4 ms·

the average life of a nightclub is not very long, perhaps a few years and that's IF you're popular. as such, there's huge pressure to just create a lot of buzz

by ookblah 11y ago

the average life of a nightclub is not very long, perhaps a few years and that's IF you're popular. as such, there's huge pressure to just create a lot of buzz and ride that wave until inevitably you become old hat. those people here talking about how it's convenient for laundering are missing this fact. you can point to the mega clubs in vegas as the few examples of those raking in money, but the vast majority of these clubs go out of business and make nothing. living in nyc there are handful of these big clubs that have been around for longer than a few years and even then, the popular ones have to "re-invent" themselves every few years to keep attendance up. the more common story is that doors open, and you get some mediocre attendance and basically just losing money hand over fist every week thereafter. people come and see that your establishment isn't that popular and the next week even less people come. momentum is crazy important and i can see paying thousands for a guest appearance even if you're losing money that specific week.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Yeah this. You don't want to launder in a high regulatory, high crime, high profile, etc business. You want something like a car wash or laundromat on a small scale. Or, better yet, construction, which is notorious for its lax accounting. Clubs bring in a lot of scrutiny. The 70s mafia movies made them look for but serious criminals have so many other options that dealing with them nowadays seems stupid. Do you really want a drunk or a whore or a gangbanger to bring police into your laundering operation regularly?
- astrodust 11y ago
  > Clubs bring in a lot of scrutiny. One operated here illegally for about five years because every time there was a motion to shut them down they found another avenue to appeal. The legal system can move at a glacial pace at the best of times, and they were clever enough to slow it down even more. Five years is enough time to bank millions of dollars in legitimate profits and make even more on the side through more shady deals. I know that many of the clubs here juice up their profits by laundering and taking a cut of the drug trade in their bathrooms. They also make enormous amounts of cash legitimately which makes it hard to find out what profits are legal and which are illegal. For example if you charge $10 for a double shot, but the product only costs you (at most) $1, you're making 90% profit right out of the gate. If someone wants to launder some money, increase your shot sales by 20%. Pour out bottles if you have to just to make the numbers add up, it's not even hard. Very few of them are ever snared in legal issues because they have a lot of experience flying under the radar and knowing how to operate without getting into trouble. The number one cause for closing a club is either the place burned out, popularity waned, or in rare cases where there was a shooting which means a much tighter leash.
  - tw04 11y ago
    Why pour it out? Sell the bottles for cash to another party.
    - astrodust 11y ago
      Presumably it's to avoid suspicion and liability. Re-selling is strictly forbidden by the rules here, and losing your liquor license is the worst possible thing to happen to a club. To put it in perspective: If there's a report of using drugs in the bathrooms nothing will happen, it takes too much police work to amount to anything, but a single incident of alcohol leaving the premises can get you shut down. They're super strict about this.

by ookblah 11y ago

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

Yeah this. You don't want to launder in a high regulatory, high crime, high profile, etc business. You want something like a car wash or laundromat on a small scale. Or, better yet, construction, which is notorious for its lax accounting. Clubs bring in a lot of scrutiny. The 70s mafia movies made them look for but serious criminals have so many other options that dealing with them nowadays seems stupid. Do you really want a drunk or a whore or a gangbanger to bring police into your laundering operation regularly?

astrodust 11y ago
> Clubs bring in a lot of scrutiny. One operated here illegally for about five years because every time there was a motion to shut them down they found another avenue to appeal. The legal system can move at a glacial pace at the best of times, and they were clever enough to slow it down even more. Five years is enough time to bank millions of dollars in legitimate profits and make even more on the side through more shady deals. I know that many of the clubs here juice up their profits by laundering and taking a cut of the drug trade in their bathrooms. They also make enormous amounts of cash legitimately which makes it hard to find out what profits are legal and which are illegal. For example if you charge $10 for a double shot, but the product only costs you (at most) $1, you're making 90% profit right out of the gate. If someone wants to launder some money, increase your shot sales by 20%. Pour out bottles if you have to just to make the numbers add up, it's not even hard. Very few of them are ever snared in legal issues because they have a lot of experience flying under the radar and knowing how to operate without getting into trouble. The number one cause for closing a club is either the place burned out, popularity waned, or in rare cases where there was a shooting which means a much tighter leash.
- tw04 11y ago
  Why pour it out? Sell the bottles for cash to another party.
  - astrodust 11y ago
    Presumably it's to avoid suspicion and liability. Re-selling is strictly forbidden by the rules here, and losing your liquor license is the worst possible thing to happen to a club. To put it in perspective: If there's a report of using drugs in the bathrooms nothing will happen, it takes too much police work to amount to anything, but a single incident of alcohol leaving the premises can get you shut down. They're super strict about this.