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Danny Presti, one of the owners of the rebellious Staten Island Pub, and his attorney Lou Gelormino spoke with Tucker Carlson hours after he had been arrested, according to Fox News.
Allegedly, Presti was arrested for disorderly conduct and keeping his pub open throughout Andrew Cuomo’s strict restriction mandates.
A mob of protesters gathered out in front of the pub in support of Presti and the pub.
Presti said, “We had a little meeting inside [the pub] yesterday. I did have some guests in there. Sheriffs came in, seemed like a lot of them. We were really good with them. Really cordial. And after a while, they just wanted to take me out, [it was a] whole big ordeal.”
Presti and Gelormino stress the fact that their qualm is not with the NYPD.
The agency that is causing the frustration for Presti is New York city’s Sheriff’s office which is backed by the New York City Department of Finance.
Thye NYPD deals with criminals whereas the Sheriff’s office is obligated to “serving and execute legal processes/mandates issued by the State courts, legal community and the general public.”
“There’s a blockade, a literal blockade on a small business,” Presti said.
Gelormino said the protesters were gathered in peaceful protest.
“No rioting, no looting. We have about 25 sheriffs’ deputies in front of the place that were kind of aggressive at times. But we have 1,500 Staten Islanders in a peaceful protest, protesting and supporting business owners, local business owners.”
Attorney Gelormino Told Tucker Carlson, “four summonses for just representing my client in a polite, respectful manner. [They] gave us $50,000 in fines throughout the building and wound up arresting Danny and putting him in handcuffs and charging him with disorderly conduct when he never raised a voice, and in his own building that he’s the leaseholder on.”
Gelormino explained that Mac’s Public House sits in an “orange zone” which mean indoor dining is supposed to be prohibited, while just across the Staten Island Railway tracks is labeled as a “yellow zone” which means indoor dining is permitted.
“I’m not a scientist. I’m an attorney. The COVID virus doesn’t stop at the railroad tracks where you can go eat a block away.”
More from Fox News:
Prior to Presti’s arrest, he and McAlarney locked the doors to their pub and were soliciting “donations” rather than billing their patrons, claiming to have found a “loophole” against the New York State Liquor Authority, which had pulled their license to sell booze as punishment for defying Cuomo.
— Advertisement — Their defiance came to a head Tuesday night when sheriffs formally shut down the pub — which McAlarney had deemed an “Autonomous Zone” in the spirit of this summer’s “CHAZ” enclave in Seattle.
