Chuck Zito (center) with two of his dancing girls. (
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One of the club’s porcelain namesakes roars at visitors in the entryway. (
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One night in 1998, Chuck Zito — former president of the New York chapter of the Hells Angels — ventured out to the Scores gentlemen’s club. Once there, he decided to beat the tar out of martial arts expert Jean-Claude Van Damme. (Zito admits to feeling bad about Van Damme’s “misfortune.”) He would later go on to work as a Scores bouncer for a year or so.
Now, an older and wiser Zito is back on the nightlife scene working as the “celebrity VIP host” at brand-new Brooklyn nightclub Jaguars 3.
Anyone got a problem with that?
It probably goes without saying that Jaguars 3 isn’t your typical bar — it’s an over-the-top, multilevel, safari-themed Sunset Park playground that plays out like a Martin Scorsese movie every night. And we’re not talking “Age of Innocence.” Visitors enter Jaguars 3 through a corridor stocked with porcelain animals, including at least one jaguar. Animal sounds roar through hidden speakers.
“There’s nothing like it,” says Zito of the triple-threat entertainment complex, housing a restaurant, a nightclub and a “bikini bar.” On opening night last Thursday, football great Lawrence Taylor made it rain by throwing a stack of dollar bills at two dancers gyrating on the center-stage poles.
An elevator brings patrons to the main space, which consists of three rooms. The first is a bar/lounge area featuring a dance floor where Pussycat Dolls-inspired acts entertain a crowd that has so far included a few “Sopranos” cast members — including Tony “Paulie Walnuts” Sirico — and the types of guys who inspired their characters.
There’s also an elevated dining area, complete with large tables arranged to resemble a wedding hall. The dinner scene is rounded out by lounge singer Freddie Lando performing Sinatra and Elvis tunes while joking with dinner guests, “I could really look up to a girl like you” — he said to a woman two inches taller than he is.
“We came here because it’s an industrial area,” says Zito. “We don’t have to worry about bothering the neighbors.” There’s already talk of expansion: In summer, the club will add a 4,000-square-foot rooftop bar. “It’s Vegas,” says general manager Frank Ferraro.
Drawn to the flashes outside the restaurant area on Thursday, 29-year-old Andrea Kneeley made a beeline toward a camera on opening night. “I wanna be in the pape-uhhh!” said the slender Staten Islander in a bright red dress. Her date quickly pulled her away, admonishing, “Get ovah here!”
Meanwhile, in the lounge area, a 43-year-old woman from Midwood, Brooklyn, who goes by the name GiGi La Q, celebrated her birthday with two pals from Staten Island identifying themselves as 28-year-old Natalie Could and 46-year-old Rosie Lauro. “It’s all about Y-O-L-O — you only live once,” declared La Q, explaining her general motto for life.
One of the bigger brains behind Jaguars 3 is Vincent Faraci, a Brooklyn native who once managed Vegas’ legendary Crazy Horse Too strip club. It was Faraci who named Jaguars 3. Zito is happy to host the parties here. Just don’t expect him to get carried away.
“I was 25 years in the Hells Angels — never drank, never took a drug, never smoked,” insists Zito, admitting, “Some of the guys were a little leery because I never indulged.”
Though some of his biker buddies mistook that clean-living lifestyle for softness, Zito says the situation was quickly remedied.
“I was called out once,” says Zito. “And only once.” As for Jean-Claude Van Damme, Zito says there are no bad feelings on his side, and he’d be glad to host the Muscles from Brussels at Jaguars 3 — as long as he behaves. “They say time heals all wounds — so I hope, for his sake, there’s no animosity,” says Zito.
But then Zito spent 25 years partying at the Hells Angels’ East Village clubhouse, where, he says, there’s a sign over the door reading, “If you’re not bleeding when you’re leaving, you’re welcome back.”
Asked if he expects to come to blows with anyone at Jaguars 3, Zito shrugs and says, “You never know.”