Business

Liquor license revoked for beleaguered Caboose Pub in Riverhead

The Caboose Pub in Riverhead can no longer sell alcohol after having its liquor license revoked by the New York State Liquor Authority last month.

The action comes after the pub, located at 131 Railroad Ave., faced scrutiny for a number of unruly incidents, including shooting and slashing incidents last year.

“The SLA Board voted to cancel this license at a full board meeting on April 10,” SLA spokesman Bill Crowley wrote in an email Thursday. “The cancelation order went into effect on April 19.”

On Dec. 12 of last year, the SLA charged DGG Corp., which holds the license and owns the building, with four violations based on Riverhead Town police referrals. A public hearing was held two weeks later.

The charges were as follows:

• On May 12, 2018, the licensee, DGG Corp, “suffered or permitted the licensed premises to become disorderly in violation of” the alcoholic beverage control law.

The licensee of DGG Corp is Daniel Gilligan of Hampton Bays, who is also the landlord, according to the SLA. Mr. Gilligan did not respond to a message seeking comment this week.

• On or before Dec. 10, 2018, “the occurrence of noise, disturbance, misconduct or disorder” in the pub or its surroundings, “has resulted in [the pub] becoming a focal point of police attention; all cause for revocation, cancellation or suspense of the license” in accordance with SLA rules.

• On or before Sept. 29, 2018, “the occurrence of noise, disturbance, misconduct or disorder” in the pub and its surroundings “adversely affects or tends to affect the protection, health, welfare, safety or repose of the inhabitants of the area,” which the SLA said was “cause for revocation, cancellation or suspense of the license” in accordance with SLA rules.

• On or before Dec. 10, 2018, there had been a “sustained and continuing pattern or noise, disturbance, misconduct or disorder on or about the premises.”

Riverhead police reported that a man was slashed with a knife Dec. 3at the Caboose, and that an early-morning shooting outside the bar Sept. 29 left a man and a woman seriously injured. An 18-year-old Calverton man was arrested in connection to that shooting in October. The incident occurred after a verbal argument escalated, police had said.

The premises has had a number of violent incidents over the years, according to police, including a 1996 incident when the bar was known as Danny’s Den and a Riverhead man who was bartending was stabbed to death in the early morning hours after closing the bar. The killer in that incident has never been found.

Neither the Caboose Pub nor Daniel Gilligan of DGG Corp were immediately available for comment.

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