SF City Attorney Files Lawsuit to Shut Down Tenderloin Corner Stores Raided for Being Gambling Dens

Those two Tenderloin convenience stores SFPD raided last month for being underground gambling dens were allegedly also dabbling in guns, ammo, and illegal weed, and City Attorney David Chiu just filed suit to shut them both down.

Back in early September, we reported that the SFPD raided two Tenderloin corner stores and a laundromat for secretly operating underground casinos. The convenience stores in question were both on the same block: SF Discount Market at 238 Leavenworth Street, and the Tenderloin Market and Deli (also called TL Market and Deli) at 200 Leavenworth Street.

Police were tight-lipped about the raids at the time, but eyewitnesses saw cops hauling out more than a dozen electronic gambling machines. Yet there was allegedly plenty more illegal activity afoot at the two liquor stores, according to SF City Attorney David Chiu, as KPIX reports that Chiu has sued both stores and is asking the courts to shut them down.  

According to a press release from Chiu’s office, separate police investigations of the stores turned up loaded firearms and high-capacity Glock magazines, cartons of cigarettes labeled for sale in other states, merchandise for sale that was stolen from Sephora and Walgreens, 83 grams of illegal cannabis, and meth and crack pipes. Per Chiu’s press release, “The drug paraphernalia sold at both markets were in plain view to anyone who entered the stores.”

“For law abiding residents, there is nothing convenient about these stores,” Chiu said in the release. “They have been a blight on the neighborhood for too long and are fronts for gambling dens and fencing operations. These two stores are endangering the safety, health, and welfare of their Tenderloin neighbors. We are asking the Court to spare the community from further harm and hold the owners accountable.”

Chiu’s lawsuit is asking the SF Superior Court to not only levy financial and legal damages against the two stores, but also to shut them both down for a year.

Related: SFPD Raids Underground Casino Operating Inside Tenderloin Market [SFist]

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