The New York Times - November 28, 1985
Jeffrey Schmalz

officers and city inspectors lied in saying there was prostitution at Plato's Retreat, because city officials were under political pressure to close the Manhattan club.

Richard Emery, a lawyer for the Civil Liberties Union, argued in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that the pressure had begun early this month when the city shut down the Mine Shaft, a homosexual club, for sexual acts linked to the spread of AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

The city then wanted to show that it was not singling out homosexuals, Mr. Emery said, and it fabricated the prostitution charges against Plato's Retreat, a heterosexual club, after it had been unable to find any AIDS-related practices there. The city defined these practices as oral or anal sex.

"Political posturing is the basis for everything that's going on here," Mr. Emery said.

Political Motivation Denied

Doron Gopstein, the city's chief assistant corporation counsel, defended the city's actions. He denied that there were political motivations and said the affidavits filed by the officers were "substantial evidence."

The club, at 509 West 34th Street, was shut down Friday night as a public nuisance after four prostituion arrests were made there during the previous week and after the city discovered it had no certificate of occupancy.

Despite objections by Plato's that it was losing large sums of money, Justice Richard S. Lane decided to keep the club closed at least until next week. He asked for legal briefs to be submitted then.

That decision was immediately appealed to the Appellate Division, which also refused to reopen the club now and scheduled hearings for next week.

In comments outside the State Supreme Court hearing room, Norman Siegel, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, accused the city of engaging in "a crackdown against sexual freedom."

Previous Arrests Cited

In defending the city's actions, Mr. Gopstein said two of those arrested at Plato's had been arrested for prostitution before and added: "Prostitution is a crime. Period."

He introduced as further evidence advertisements in underground newspapers in which "female escorts" offered to accompany patrons to Plato's Retreat for up to $200.

Repeatedly during yesterday's two-and-a-half-hour hearing, Justice Lane told both sides that the issue of how the police came to be in Plato's Retreat was "a red herring." What mattered, he said, was what they saw once they were there and whether that warranted shutting down the establishment.

But Mr. Emery argued that the full shutdown, including padlocking the door, was an excessive move done to obtain publicity for action against a heterosexual establishment. He said that if four prostitution arrests warranted shutting a place down, then many of the city's most famous hotels and bars should be closed.

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