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WHY PAUL ROMA'S WRESTLING SCHOOL WAS HIT WITH CEASE & DESIST ORDERING IT TO SHUT DOWN, REPRESENTATIVE FOR TOWN OF EAST HAVEN COMMENTS & MORE

As PWInsider.com reported on 8/31, Paul Roma and Mario Manicini's Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling school in East Haven, CT received a cease and desist letter, dated 8/28, ordering them to shut down their wrestling school as it had been deemed as being in violation with a local zoning law that lists "wrestling studios" under adult entertainment aka pornography.

The letter stated the town was made aware that wrestling events were being held in the space on 8/27 and such events violate the city's rules on "adult oriented businesses and entertainment establishments."  The school has been ordered to halt all wrestling activity immediately under threat of fines and potential criminal charges if they resume training or presenting events.  The school has 30 days to appeal the decision and if they choose not to do so, that will be considered an admission that they are liable for violating the zoning law and could be subject to "an assessment or judgment" by East Haven.   

• The letter, addressed to Leonard Intizari (Mario Mancini's real name) does not state who brought the complaint against PAPW but specifically makes it clear that the town was placing professional wrestling under the same umbrella that it would adult-themed services, noting, "This property is in a CB-2 (Commercial) Zone in which the Adult Oriented Business use is not allowed per Section 29A. The wrestling use is considered an adult oriented business per Sections 36.2.1 and 36.2.9. The relevant sections are cited below."

When one examines the relevant sections (provided to PWInsider.com by the town of East Haven; see more below), however, it would appear the allegations would not hold up to actual scrutiny under the criteria listed.  The East Haven zoning issues listed are reprinted below with sections italicized exactly as they appear in the cease and desist letter, which one would assume specifically points to the alleged violations. 

PWInsider.com received a copy of the cease and desist from the Town of East Haven.

29.A - Adult oriented business & entertainment establishments whose principal activity is related to adult entertainment and including, but not limited to adult book stores, adult motion picture theaters, adult mini-motion picture theaters; establishments featuring the rental and/or sale of adult videos, adult cabarets, adult novelty businesses and/or certain adult personal service businesses.

None of the above would pertain to PAPW or any professional wrestling school or event.

36.2.1 Adult oriented business: A public or private establishment which is customarily not open to the general public, but only to one or more classes of the public, thereby excluding any minor by reason of age, and whose principal activity includes, but is not limited to, one or a combination of the following types of businesses: adult book store; adult motion picture theater; adult mini-motion picture theater, adult video sales and/or rentals; adult cabaret; adult novelty business, adult personal service business and/or establishment. 

PAPW is a family-friendly promotion that attracts local families to their events and has regularly run events designed to raise money for local charities, so none of the above would actually pertain to PAPW.

36.2.9 Adult personal service establishments: an establishment, club, business, by whatever name designated, which offers or advertises or is equipped or arranged so as to allow a person, while clothed, nude or partially nude to provide personal services for an individual of the same or opposite sex on an individual basis in an open or closed room and which excludes minors by virtue of age. Such services or activities include, but are not limited to, massages, body rubs, alcohol or lotion massages or body rubs and other similar treatments; as well as modeling studios, wrestling studios and individual theatrical performances. 

Again, nothing listed would actually involve Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling or any other wrestling promotion/school.  It appears that the verbiage of the local zoning law was designed to prohibit massage parlors that could double as places of prostitution or "studios" that could potentially house the filming of pornography in some form, which again, would not be what professional wrestling is. 

With the exception of the words "wrestling studio", unless something beyond professional wrestling training and events were taking place at the PAPW facility, it would appear there is no reason (beyond the words "wrestling studio") that any of the listed prohibited issues would actually even exist under PAPW's roof.

PWInsider.com contacted Christopher Soto, the East Haven Zoning Enforcement Officer who issued the cease and desist, for comment on what led to East Haven's decision and how a professional wrestling promotion's school and family-friendly events could fall under the auspices of "adult entertainment" as listed above.

Soto did not respond to a request for comment and instead forwarded PWInsider.com's request to Michael Luzzi, the Town Attorney for East Haven.  Luzzi's statement was as follows:

I have attached the Cease and Desist Order that was served on Leonard Inzitari as principal of Paradise Alley Professional Wrestling, LLC for your review.

Any representation being made that the Town of East Haven cited Paradise Alley Professional Wrestling, LLC for a “pornography” use is a misrepresentation as is clear from the substance of the issued Cease and Desist Order.

Quite simply, Leonard Inzitari and/or Paradise Alley Professional Wrestling LLC is currently using the property at 662 Coe Avenue in a manner, i.e. as a wrestling studio, that is not permitted under the Town’s Zoning Regulations in the commercial zone the property is in. Mr. Inzitari has various options that he can pursue in order to resolve this unpermitted use issue, including seeking an amendment(s) to or variance of the Zoning Regulations, or to relocate the business to a zone where the use is permitted. In fact, with regard to the latter, the Town’s economic development director can assist him in finding a suitable location for his business.

It is unclear to me why you would be contacted about a matter that is a “typical” zoning issue that arises when property owners and tenants fail to obtain confirmation that a use is allowed under the Zoning Regulations in advance of commencing it.

For the record, PWInsider.com has not been contacted by anyone related to PAPW and began following the story after the promotion publicly released the cease and desist letter via social media:

MLW star Richard Holliday, who originally trained at PAPW, also commented publicly on the situation:

Since receiving the statement from Mr. Luzzi, who offered to answer any additional questions, PWInsider.com posed the question as to why professional wrestling would be considered an "adult entertainment or service" to begin with, given there is nothing "adult" about the PAPW promotion, in terms of explicit or lewd behavior that fits the motif of everything else that is listed on the zoning requirements that prohibits other "adult" services to be housed in that zoning area.  

PWInsider.com also requested comment on why the verbiage in the town's zoning lists a "wrestling studio", when there is no such thing as a wrestling studio, pointing out that PAPW is simply a wrestling school that sometimes has events.   PWInsider.com also asked when the "wrestling studio" aspect of the town's zoning ordinances were added to East Haven's regulations and whether the town would seek to prevent the Stamford, CT-based WWE from using one of their buildings for WWE performances or broadcasts as well.  

Three days later, Mr. Luzzi has not responded to those questions.  After giving Mr. Luzzi that time to respond, PWInsider.com has chosen to publish his initial response.  Should he respond to PWInsider.com's follow-up questions, we will update this story.

Paradise Alley Pro Wrestling was founded by Roma and Mancini in 2015 and has operated out of their facility in East Haven, CT since that time.  They recently held a Memorial tournament for the late Hercules Hernandez, who teamed with Roma in the WWF as Power and Glory.   As noted, the true irony here is that PAPW, as a promotion, bills itself as family friendly and has promoted a number of events over the last five years in the Nutmeg State to raise money for different local charities. 

For more on the promotion itself, visit www.paradisealleyprowrestling.com.

 

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