after thumbing through a multi-page order. “Nowhere here is there an arrest warrant, nowhere here is anything about arresting anyone on their private property. So I’ll ask, [and] you don’t have to answer … why was he arrested? I was told you would tell me why he was arrested and now I’m asking for that answer.”
ABC7 New York reports that four summonses were issued for the attorney and multiple summonses were issued for both the employees and bar.
Thousands of dollars in fines were also issued for violating the state's executive orders.
Attorney Mark Fonte tells the Staten Island Advance paper, “this is what happens when little people get a little power”.
The bar had refused to shut down after their liquor license was revoked for not observing lockdown edicts. They declared the bar an “autonomous zone”.
Co-owner Keith McAlarney says “we’re not backing down. You think you scared me...”