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Social club covets liquor license
By George P. Hassett
Mario DaSilva feels he is being targeted. The owner of the International Soccer Club said police have visited his establishment 30 times in the past year hoping to catch him serving alcohol. He said Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero regularly walks by and looks in the window menacingly, inspecting DaSilva and his customers.
“I feel like I’m a bad guy here. Worse, I feel like I’m the only bad guy in Somerville,” DaSilva said.
DaSilva bought the private establishment at 5 Marshall Street two years ago, succeeding an infamous owner with a long history of trouble. In the last two years, DaSilva and his wife Rosa have invested over $300,000 in the club, which he runs as a non-profit organization to “give something back to the community.” He bought a liquor license from the now-defunct Genoa restaurant and made plans to have it approved by the city for his club.
And that is when the trouble started, said DaSilva.
Pero walked into DaSilva’s club one day and began thoroughly inspecting the property and making harsh criticism and threats, DaSilva said.
“So I kicked him out,” he said. “I said, ‘you’re not a cop you can’t disturb my establishment like this, get out of here you stupid alderman.’”
DaSilva said Pero has had a vendetta against him ever since.
“I made a mistake. I should not have spoken to him like that, but how far can I be pushed? The police who come in here time after time tell me, ‘The alderman is after you.’ He is calling the police if he sees a bottle on the table when he is outside looking in.”
DaSilva was originally denied the opportunity to serve alcohol in the International Soccer Club by the city’s licensing commission in Feb. 2005. He then appealed that decision to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, which overturned the licensing board’s decision. DaSilva will now go back in front of the licensing board Monday at the Public Safety building at 6:00 p.m. to try again.
Pero spoke against DaSilva at the first hearing and said he remains opposed to the International Soccer Club having a liquor license approved by the city.
“Three different times police have reported this establishment as selling alcohol without a license,” Pero said. “Because of that I don’t feel they deserve a positive vote.”
Pero said police reported that alcohol was served and money was exchanged.
DaSilva said the police never reported alcohol as being served, just found, inside the club and it was actually wine he used to cook.
DaSilva estimates he has lost over $100,000 since he opened the club almost two years ago because he has not been able to serve alcohol.
“We have a full restaurant here, what’s food without a little spirit?” he said.
DaSilva, a 29 year resident of Somerville, said his club caters to the 30% of the Somerville population that speaks Portuguese but is open to anyone looking for a clean, quiet place to watch a soccer game in.
Joe Martins lives at 390 Broadway and enjoys the International Soccer Club because it is a “quiet, family place.” He said it is only missing one thing.
“It’s a Portuguese tradition, when you eat, you have a little drink on the side too. When you see a friend, you have a drink with him,” he said. “We deserve a place to gather as a community, to meet, to talk, to help one another. Mario is an honest man, all he’s asking for is fairness.”
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