Beginning in the early 1960s, New York gay bars were almost exclusively operated by mafia families under the guise of being private “bottle clubs,” as any bar openly serving the gay community was considered a “disorderly house” by the State Liquor Authority. Although the police knew about these clubs, they’d turn a blind eye if the mafia paid them off. For example, the owner of the Stonewall Inn paid New York’s Sixth Police Precinct roughly $1,200 a month, but even this did not guarantee that paying establishments would never be raided. If dues were not paid in time, police would raid establishments as punishment. Because the police were turning a blind eye, this also meant they were ignoring health and safety violations, leaving the vulnerable queer community to suffer poor conditions as a price for getting a place to gather without police interference.