Suspicious Activity
by Tara Jill Ciccarone

Service Industry Pro and NOLAFugees correspondent Tara Jill Ciccarone, on the recent Lounge Robberies. Schiro's, pictured above, was robbed twice last year by a man named Leroy.

Last June, Schiro’s Community Café, a restaurant in the Marigny, was robbed on two separate occasions. A vagabond train-hopping ex-carnie turned crack-head named Leroy had been working at Schiro’s before he broke in and robbed both cash registers in the middle of the night. Twice. He then called a woman who was working there and told her he was hiding out in a warehouse next to the Dixie Brewery on Tulane Avenue and that he had killed a man with a blunt object. He threatened to burn down Schiro’s and the trailer this woman was living in. Crimestoppers offered a two thousand dollar reward for information leading to his arrest. Even though he called this woman repeatedly concerning his whereabouts and was spotted under the I-10 Interstate, Leroy was not caught. During that same time, an older man approached the owner at Schiro’s and tried to beat him over the head with a wooden cane because the price of cat food was too expensive. As a bartender, I was witness to that assault and the police questioned me for two hours before announcing they didn’t believe me.

No one was surprised when the police failed to do anything in either case; in the Marigny and all over New Orleans, the ineffectiveness of NOPD is something most of us have gotten used to. That is why I was especially interested in the Crime Summit that took place at Mimi’s on Tuesday, September 19. This particular summit focused on what police are calling “The Lounge Robberies” as opposed to the muggings and street crimes that have escalated in recent weeks.

"All the money in my bank account was spent on taxi rides in Japan."

Earlier this month, I was a victim of identity theft; all the money in my bank account was spent on taxi rides in Japan. I bring this up only because if my money had not been stolen, there’s an excellent chance I would have been spending it in one of the Lounges during one of the robberies and I would not have been able to get it back within 10 business days. Now that I’ve recovered my money from the Japanese, I am reluctant to bring it with me to any of my usual hang outs. Armed with only a Chihuahua, I now get my peace of mind by leaving my money at home and getting other people to buy me drinks. Of course, the kindness of strangers can’t last forever, and I was hoping the Crime Summit at Mimi’s would shed some light on the question of the hour in the Marigny: How does one avoid being robbed at gunpoint in a neighborhood bar?

A question rocking many residents of the Marigny: "Will my little Chihuahua protect me?"

One thing a patron can do, according to Deputy Chief Anthony Canatella (who did most of the talking), is to occasionally leave the tenuous safety of the bar and look around outside to see who’s hanging out there. “If you get a little twinge in the back, call the police,” Canatella suggested. That leaves me wondering what will happen if instead of feeling a twinge in the back, I feel a semi automatic weapon, and whether my little Chihuahua will protect me.

Video Poker is the common link between these robberies because the thieves assume the bartenders have enough money to pay patrons who win on the machines. The media was not allowed at this summit, and Canatella urged us not to speak to them in the hopes of avoiding a full-fledged video poker hysteria. It seems that the perpetrators are three black men in their mid-twenties. One of them goes by the nickname “Shaggy.” The ‘perps’ have no regular pattern, but sometimes order Heinekens or Cokes. Sometimes they approach the pool tables in the bars they rob, yet at other times they ask for directions to the video poker machines. They have specifically asked bartenders for video poker money. Canatella asked that we not make this into a frenzy situation.

The President of Lucky Point Machine Company urged all bartenders to stay connected via email. Video poker is the common link.

Just in case I was wondering what the bartenders can do to make safety more of an issue, the President of Lucky Point Machine Company urged all bartenders to stay connected and report suspicious activity via email. “Communication is the key,” he stated. “That’s how we can stay effective,” he added, leaving me to wonder at which point during the robbery a bartender should shoot someone an email. A civilian suggested we incorporate Internet access into the video poker machines themselves, allowing patrons to alert neighboring establishments and the police while pretending to play Bayou Poker.

During the summit, the effectiveness of Neighborhood Watch was questioned. “If ya’ll had been organized, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” Canatella told the group of about fifty people. However, this seems to go for cops as well, who will be making random checks in bars, something they haven’t done since the fifties and sixties when they were in the habit of going in and never coming out. When asked why random bar checks weren’t routine practice, Canatella replied: “We can live with the donuts, but it looks bad when a cop is drinking beer.”

According to Deputy Chief Canatella, "If y'all had been organized, maybe this wouldn't have happened."

Both the New Orleans police and several local bartenders have mentioned that many bartenders are armed, and some bar owners anticipating a full-on gun battle. Canatella hopes no one engages someone in a gun battle in a lounge, but promised that no one in the room was going to infringe on this right. I’ve been told by several bartenders to avoid certain bars because the owners are toting guns.

Among the bars that have been robbed are Tango, Mimi’s, Vaughn’s, Hobnobbers, Melvin’s, Sugar Park Tavern, and Schiro’s (if you count Leroy). At least a dozen bar owners were in attendance. All in all, the police and FBI seemed to set some minds at ease, but a feeling of doubt permeated the room as the meeting cleared.

Among other things, we were assured that 911 is the best number to call and that the perpetrators are not gypsies. In fact NOPD is convinced they all have criminal records and live with in a mile of Galvez and Poland.

The FBI is trying to pull still shots from a video camera in an attempt to identify these robbers, so hopefully, unlike Leroy, they will be caught in the coming weeks. This may be tricky, because law enforcement also expects the perpetrators to begin disguising themselves, maybe with wigs. Hopefully this won’t put some of our neighborhood drag queens under suspicion. The meeting closed with several speakers emphasizing that the best thing to do if you are present during a Lounge Robbery is to sit yourself down and give it up.

Earlier today, my roommate and I were discussing where to spend this Friday evening and decided on Vaughn’s. We know someone who lives right across the street, and since I don’t want my laptop present during a Lounge Robbery, I can feel safe knowing Internet access is a few steps away.

Tara Jill Ciccarone and her Chihuahua Lupe live in the Marigny. They’re broke, so there’s no point in robbing them.