Illegal Basement Nightclub Gets Busted in Boston
Boston Police broke up a loud party on Monday (Sept. 16) in Mattapan and ended up discovering an illegal basement nightclub.
According to Boston PD, they responded to complaints about a loud party near 24 Rexford Road around 4:35 AM. Police have previously responded to similar incidents at this location and made their way through the backyard and noticed the bulkhead basement door was padlocked from the outside.
Officers said they could hear smoke alarms blaring from inside the residence. After no response to knocking on the door, they made a forced entry due to concerns of a fire and the safety of those inside.
Once they got into the basement, there were over 50 people inside. The basement also featured a fully stocked bar and multiple hookahs. Additionally, air conditioners were running in the basement without proper ventilation. The smell of gas and lit candles led to a request for the Boston Fire Department to respond to the scene.
One neighborhood resident told Boston 25 News, “Every weekend is a big party and the aftermath is like trash, bottles, the loudness. Forty years on this street and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Boston PD noted that after they evacuated the basement, “Officers observed three discarded firearms through the interior of the basement. The firearms were determined to be a Ruger LC9 with an obliterated serial number with four rounds in the magazine, a Polymer 80 with one round in the chamber and twelve rounds in the magazine, and a Sig Sauer P238 with five rounds in the magazine.”
All partygoers were initially detained in the backyard of the Rexford Road residence but were later released due to safety concerns to the officers on the scene. However, two arrests were made from the incident. Fitzgerald Custodio-Pimentel, 31, of Jamaica Plain was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct, Trespassing, Resisting Arrest, and Interfering with a Police Officer. Meanwhile, Jorge Vargas-Jimenez, 35, of Mattapan, was arrested and charged with Three Counts of Receiving Stolen Property, Disorderly Conduct, Trespassing, Resisting Arrest, and Interfering with a Police Officer.
As for the property owner, they told Boston 25 News that they’re trying to evict the current tenant who’s responsible for operating the illegal basement nightclub.
Enrique Pepen, the city councilor who represents District 5 which includes Mattapan, told Boston 25 News, “Mattapan is home to a lot of families where they own their homes, we want to make sure they’re taken care of, that the quality of life is not interrupted.”
