By Jeff Lipton
Soon after that, complaints of noise and loitering in the parking lot of the El Taban private Turkish social club, at 205 Hempstead Turnpike, started rolling in. Neighbors also expressed concern that gambling was taking place inside the club, drawing all sorts of undesirables to the area.
Authorities executed a search warrant at the West Hempstead club on Nov. 29, and arrested four suspects on gambling and drug charges and seized $37,000 in cash, according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
Among those arrested were Kadir Karaguney, 44, of Oceanside, and Ismail Yetim, 37, of Freeport, who co-owned the club and collected a portion of the money that was wagered, authorities said. Also arrested were Huseyin Ayhan, 46, of Wantagh, who acted as the club’s “tea man,” collecting the house’s take, and Mustafa Kotanoglu, 73, of Elmont, a patron of the club, officials said.
The club featured a Turkish dice game similar to craps, in addition to a number of card games and video poker machines, Rice said.
She explained that complaints about the club started coming in last April, when members began congregating in the club’s back parking lot at all hours of the night. The lot abuts homes, and neighbors complained repeatedly about the noise and possible illegal activities, which led to the investigation by her office, Rice said. Authorities soon discovered that the club ran high-stakes dice and card games, she added.
“The community was vocal about the illegal activities going on at this club, and we responded to their concerns,” Rice said in announcing the arrests on Dec. 1. “These arrests are the direct result of a neighborhood that refused to cower to criminals. My administration is very aggressive when it comes to fighting these kinds of quality-of-life issues. Citizens are often the front lines when it comes to fighting crime in their community, and we take our responsibility to back them up very seriously.”
Members of the Nassau County Police Department’s District Attorney’s Squad, the 5th Precinct and the Bureau of Special Operations took part in the late-night raid of the club.
Yetim and Karaguney were charged with possession of gambling devices and promoting gambling. Ayhan was charged with promoting gambling, and Kotanoglu was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance after he was found to be in possession of cocaine at the time of the arrests, officials said. All of the charges are misdemeanors, and the four men were issued desk appearance tickets to appear in court and were released.
Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Civic Association, applauded the raid. She said that West Hempstead is a tightly knit community of hard-working people who enjoy their quality of life and will not stand for any illegal activities.
“West Hempstead will not become anyone’s dumping ground,” Norton said. “Neighbors won’t let this happen. Our residents will not look the other way. Nobody will come into West Hempstead and decide that it will become their garbage pit.”
Norton said that club replaced the restaurant, a storefront in the middle of a strip of stores on Hempstead Turnpike, about eight months ago. The windows were darkened, and a “members only” sign went up, she said. “We saw the rear parking lot build at night,” Norton said. “We never knew what kind of business was there. Neighbors were afraid it would lend itself to other influences and undesirables coming in. It didn’t do anything to enhance the community.”
Neighbors, she said, were suspicious about the club from the outset, and their suspicions were confirmed after the raid.
“We have a very active community,” Norton said. “There’s a tremendous amount of community pride. They don’t turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to anything that goes on here.”
Comments about this story? JLipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 269.
