It’s Bars vs. Booze Patrol in World Cup Side Match : Pasadena: State cracks down on scofflaws, but some owners claim hard-nosed tactics. Most pubs obey the rules.

Forget the Rose Bowl--the real drama during the World Cup is in the bars. Take Pasadena’s Old Town Pub, mere blocks from the soccer venue, where a scene unfolded late one night right out of an episode of “Cops.”

A pitcher of beer changed hands at the bar and out of nowhere undercover agents with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control swooped in--handcuffing the man who ordered the beer, citing the bartender and leaving the bar full of confused soccer fans.

“You’d think it was a major cocaine bust,” complained bartender Terese Brasile, who was cited for serving alcohol to intoxicated patrons. “These young ABC guys were whispering and carrying on. They even seized the pitcher and glasses as evidence. It was like something out of a ‘Naked Gun’ movie.”

Such tactics have made some Pasadena bar owners livid. They accuse the ABC of storming into their taverns, slapping handcuffs on patrons and dragging celebrants out through the crowds.

But not everybody is up in arms over the crackdown.

“It’s an extremely proactive strategy,” said Fran Neumann, executive director of Day One, a Pasadena-based alcohol and drug prevention group. “We want bar owners to manage alcohol better. They were warned that the ABC was coming in. The fact that the ABC is busting people means that there are people who deserve to be busted.”

The vast majority of Old Town’s watering holes have avoided ABC citations, but owners of those that have been cited are lashing out at the regulatory agency.

“They use storm trooper tactics and they come in yelling ‘OK, there he is, the guy in the corner, get him, go, go, go,’ ” said Dennis Bukowski, a former Los Angeles police officer who owns the Wise Guys bar, a favorite hangout of Brazilian fans. “It’s like the only training they got was watching cop shows on TV.”

Working out of the World Cup’s Pasadena command center, the ABC has joined the local police, FBI, U.S. State Department and dozens of other agencies in a campaign to prevent soccer fans from turning fanatical. They have heard the criticism inside the bars but say they have a job to do.

On game days, the ABC has mobilized a good chunk of the entire region’s investigative force in Old Town Pasadena--as many as 20 undercover agents go barhopping on particularly active nights.

So far, nine establishments (out of a total of 54 alcohol licenses in the area) have been cited for everything from selling alcohol on the sidewalk to allowing dancing without a permit. Penalties can bring hefty fines, license suspensions or, in drastic cases, revocation of the license to sell alcohol.

Dozens of drunk patrons also have been arrested in Old Town since the World Cup began a month ago--more than usual. The hooliganism that authorities feared has yet to materialize. But, as a precautionary measure, police closed all the bars about midnight Wednesday, when a celebration after Brazil’s semifinal victory over Sweden flowed into the streets and showed no signs of letting up.

“Our basic mission is to ensure that alcohol does not play a role in any large-scale disturbances in Old Town,” said ABC spokesman Carl Falletta.

That means, he said, focusing on small problems before they escalate.

The city of Pasadena supports the ABC’s crackdown. “It has been a totally well-balanced approach,” said Ann Erdman, city public information officer. “There has been total cooperation between the ABC and the city of Pasadena.”

But what authorities are calling preventive maintenance, some Pasadena bar owners are calling unnecessary tactics that are bad for business.

“They’re arresting people and treating them like felony suspects,” said Bukowski of Wise Guys. “What about PR? You don’t go dragging tourists off like that while the world is watching.”

Bukowski said he organized about 25 Old Town bar owners to meet with ABC officials this month after agents moved in June 29 and issued a handful of citations to owners, bartenders and cocktail waitresses who allegedly sold drinks to intoxicated patrons.

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Judy Matty, a supervising investigator for ABC, looked more like an ebullient camp counselor than a Rambo cop as she patrolled Old Town bars this week in denim shorts and ABC T-shirt. Strapped to her waist was a fanny pack holding a gun, handcuffs and small plastic vial used to store alcohol samples as evidence.

She was greeted warmly by bar owners as she made her rounds, although some grumbled about ABC tactics when Matty, a 13-year veteran, was not around.

Just seeing an ABC agent, Matty said, may prompt more vigilance from bar owners.

“It reminds them that ABC is here,” she said. “They don’t know how many people are with me undercover. It’s just like when you go down the freeway and see a highway patrolman. You slow down.”

Some bar owners say it is their businesses that will be slowing down.

“After the World Cup goes, my locals will be gone too,” fumed Billy Bitonti, who owns Billy’s Dugout, Domenico’s and Big D’s Sports Bar on Fair Oaks Avenue, across the street from where buses drop off World Cup fans. “People leave cursing me, saying: ‘I’m never going to come back here.’ ”

Bitonti received two citations for serving intoxicated patrons. But the longtime bar owner says he knows when someone is drunk. All his employees have attended ABC seminars on intoxication and viewed a videotape on how to spot intoxicated patrons.

“I have kids, I have family, this is my life, and I’m not going to send someone out to the street to get into a car crash,” Bitonti said.

He said he is frustrated because he added an outdoor patio--only to be told by ABC agents two days before the first game that he could not serve alcohol outside because he had not completed the paperwork.

A party of 80 Swedes had reserved part of the restaurant to throw a pregame party. Bitonti had to tell the disappointed Swedes they could not drink outside.

Owners say some of the ABC agents appear too young to be making arrests.

“They brought in a lot of young agents who don’t have a lot of experience,” said Art Jong, owner of the Old Town Pub. “If this is the biggest sporting event in the world, the ABC should bring in their veterans.”

The ABC acknowledges that it has a far younger force than ever before. Its staff was slashed several years ago during budget cuts and the ABC has been aggressively hiring recent college graduates to fill its ranks.

But the ABC says the young officers have experienced supervisors and are well-versed in the alcohol codes. “We didn’t just let loose a bunch of rookies,” Falletta said. “It’s very controlled.”

Not so, say those who work in Old Town’s bars.

Robert Konrad, a doorman at the 35’er bar on Colorado Boulevard, said he was slammed against the wall by two ABC agents who attempted to handcuff him after he tried to prevent a third agent from walking out of the bar with an open container of beer.

Konrad, 26, said the agents did not identify themselves until after the incident, when they responded: “We’re the ------- ABC.”

The ABC disputes the charges of heavy-handedness. In many cases, the specifics of the disputes are tough to nail down--lost in the chaos of the clamoring crowds.

The ABC has a different version of the bust at the Old Town Pub on June 18. They say Brasile, the bartender, was too busy dancing to notice that the 30ish man at the bar was completely blitzed.

His eyes were nearly closed and his face flush, investigators wrote in their report of the incident. His hat was on sideways and he was swaying in place. The man put a cigarette into his mouth the wrong way, with the filter sticking out. When he tried to light the mangled cigarette, a piece of flaming cigarette fell onto the man’s shirt. He didn’t flinch, according to the report.

“It appears to me that he exhibited clear signs of intoxication,” said Falletta, the ABC spokesman.

Some complaints against the ABC come from those who acknowledge that they broke the law.

Take Nicole, who is 20 years and 9 months old--three months below the state’s minimum drinking age of 21.

Late Wednesday night, Nicole was enjoying a beer in Gordon Biersch, a trendy Old Town micro-brewery, when a man in a pink shirt looked at her strangely. She made eye contact. “Stupid, stupid,” she said later.

The man was an undercover ABC officer and she was busted.

Right in front of this good-looking crowd, Nicole was led away to the front door. She denied having a fake ID, although she really did. She said she will never be back although privately she vowed that she will. Luckily for her, the ABC sent her on her way without a citation--which could have led to a fine, community service and the revocation of her driver’s license.

“I think it’s absolutely absurd,” said Nicole, an Arcadia resident. “I’m appalled. It’s embarrassing. I think they have to worry about these drunk people who are going to drive home. I could understand if I was completely drunk, but I only had one beer.”

Outside Wise Guys, Noa Carillo, who says he stops in at the bar from time to time, tried to wheedle his way through the door.

“Please let me in, I don’t want to drink any more beers, I just want to go in,” asked Carillo, his eyes reddened.

“Sorry,” Bukowski told him. “Too much cerveza. You have to come back tomorrow.”

Also turned away was David Ferris of Highland Park, who forgot his ID. Ferris took it in stride.

“I’m obviously 21, but I don’t blame them at all. They’re just doing their job.”

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World Cup organizers have been antsy about alcohol from the start. Initially, they sought to ban alcohol entirely in Pasadena on game days--a practice that has become common in Europe, where drunk fans have turned into soccer hooligans.

The 1990 games became known as the Teetotaler World Cup when all dozen Italian cities hosting the championship announced citywide alcohol restrictions.

Pasadena city officials decided that would be going too far. But they mobilized local law enforcement agencies to keep the revelry from getting out of hand.

Beer companies have seized the games as the ultimate promotion opportunity.

Budweiser is the official beer of the World Cup, paying a reported $7 million to support the soccer series, and its logo is featured in countless watering holes on promotional banners, flags and inflatable soccer balls.

But other companies are also seeking to take full advantage of the World Cup.

At the 35’er, a representative for Bitburger beer was roaming through the bar selling what she called the official lager of the German soccer team. For every glass purchased, she offered a raffle ticket to compete for a soccer ball and other prizes.

Tecate was employing even more provocative marketing methods across the street at another bar.

Miss Tecate ‘94, wearing a white Tecate mini-dress and black cowboy boots, was signing autographed posters of herself and posing for photos with celebrating Brazilian fans. Tecates were on special at the bar.

“I think people are crazy because of the win, but they’re minding their manners,” said Kathy Bolter, one of a handful of Miss Tecates. “They’re treating me like just one of the guys.”