Money, Dancers and Hookah: What Boston Police Saw at New England Patriots' Chaotic Restaurant Party
What to know
- Boston police body camera footage shows officers shutting down an after-hours Patriots party at Estella Restaurant, where dollar bills littered the floor and guests smoked hookah and cannabis in the basement.
- The Boston Licensing Board handed the restaurant a one-day license suspension after finding violations that included after-hours liquor sales, indoor smoking, and unauthorized adult entertainment.
- Officers found about 25–30 partygoers in the basement, including women described as “scantily clad,” and staff struggled to clear the building as police cited multiple violations.
By Colleen Cronin
Source Boston Herald
There were so many dollar bills on the floor at the Estella Restaurant during a Patriots after-hours party, one woman was seen kicking them into a pile.
It was one of the many scenes revealed in Boston Police body-camera video made public Wednesday.
“We have to shut down the party,” a Boston police officer tells the crowd.
“It’s really not a party, it’s a gathering,” one woman responds while another can be seen in the background smoking a pink hookah. But the plea didn’t work.
Estella Restaurant in downtown was hit with a one-day license suspension, the Boston Licensing Board voted last week, after a post-AFC championship party with Patriots players got out of control in January.
“A three-day suspension, one day to be served, two days held in abeyance for a period of one year should this licensee violate any provision of Chapter 138 or the board’s rules,” board member Daniel Green read the ruling.
The restaurant was cited for the sale of liquor after hours, permitting the smoking of hookah and cannabis indoors, and unauthorized adult entertainment.
‘I’m mad I didn’t get an invite’
When BPD arrived on the scene, just before 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 27, music was still blaring from speakers downstairs.
One of the first officers to show up at the eatery was met at the door by a man who asked what was up.
“We got a noise complaint. Why are you guys still playing music?” the officer states.
“It’s just the Patriots players. They ain’t doing nothing wrong. They are celebrating the win,” the man at the door responded.
“We just gotta do our job,” one of the officers replies. Some officers go downstairs, while a few others stay on the first floor chatting with someone who appears to be an employee.
“I’m mad I didn’t get an invite,” one of the officers jokes.
“A lot of the Patriots are here,” the employee says. “You want them ready to go or ready to not go?”
“As long as they bring that W, man,” one of the officers says.
“This ain’t helping right now,” the employee replies.
‘Put your clothes on’
Meanwhile, body camera footage from another officer shows him climbing down into the basement, shining his flashlight on the partygoers, about 25 or 30 people. Immediately someone cuts the music and everyone looks up.
Smoke, both tobacco and the smell of pot, filled the basement of the restaurant where the party was being held, according to reports and the video. Women were seen milling around, with one adjusting a sparkling halter top with her back to the camera.
The DJ and partygoers ask the officer if they’re in trouble, and he explains that the issue is with the venue, not with them.
“Can we still be here if we don’t play music?” the same woman who called the evening a “gathering” asks. The officers tells her no.
He heads back upstairs, and an Estella employee offers to show him around to make sure no one else is in the building.
“We were just letting them finish what they purchased,” she tells him.
As they take the tour through the facilities, the rest of the restaurant is empty, until they come upon a stairwell.
“Put on your clothes,” a woman wearing a fur coat says.
“You need to get us our coats,” another woman out of view replies.
Someone wearing what appears to be pink sparkling lingerie is seen briefly in the frame.
‘Scantily clad’
In another video, a sergeant arrives on the scene and asks to look at the restaurant’s licenses. She does her own inspection of the basement.
“Whose ones are these?” the sergeant asks, looking at the dollar bills on the floor.
“They got scared and dropped them,” the DJ tells her.
Another officer goes up to the sergeant and tells her about the women who were found “scantily clad” in the stairwell. The sergeant asks if they were actually naked.
“They may have been, but I’m sure they put on something,” the other officer replies.
She sees the hookahs. “There’s one under every table,” she says.
Heading back upstairs, she fills out more paperwork and lets the employees and owners know about the violations, which they try to dispute.
“Come on now,” the sergeant says. “We’re not dumb.”
She tells the staff that the stragglers left in the Temple Place restaurant need to leave.
“We asked them three times to get their Ubers,” an employee tells the sergeant about a group of woman still chatting by the door.
“You guys got an Uber coming?” the sergeant asks them, squeezing past them to go outside.
“Mhhmm,” one replies.
“Alright.”
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