Former Miami nightlife kingpin and flipped mob associate arrested for DUI
Former Miami club owner Chris Paciello was arrested early Friday morning on a DUI charge.
Paciello, who has had past trouble with the law, was pulled over by Miami Beach police at around 4:30 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit.
Paciello, 40, was going 80 miles per hour when he was stopped by police in the 2100 block of Miami Beach Drive, said Juan Sanchez, a Miami Beach police spokesman.
Paciello was charged with driving under the influence and refusing a breath test.
Booked under his legal name, Christian Ludwigsen, Paciello was driving aimlessly in a dark-colored, California-tagged Jaguar near Seventh Street and Jefferson Avenue, Sanchez said..
Police said his eyes were red and watery.
“He had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage,” Sanchez said. “A sobriety test was completed on scene but he refused to take a refused a Breathalyzer test.”
It’s unclear whether there was alcohol or other passengers in the car.
Paciello was held on $2,000 bond Friday night, jail records show.
In the 1990s, Paciello owned a Miami Beach nightclubs Risk, which mysteriously burned. he later built another club, Liquid, with the insurance money.
Paciello’s DUI is the latest in a string of legal troubles.
Paciello admitted to his involvement in a $300,000 bank robbery in a Staten Island mall in 1992. In 1993, he was arrested for being the getaway driver in a home invasion that left a Staten Island housewife shot dead; he was charged with robbery and murder and plead guilty in 2000. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but served seven for cooperating in mob-related investigations, records show.
Released in September 2006, Paciello was placed on parole, according to records. He then moved to California, where he owned two now-out-of-business Cristoni pizzerias.
In September 2011 he took a job at the Delano Hotel on South Beach to attract celebrities to the hotel.
Hotel executives declined to comment on Paciello’s employment status.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/17/2647303/former-south-beach-club-owner.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment