NEW ORLEANS – A Hollygrove bar, notorious for criminal activity, including four murders since 2007, was ordered to cease operations Friday night after an unexpected raid by Alcohol and Tobacco Control, according to the Louisiana Office of ATC.
Big Time Tips Bar and Lounge at 8801 Edinburgh St. has been a haven for drug activity and violent offenses for years and recently a scene of a Dec. 2011 killing and a Jan. 21 shooting.
There are at least 22 incidents of severe criminal activity from 2007 to 2012, counting four homicides, four accounts of aggravated battery involving shootings/stabbings, two armed robberies, auto theft, multiple accounts of patrons possessing firearms/dangerous weapons, and numerous drug related incidents involving crack cocaine, marijuana, heroin, Vicodin and Xanax.
The bar has failed to pay taxes since March 2011, according to the Louisiana Department of Revenue.
There were 15 arrests made, including that of the DJ who was in possession of crack cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute and a bartender who is a convicted felon and registered sex offender employed at a bar, which is in violation of probation.
The bar was charged with a handful of violations, including operation with narcotics on the premises, employment of a convicted felon, operation of a disorderly place, failure to pay state sales taxes, operation of unclean/unsanitary premises, and sale to an intoxicated person.
The bar was also in violation of State Fire Marshals Code and State Police Gaming offenses.
The sting operation resulted in the suspension of the bar’s alcohol license.
An emergency administrative hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Thursday in Baton Rouge.
