Lynn club suspended for 14 days

LYNN – The state Alcoholic Beverage and Control Commission has upheld a ruling by Lynn licensing officials that suspends operations at Raffi’s Place nightclub for 14 days after an undercover state trooper bought heroin from a man in the disc jockey booth last year.Raffi’s Place owner and manager Raffael Guzman has 10 days to appeal the ABCC’s decision in Superior Court.Guzman also faces a March 16 hearing before the ABCC in Boston on charges he allegedly transferred a liquor license without proper approval and 48 counts of selling alcoholic beverages besides those obtained from a licensed liquor vendor. As a result of the same ABCC investigation, Guzman stands charged with 42 counts of illegal importation of liquor without a permit, permitting operation of unlicensed amusement devices on the premises and other violations.ABCC Chairman Kim S. Gainsboro has invited Lynn License Commission Chairman Richard Coppinger to attend the March 16 hearing since other charges brought against Guzman by the city are pending.Raffi’s Place at 408-410 Summer St. faces additional enforcement action before the ABCC and the Lynn License Commission, stemming from two Jan. 13 incidents, one of which involved gunshots in the nightclub’s parking lot at closing time. There are allegations the bar staff lied to police and attempted to hide the shell casings in a Dumpster.While searching the parking lot, Lynn Police Officer Richard Fucci came upon a man in a car who was dividing just more than an ounce of marijuana into smaller plastic bags, according to Coppinger. “The man told Fucci he was Raffi’s disc jockey and was on his break. He was arrested for intent to distribute in a school zone,” he said.The bar was the scene of another incident that involved assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on the same winter evening. Police reports indicated that a Spanish-speaking man was found bleeding profusely while at the corner of Witt and Summer streets. The victim told officers he had been struck over the head with a beer bottle by a man known as “Rebulu” while he was in Raffi’s Place.Coppinger said the bar staff failed to summon police and medical assistance, as required by law, and lacked management and control of the establishment. His opinion was contained in the ABCC findings against Raffi’s Place.”This person was brazen enough and comfortable enough to enter Raffi’s establishment and to know where the DJ booth was, comfortable enough to set himself up in the DJ booth and conduct a drug transaction in the DJ booth,” Coppinger was quoted in the letter of decision from ABCC Commissioner Robert H. Cronin upholding the local board.When Guzman appeared before the License Commission to answer allegations regarding the gunshots, failure to cooperate with police and marijuana arrest, he received a 21-day suspension, which he appealed. Guzman has since appeared before the ABCC on those allegations. The matter was taken under advisement by the commissioners and a decision is pending.”The Raffi’s staff told the police officers they didn’t know anything about any gunshots,” said Coppinger, noting that police later found at least six spent bullet casings in the parking lot Dumpster. “When the police went back to question the staff again, they remembered and admitted tossing the shells.”