What we learned after the jump. His first business venture was a jeans store in his home town, which he opened with a $13,000 settlement after he lost an eye in a baseball accident. Moby describes the new scene: Everybody was accepted and at Limelight you would walk in and there were drag queens and muscle bound guys from Brooklyn and cute little ravers from F.I.T. edit: By the time the case went to trial in 1998, the prosecution felt it had enough to convince a jury that Gatien was a menacing crime boss who orchestrated an elaborate drug ring. Whatever else you may say about Mr. Gatien, who is 68, he never aimed small. In March 1996, Daniel was 18 and inside the Hells Kitchen apartment when infamous New York party promoter Michael Alig, then 31, and Robert Freeze Riggs, 28, murdered drug dealer Andre Angel Melendez. Peter Gatien (right) with singer George Michael in New York City, circa 1987. [citation needed], Gatien produced the film A Bronx Tale (1993), starring Robert De Niro,[3] after having produced it as a one-man play starring Chazz Palminteri. Grace Jones and Gloria Gaynor rocked the club and he took a chance on a weird act called the Village People, booking them four months in advance. Read more You're getting a free audiobook. In the end, they entertain each other., Mr. Gatien found success in his adopted city, but he did not find universal love. 14A. I fell in love with that building, he said. The Limelight and Tunnel are long gone. (A more accurate picture would have a depicted an out-of-control nightlife impresario high on his own supply and in over his head). It reopened from 1998 until Gatien sold it in 2001, to a real estate developer. Find Peter Gatien stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. In 2003, Gatien lived alone in a $1,200 one-bedroom apartment on King West, waiting a year before his wife and son would make the trip from NYChis wife, Alessandra, wanted their son to. The Trial. Couldnt interview him yourself? Over the past two decades, he has certainly accomplished that. Everybody was dancing, Mr. Gatien said. In the more than 30 years he lived in America, he had never bothered to obtain citizenship. The main dance floor of the Limelight in 1993. She wasnt making that up in her books, St. James told The Post about Daniel. Riggs was not reachable for comment.) He was so small back then, he mustve been 15 or 16. As it happens, both Gomez-Rejon and Sacha worked for Pileggi's late wife, filmmaker Nora Ephron. The man crowned the Club King of New York is being humble. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. Today he splits his time between Toronto and New York City, enjoying a home life with his wife, Alessandra, his four children, and his two grandchildren. The second ever electronic music performance I had was at Limelight, Moby tells Rolling Stone. Peter Gatien went on to become an innovative entrepreneur, working over decades to learn the club business, push the right boundaries, and create an inclusive atmosphere where people could come together and let loose. Ralph Gengo and retired Det. I like being anonymous, Mr. Gatien said. No, absolutely not., My mind-set was, the drug wasnt good for business, in that people dont drink on Ecstasy, he said. Mr. Gatien, who was then living with Alessandra and his two daughters in a handsome townhouse on East 63rd Street, off Fifth Avenue, made a point of staying clean during work hours. Its a young mans game., Peter Gatien, the 90s Club King, Wants His Final Say, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/style/peter-gatien-limelight-tunnel-club-kid.html. In 2003, Gatien lived alone in a $1,200 one-bedroom apartment on King West, waiting a year before his wife and son would make the trip from NYChis wife, Alessandra, wanted their son to complete sixth grade before they moved. At times he would book a $1,000-a-night Manhattan hotel suite and spend a weekend freebasing cocaine naked with a group of party girls., It was total selfishness, he said. The Feds finally nabbed him for income-tax evasion in 1999 for failing to report $1 million in club earnings,. And then he ran out of squeegee people, says Gatien, and I was the face of nightlife back then. In that brooding, eye-patch clad visage Giuliani found the perfect, tabloid-ready target for his moral crusades. He pleaded guilty to state tax evasion in. Aligs arrest, conviction and sentencing took place amid Morgenthaus attempt to bring down Gatien who owned the notorious Limelight, where Alig was a major presence, along with several other clubs. He pleaded out to two months in Rikers. I just thank people like this for shaping the house music gendre. All rights reserved. Daniel and Michael were a match made in hell, St. James said. If theres any truth to the old William Blake line about the road of excess leading to the palace of wisdom, then Peter Gatien may be the wisest cat in New York. Gatien, 46, is a Canadian-born entrepreneur who turned a $17,000 insurance settlement from a teenage hockey accident (he lost his left eye) into a multimillion-dollar nocturnal empire that, during . He now lives a quiet life in. I lived there legally for 35 years." Back in Toronto, Gatien replaced his trademark eye patch with wire-rimmed, dark blue shades to conceal a missing left eye lost . Gatien was born in Cornwall, Ontario, the third of five brothers. Coolness could always be found at one of Peter Gatiens mega-clubs. The whole [club kid] movement got tainted because of what he did, Gatien says. Thats whats missing now that raw energy. Its not as good as it used to be, I can tell you that right now, he says. Seriously, at a 45 deg angle up the side of a gothic church! Along with goths, drag queens, rockers, leather boys and slumming socialites, the Limelight became the home to the 90s club kid moment. After his arrest, the legal odyssey lasted two and a half years until he was acquitted of all drug charges in 1998. Daniels father Paul reportedly had some connection to the Manhattan DA that led to a meeting where his son gave information on the killing, which may have helped him avoid more serious charges. Tupac was too cool for words., What about 50 Cent? Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection, via Getty Images. When a New Jersey teenager was found dead at home after a night of partying at the Limelight, his politically connected parents caught the attention of Giuliani never mind the fact that the medical examiner later concluded the cause of death was suicide by hanging. The culture that made New York work, Gatien says, thats what the clubs were. Jurors clearly rejected the testimony of a drug-dealing former club director and five other dealers who pleaded guilty to drug-conspiracy charges and agreed to testify against Mr. Gatien in return for leniency, The Times reported. Mr. Gatien's wife, Alessandra Kobayashi, has staked out the other, typing on a laptop and saying, no, she won't comment on her famous husband. But he eventually succumbed to the temptation and business pressures. Entertainment & Pop Culture; Geography & Travel; Health & Medicine; Lifestyles & Social Issues; Literature; Philosophy & Religion; Politics, Law & Government Gatien produced the film A Bronx Tale (1993), starring Robert De Niro, after having produced it as a one-man play starring Chazz Palminteri. He continues to be wedded to Alessandra Gatien since July 1994. You dont see it anymore.. Spouse (s) Alessandra Gatien, former Adrien Gatien, Sheila Gatien. Unlike Party Monster which focused on Limelight's infamous murderer Michael Alig Ms. Gatien's film focuses on her father's fall at the hands of Rudolph Giuliani's anti-drug (and . Structural Info Facts Filmography Known for movies But I also think Peter has mellowed out over the years. And yet, the Gatien story is a real black eye for New York. Ive been approached by Vegas, he said. Daniels death was the final sad act in a dark life marked by chronic drug abuse and bookended by two tragic drug-related deaths the last one 26 years ago. They took everything from him and also removed him from the country. Who Is Peter Gatien's Wife? Amazon has also bought a memoir written by Gatien that covers his rise and fall as a club owner, which editor Laura Van Der Veer and Little A will publish in the fall of 2020. Gatien, 68, once the undisputed king of nightlife in the city known for excess, was dressed casually in a car coat, hoodie, and blue jeans, with New Balances on his feet and chunky white . Police still dont know how Ruby ingested the drugs although Daniel admitted he had glassine packets of heroin in the apartment, prosecutors said in court. Law enforcement described the clubs as drug supermarkets and the titillating term was reprinted ad nauseum in the newspapers. The Tunnel was home to the 90s club kids. (He was always uncool, Gatien says of the current commander in chief, with a dyspeptic smile.) Their parties gave rise to the so-called Club Kids, a pioneering group of ecstasy-addled downtown personalities known for dressing in elaborate drag and pulling outrageous stunts. Mr. Gatien now lives Toronto, after he was deported for tax evasion. I dont want to come across as woe is me, says Gatien. "I live a quiet life here," said Mr. Gatien, 59, in his deep near-monotone, as his two dogs, Che and Xaver, nuzzled his leg, and his wife, Alessandra, a 44-year-old film and television. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images The Savonarola in City Hall sicced the dogs on Gatien. Gatien was acquitted of his drug-racketeering and conspiracy charge in 1998 but was deported to Canada after pleading guilty to subsequent state tax-evasion charges. At his height in the 1990s, Gatien commanded a sprawling empire. "I think the Peter Gatien acquittal still stands out in my mind as one of the most thrilling," says Brafman, who would later win legal battles for P. Diddy and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Things were compounded by the fact that Gatien himself had developed an epic drug habit, sometimes renting out suites at the Four Seasons for days-long benders. Your work defined my youth and all of my most memorable relationship and I will always love you for it Peter! In them, fashion designers found inspiration for their next runway show and record execs found their next big hit. At least, he was the wisest one in the lobby bar of the Bowery Hotel one Saturday afternoon in mid-March. Next to the $12 million in real estate and his three Limelight nightclubs, Peter Gatien says his biggest asset probably has been his naivete. Under the guise of improving New York City's "quality of life," the club scene was targetedand Peter Gatien's empire became a major focus of the administration. At the time the murder case was being prosecuted, no one had publicly said Daniel had a role in the killing. Every boldface name of the roaring Eighties partied there, from Madonna to Donald Trump. Prosecutors went easy on Alig because he initially had agreed to testify against Gatien as the star witness in a drug-racketeering case against the club owner, sources told The Post. Today he splits his time between Toronto and New York City, enjoying a home life with his wife, Alessandra, his four children, and his two grandchildren. Angel was still trying to bite me and I wrapped a sweatshirt around my hand and I smashed into his face to try to push him down. Most clubs a year and a half, two years, and thats it.. The newfangled Mayor who already had a reputation for overreach from his time as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York didnt have to look far for ammo to use against Gatien. I always got a lot of gratification standing in the back of the balcony, seeing 3,000 below waving their hands in the air., At Limelight, he added, we had people in sequins showing up alongside people in tuxedos coming from a dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cops never got to speak to him. The CSI NY franchise had lots of material here ! Was it looser than it should have been? Mr. Gatien said. He plopped down on the wicker furniture and ordered an iced tea. Peter Gatien, 67, says over the phone from his Toronto home. In the 90s, Gatien made NYCs Limelight an institution for creatives who wanted to party (hard) and express themselves by wearing outrageous outfits, including Madonna, Michael Musto, Chloe Sevigny, Michael Alig and James St. James. You couldnt match his creativity or foresight if your life depended on it. In 1998, a year after Alig and Riggs were sent to prison, Daniel pleaded guilty to possessing $3,000 that had been stolen from Melendezs corpse, without being interviewed by NYPD detectives investigating the murder. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of . Small $175.00 Medium $375.00 Large The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time The ghost of notorious nightlife king Peter Gatien is still haunting the site of his old Limelight club a war has erupted between a new hot . Born. As promoter Peter Gatien's publicist, Lynn was at the heart of the Club Kid scene and helped the community navigate the horrific 1996 "Club Kid Killing." . Daniels role in the grisly slaying at Apartment 3K at the Riverbank West complex, however, has always been shrouded in mystery and little-known to the public. The actor Dylan McDermott played Mr. Gatien in the 2003 film Party Monster, about the gruesome murder of a club kid by a Limelight promoter, Michael Alig (played by Macaulay Culkin). No, Seigel says. (Though he did return a call via an apparent pocket dial and could be heard for seven minutes discussing with a female aide a coronavirus related opportunity.). I had subpoenaed him, McMahon said. [2] After that, he turned a former country western bar into a rock club called Aardvark and booked the band Rush to perform. With his memoir, The Club King, published on April 1, he hopes for a degree of catharsis after an epic rise and fall, but also to celebrate a lost New York, when clubs felt mysterious and transgressive, luring the misfits and outcasts from the citys creative underground, and every night felt like a Mardi Gras on Mars. Born and raised in Canada. As a result there was no trial and no call for Daniel to testify. In 1976, in his early nightclub forays, Gatien spotted . He was Facebook before there was a Facebook! Most notoriously there was the Limelight, a deconsecrated, gothic-style church on Sixth Avenue at 20th Street in Chelsea (now a SoulCycle knock-off). He opened his first club in the mill town of Cornwall, Ontario, when he was in his early 20s and managed to lure a young band from Toronto band by the name of Rush for its opening week, he says in the book. Peter Gatien arrived in Toronto as an outcast criminal. A 1996 federal investigation attempted but failed to link Gatien to the sales of party drugs, especially ecstasy, in his clubs, but his acquittal in 1998 left him with huge legal fees. The pull of heroin is so strong., 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Vintage photos show the original influencers NYCs 90s Club Kids, Party Monster: Painting in prison kept me from killing myself, Club Kid killer getting hundreds in free gifts, glassine packets of heroin in the apartment, murdered drug dealer Andre Angel Melendez, Glory Daze: The Life and Times of Michael Alig, Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture,. [4], A 1996 federal investigation attempted but failed to link Gatien to the sales of party drugs,[5] especially ecstasy, in his clubs, but his acquittal in 1998 left him with huge legal fees. Bill and Violet meet in the downtown art scene of the 1970s and 80s, and she helps Bill raise Mark, his son from a previous marriage. Mr. Gatien was acquitted of his drug-racketeering and conspiracy charge in 1998 but was deported to Canada after pleading guilty to subsequent state tax-evasion charges. Theres no legacy to those places and there never will be., Peter was obscure in a Citizen Kane, Jay Gatsby-esque sort of way, says Moby of Gatien in those days. confused. Why the US is so concerned about what people do to have fun is beyond me. When police raided the Limelight in the fall of 1995, his empire was living on borrowed time. They were doing ecstasy and free-basing cocaine and there was a lot of GHB and ketamine around.. For the past three years he has split his time between Toronto and New York, where he lives in Hells Kitchen. The city was such a smoldering pile of rubble then that he was able to purchase the abandoned Church of the Holy Communion in Chelsea for just $1.6 million. The man is an Ace, an absolute visionary! EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has set Alfonso Gomez-Rejon to direct Limelight, a feature being written by Nick Pileggi & J.J. Sacha about the reign and fall of Peter Gatien, the 1990s king of Gotha He pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 1999, for which he was sentenced to a fine of $1.6 million and a 60-day prison sentence, along with 5 years' probation. The world in which Gatien operated was crawling with characters of ill repute. Five things the New York Times learned about Peter Gatiens quiet Toronto life. Daniel threw water on [Melendezs] face and he didnt wake up. It reopened from 1998 until Gatien sold it in 2001, to a real estate developer. We've received your submission. He was reportedly living in Florida for a while and worked as a DJ and landscaper in recent years. Squeaky-clean isn't exactly the image that comes to mind when you think of Peter Gatien. Was it looser than anywhere else in town? Select from premium Peter Gatien of the highest quality. Toronto Life is a registered trademark of Toronto Life Publishing Company Limited. And they played for free, Mr. Gatien said, because, well, it was Sunday night at the Tunnel. It was a strange case from day one, Gengo said. Peter Gatien (born August 8, 1952) is a Canadian membership proprietor and get together promoter. The owner of three of Manhattans largest nightclubs was accused yesterday of turning two of them the Limelight and the Tunnel into virtual drug supermarkets, The New York Times reported on May 16, 1996, peddling the drug known as Ecstasy to a clientele made up largely of college students and teen-agers., Mr. Gatien does not deny the Ecstasy use in his clubs; the drug was everywhere in the 90s nightlife, he said. Today he splits his time between Toronto and New York City, enjoying a home life with his wife, Alessandra, his four . Straight like that. Her entourage was always a nightmare She was trouble.. He was a child of privilege. After that, he turned a former country western bar into a rock club called Aardvark and booked the band Rush to perform. As Gatien strands quietly at the side of the velvet-roped entrance, the fabulous, the ex-fabulous, and the habitual seekers of an open bar parade by: Lady Kier Kirby. continuing the post below, the influential sub-cultures in NY were first the Diggers, early squatters who helped fellow travelers (1960s), and then the real squatters (punks and homesteaders), the yippies (who recently lost out to developers), and of course the bohemians who created the abstract foundation that we rest on no doubt, there was drug use and drug use probably accelerated the development of the abstract in the face of educational oligarchy and its anti-abstract hegelianism (thesis, antithesis, synthesis maintained in powerful abuse centers called schools and universities) The left coast established psychedelica with music such as Vanilla Fudge, the Chocolate Watch Band, and, of course, the Grateful Dead. Limelight Atlanta followed. He wasnt like Im gonna shoot everyone! [He shot] just the marquee, and then he kept walking. Times change. The two have remained close. Discover Peter Gatien's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Little is known about Daniels life as an adult. The stunt prompted the ire of a local animal rights organization, but the buzz also lured the likes of Rod Stewart and Andy Warhol, he writes. Peter Gatien Net Worth is $10 Million Mini Biography Peter Gatien was created on August 8, 1952 in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada seeing that Jean Pierre Gatien. On Buzzlearn.com, Peter is listed as a successful Businessman who was born in the year of 1952. I feel like the baby was the final victim of that Club Kids and drugs era, Ramon Fernandez said. The Club King, his slick new memoir out this month, chronicles Gatiens rise from a working-class kid in a sulfurous paper mill town in Ontario. But as Peter and his innovative team ramped up the hedonistic highs, Rudolph Giuliani was leading a major shift in the city. Having just put out a tee shirt for my brand that boldly stated, "New York Needs Peter Gatien," I had a feeling it was most likely related. No one wanted to party. From the late 70s to the late 90s, Peter Gatien reigned as New York's "King of Clubs", running four of the city's most hedonistic playgrounds which operated seven nights a week during that time.With Limelight, Tunnel, Palladium, and Club USA, Gatien brought Babylon back to life, introducing spaces where innovative and influential new forms of music, fashion, art and culture could flourish. . He now lives a quiet life in a three-bedroom apartment in Toronto with his third wife, Alessandra, and has spent the bulk of the last two decades trying to put his life back together. Dance club owner Peter Gatien and wife Alessandrs Kobayashi casually walk along a city street November 25, 2001 in New York City. His spectacle megaclubs in the city Limelight, Palladium, Club USA and the Tunnel were raking in more than $1 million a week at the time, he said, before a drug trial, which he ultimately won, cost him, well, basically, everything. [9] By 2009, he was no longer involved with Circa and has been out of the nightclub business since that time. However, because he is part Native Canadian, Gatien has since been able to visit the United States again. $14.95 per month after 30 days. Gatien was also the executive producer of the film The Bronx Tale. Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found on him, they said. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 68 years old? Soon he split his time between Ontario and South Florida, where he acquired a run-down bar called Rum Bottoms and rechristened it the Limelight. But the story of their vilified owner is still being written. The Limelight and the Palladium were seen as part of that un-governability, that this was a Wild West zone which you could do pretty much whatever you wanted the people who lived in proximity to those clubs wanted them out, Siegel says. Genealogy for Marie Solne "Sarah" Bellhumuer/Belmer (Gatien) (1827 - 1907) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. I sort of remember him bickering with security, but he got in., Lil Kim? A myth was always perpetuated about the Canadian expat losing it during a hockey game, but actually baseball was to blame. Even so, the government found a way to get rid of him, deporting him to Toronto in 2003 after his guilty plea to state tax evasion charges. He was harassed with regular raids and shutdowns until the mounting legal fees left him banjaxed. What came next to the club was not glitzy, but plenty kinetic. He was born in Cornwall on August 08, 1952. Informants who had flipped on Gatien flipped back to his side, claiming the government put words in their mouth and then some. We will update Peter Gatien's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible. None of it would have probably happenedif he hadnt lost his eye when he was six-years-old. The New York Limelight, of course, had to go even bigger. Over the years, there were attempts to break into boutique hotels, and write an Entourage-esque series about a 1990s club kingpin. Gatien is mentioned in the song, "The Fun Lovin' Criminal" by, He is also mentioned in the song, "Foundation" by, He is also mentioned in the song, "Dynasty" by, This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 18:49. Those were the days when the party never ended, and it was goddamn fabulous." So ends Peter Gatien's recounting of his prime years in the 1990s, as chronicled in his fluent recent memoir The Club King: My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife.I was there, and it is the truth. A memoir, The Club King, was published on April 1. The Tunnel, too, served as a clubhouse for a marginalized population in need of one, he said. After many years in the wilderness of Toronto and a short-lived and somewhat successful stint overseeing a club there Gatien was allowed to return to New York. And then the tax man got him. In 2003, he was deported to his native Canada, under the Department of Homeland Security immigration laws which order the removal of any alien (non-citizen) convicted of a felony. But, according to Gengo, Morgenthaus office in Manhattan took over the case and Gengo and Tomis had to fight to be kept on as investigators. It hurts. I knew that by some definition both Teddy Giles and Mark were insane, examples of an indifference many regard as monstrous and unnatural; but in fact they werent unique and their actions were recognizably human.. Try Audible Premium Plus free Gatien was born in Cornwall, Ontario, the third of five brothers. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 8 August. Peter Gatien (born August 14, 1952) is a Canadian club owner and party promoter. Gatien was a mixologist of the nocturnal rank and . His schoolyard pals had been using a broken, jagged broomstick as a makeshift bat when it slipped from one kids and connected, like a javelin, with young Gatiens left eye. Who is Peter Gatien: Peter Gatien is a famous Canadian businessman. (Though Gatien does admit it was flattering to be played by Dylan McDermott in Party Monster, the 2003 film depicting Aligs rise and fall). The two were arrested in December 1996, sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, and eventually released. But they both have featured young male characters who appear to be thinly-veiled versions of Daniel in their novels. The murder was once described as a catfight over a drug debt gone horribly wrong. 2023. It was the last of an era: predigital, pre-social media, he said. I was a shepherd of talent. Pedro Almodovar. If you wanted to meet someone iwho mattered in Ny back then, Peter was the only man who would probably know him or her. The trial was a fabulist farrago from the start. Five things we learned about Peter Gatiens quiet Toronto life, Peter Gatien, Club King Without a Club [New York Times], After my husband tried to kill me, I was forced to flee Kenya. I think [the Auster family] sent [Daniel] away after that and nobody saw him for a long time.. It was the last of an era.. After they arrested Alig and Riggs, the two cops were told to stand down and all their files on the case mysteriously disappeared from their office, Gengo told The Post last week. There still isnt a definitive answer on why Gatien left Circa, the John Street megaclub that he was hired to forge into Torontos answer to Limelight. Justin Monroe is a former executive editor, deputy editor, and senior editor . And its a crime that, after spending 30 years in the us, marrying a us citizen and having us children he himself is banned because of a bunch of sore losers in the DEA, federal justice department and of course the Juliani camp. Afterwards, Gatien did all he could to beef up security, even hiring a former special narcotics prosecutor to monitor his clubs. Between sips, he spoke with some disappointment about his return to New York, which had blackened both his eyes and then bounced him nearly two decades ago like a drunk from a bar. Gatien, who lost an eye in a childhood accident, prefers to think he was runnin things not with one eye closed but with one fully open. In the early Nineties, hope bloomed anew as people began to understand more about the virus, like the fact that it couldnt be spread from sharing a drink. To the confused. In the novel, Mark Wechsler is rumored to be Giles lover and is cited as a possible accomplice in the slaying. [7] However, because of his partial Indigenous ancestry, Gatien has since been able to visit the United States again. Peter Gatien is a Businessperson. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? The club was located next to a 24-hour Kroger grocery store, which became known, affectionately, as "Disco Kroger." The Limelight was featured in The Slugger's Wife starring Rebecca De Mornay. Ill tell you one thing at those keyboards, he really did lay it all out there.. After his Miami Limelight disco burned to the ground in the late '70s, enigmatic club king Peter Gatien set his sights on Atlanta. Peter Gatien. Aligs lawyer, the high-profile criminal defense attorney Gerald McMahon, told The Post that Daniel skated at the time because the Alig case was tied up with a bigger investigation of notorious nightclub kingpin Peter Gatien and also because Daniels father was friendly with then-Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau. His wife is Alessandra Gatien (m. 1994), Adrienne Gatien (m. 19841994), Sheila Gatien (m. 19721978). He was prosecuted in what became a witch hunt and huge failure on behalf of the us federal system and despite being cleared of charges was spitefully deported for a minor tax issue.