Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

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

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/17/2647303/former-south-beach-club-owner.html#storylink=cpy


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