Update on the Rack 'n' Roll Pool Hall Case

Radley Balko | September 11, 2007

For those of you following case I've been reporting involving David Ruttenberg and the city of Manassas Park, Virginia's efforts to shut down his pool hall, there have been some significant, sordid, and bizarre developments.

So far, our story involves a 60+ member SWAT team raid on the bar on ladies' night (with video!), possible eminent domain abuse, horse racing, police-instigated drug activity, police harassment, and allegations of sex abuse (to get caught up from the beginning, start at the bottom of this page, and scroll up).

The new developments involve the town's former vice mayor (who is also a part-time DJ, and former head of the town's Republican Party), naked women, a secret file of photos, and something called "Boobie Bingo."

All the dirty details at my personal blog.

Comments

|9.11.07 @ 12:33PM|#

What do you expect from a town that has a special mayor just for vice? Gee whiz.

|9.11.07 @ 12:41PM|#

Now that's an office I can support. Can you imagine the campaign promises?

"If you elect me the mayor of vice, I will put a prostitute in each bed, a six pack in each fridge and a line of coke on each mirror."

Better yet "A dirty magazine from the government, every month, for the rest of your life."

crap-action-jackson|9.11.07 @ 12:45PM|#

eminent domain abuse, horse racing, police-instigated drug activity, police harassment, and allegations of sex abuse, vice mayor, part-time DJ, naked women, a secret file of photos, and something called "Boobie Bingo.

Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that

|9.11.07 @ 12:49PM|#

And people wonder why the vice president doesn't seem to do anything. Looks like there's plenty of vice out there, so somebody's doing the job!

|9.11.07 @ 12:54PM|#

"possible eminent domain abuse"

the prurient mind boggles to imagine.....

|9.11.07 @ 12:57PM|#

That town seems like it has trouble with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for pool hall!

|9.11.07 @ 12:58PM|#

To be fair to the planning board, it doesn't really matter that the jackass DJ who was causing trouble turned out to be the vice-mayor. If it were some other jackass DJ, the city still has the same responsibility for it (i.e. none). Otherwise, every bar in town would hire a vice mayor in order to get around the regulations. In light of the many many many other shenanigans going on, they were right to table everything until some more clarity becomes available.

The police department, however, has no such excuse for failing to go after Brendel. Except that they seem to be too busy framing RnR as an opium den to prosecute real criminals.

And clearly the city attorney is the spawn of the devil. But his occupation makes that pretty much a given.

|9.11.07 @ 1:01PM|#

"possible eminent domain abuse"

Maybe the dirty DJ annexed that waitress's ass

|9.11.07 @ 1:09PM|#

One word....wow...

|9.11.07 @ 1:10PM|#

Better yet "A dirty magazine from the government, every month, for the rest of your life."

I hear the November issue is "Girls of the DMV."

[gorge rising]

|9.11.07 @ 1:19PM|#

I've been following your reporting on this for quite a while. Each update sounds more and more like a surreal Cohen Brothers farce.

Maybe with Paul Giamatti as Ruttenberg...

Hopefully this episode will serve to bring the old and venerable practice of "tar and feathers" back into vogue.

|9.11.07 @ 1:20PM|#

Legate, it matters that he's the vice-mayor for this reason:

Let's say that promotiong lewd behavior among the underaged is a crime (which I am sure it is in some way or fashion)..yes, Ruttenberg is responsible for what goes on in his bar (unless the city and the police were instigating it...), but, given that Brendel had turned the evidence over to those "sworn to uphold the law" and they sat on the evidence makes them co-conspirators to contributing to the deliquency of a minor! The city officials knew that their vice mayor was committing a crime and did nothing about it!

It reeks of cover-up.

I like how the city attorney "opened the door" by mentioning the photographs when he shouldn't have...that's some Law & Order shit right there...

Anywho, if there were ever a government that deserves a serious overthrowing, like, Terry-libertarian-militia-style, it's the goofy terrifying buffoons at Manassas Park.

|9.11.07 @ 1:35PM|#

Good christ, who'da ever thunk that someome thought that Road House is good for the basis for a personal vendetta?

But heck Radley, you play the role of Dalton and the picture is complete.

Untermensch|9.11.07 @ 2:14PM|#

Question: at what point does the FBI get involved in all this? You know how Ted Stevens in Alaska got targeted by the FBI? It wasn't that a journalist uncovered anything or a PAC dug up the dirt. A local citizen filed a complaint about his ethics with the FBI and they took it seriously and investigated and now everything's hitting the fan for Stevens.

Seems like someone in the Manassas Park jurisdiction (it has to be a resident of that jurisdiction) could bring a similar complaint to the FBI against the elected officials behind this. Ought to at least put the fear of Urkobold©®™ behind them.

Dave Krueger|9.11.07 @ 2:17PM|#

I can't wait for the book about this to come out. Or better yet, the TV documentary. I love stories about local government corruption mixed with amateur ineptitude and sleazy back-stabbing hypocrisy.

Sal Paradise|9.11.07 @ 2:19PM|#

Off-topic :

Speaking of the SWAT team, here's another isolated incident :

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2004-08-05/news/dog-day-afternoon/full

|9.11.07 @ 2:25PM|#

Tip o' the hat to crap-action-jackson for the Kubrick reference.

|9.11.07 @ 2:26PM|#

And as always, Radley Balko is a god among men.

TrappedEastOfTheBigMuddy|9.11.07 @ 2:42PM|#

The police department, however, has no such excuse for failing to go after Brendel. Except that they seem to be too busy framing RnR as an opium den to prosecute real criminals.

...too busy trying to frame RnR...

Competence is a rare and valuable commodity, and is appearantly in short supply around there.

''That's the stupidest thing I ever read over the intertubes..."

I got to see the movie in a cinema in the late 1990s. It was like there was a time reveresed echo. The audiance spoke the lines just ahead of the soundtrack.

dhex|9.11.07 @ 2:52PM|#

Good christ, who'da ever thunk that someome thought that Road House is good for the basis for a personal vendetta?

[meekly raises hand]

pretty much every day of my life, sir.

|9.11.07 @ 2:57PM|#

The only thing this story is missing is some yahoo yelling into a CB radio, "this is Roscoe P. Coltrane in hot pursuit!"

|9.11.07 @ 2:59PM|#

I hear the November issue is "Girls of the DMV."

Oh, baby (SFW)

|9.11.07 @ 3:59PM|#

If your driving through Manassas Park, don't leave (spend) any money there. Leaving used pampers is optional.

|9.11.07 @ 4:00PM|#

Baked Penguin: Thanks!

|9.11.07 @ 8:53PM|#

I really don't know how we can have a reasoned discussion without evidence, i.e., PICTURES! Lots and lots of PICTURES of the near naked wimen in question, so that we can dicuss this in depth. Ideally, they would be at the next Reason happy happy (I KNOW I said happy twice)hour, so we could debate the relationship between freedom and bare boobies.