Seems like discrimination, against short people (unless there is a general ban on wrestling without a license in bars.)
By Steven Kreytak STAFF WRITERMarch 11, 2002
One regular guest of the Howard Stern radio show was issued a ticket for disorderly conduct and a bar owner received three summonses during a "dwarf throwing" competition early yesterday morning in Amityville, village police said.
The Odyssey disco at 140 Merrick Rd. was raided by Amityville and Suffolk police and State Liquor Authority agents about 12:40 a.m. Contestants were paying $10 to throw tiny stuntmen, with the longest thrower winning an undisclosed amount of money, said Det. Bruce Pescitelli of the Amityville police.
Pescitelli said it is illegal for bars to sponsor dwarf throwing in New York State. Odyssey owner Tony Alfano received a ticket for "dwarf throwing" and two for failing to post necessary signs about the harmful effects of smoking and drinking to pregnant women, Pescitelli said.
"They had an area of the bar where they had put two air mattresses, and the dwarfs or midgets, whatever you would like to call them, wore protective helmets," Pescitelli said. "Two dwarfs were being tossed."
Pescitelli said the event was advertised last week on the Howard Stern Show, which airs locally on "K-Rock" 92.3/FM, and in the weekly free music and entertainment guide Good Times. About 200 people paid $15 to get into the disco.
Alfano, who did not return a phone message left at the disco yesterday, faces up to about $600 in fines, Pescitelli said. Representatives of the Stern show could not be reached.
Neither contestants nor the 3-foot men who were tossed, Dominic Lucci and Lester Green, face criminal charges, Pescitelli said. "This is their livelihood; it's how they make money," he said of the dwarfs. Green is known as "Beetle Juice" on Stern's show because his small head resembles that of a movie character of that name in the 1988 film "Beetlejuice," starring Michael Keaton.
Green's promoter, Joseph Bassolino, appears on the show under the name "Joey Boots," police said. He was issued a field appearance ticket for disorderly conduct for standing on the bar when the police shut down the event and yelling an obscenity at them, Pescitelli said. Bassolino, 37, of 10 Mohawk Ave. in North Massapequa, could not be reached.
Dwarf throwing, which is legal in some states, is not common on Long Island, Pescitelli said. "I've been doing this for 18 years, and this is the first time," he said. "It was definitely a different kind of night."
Yeah, but the police are short on evidence.