Hundreds of people partied at an underground Queens bar early Sunday while completely flouting coronavirus safety measures, officials said.
About 300 revelers were found in the basement of Corona’s Sueno Americano restaurant at around 2:25 a.m., with an unlicensed bar and a DJ booth, according to the New York City Sheriff’s Office.
All four of the clandestine club’s exits were locked from the inside, sealing the crowd in, the authorities said.
Deputies busted the party after spotting two men letting small groups of people into the basement of the restaurant, located on Junction Boulevard near 35th Avenue.
The duo also ran “counter-surveillance,” walking up and down the boulevard to make sure no one was following or watching them.
But they missed the deputies, who said they saw 220 people enter the location over the course of three hours late Saturday night.
Deputies raided the basement bar and found patrons not wearing masks or social distancing while dancing, boozing, and smoking out of hookahs.
The event violated Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order barring nonessential mass gatherings “and posed a significant risk to health and safety,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies ticketed the business, a DJ and several of the partiers for a variety of violations.
The restaurant was previously busted in September after NYPD officers responding to noise complaints found more than 75 people, most of them maskless, fleeing the basement, authorities said at the time.
