Concertgoers demand changes outside Brooklyn Mirage after recent deaths, kidnapping

A group of concertgoers are asking for immediate safety improvements in the area outside The Brooklyn Mirage after two men were found dead nearby and another person was allegedly kidnapped after getting into a taxi outside the venue.

The three incidents — which occurred over a six-week period in June and July — spurred patrons to wage a letter-writing and online campaign, asking for local officials and the venue itself to support better lighting, improved wireless service and a crackdown on unlicensed taxis outside the East Williamsburg concert space. The venue has come under state regulators’ scrutiny in the past for extensive, documented drug use inside the venue and three overdose deaths.

“I don't have the exact remedy, but I think what community folks are asking for is going to require probably more investment from their part,” said City Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, who represents the area.

Neither the venue’s owners nor City Hall have indicated whether any improvements will be made.

The Mirage is the centerpiece of Avant Gardner, a 80,000-square-foot, multi-venue event complex that spans an entire city block. Avant Gardner’s management released two brief, unsigned statements following the deaths of Karl Clemente and John Castic, both of whom disappeared while leaving separate shows at the Mirage.

“Avant Gardner is in communication with the authorities and is assisting with the investigation,” one of the statements reads. “We take the safety of our patrons extremely seriously. Our thoughts are with the family and friends during this difficult time.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office referred comment to the NYPD, which said investigations into Castic and Clemente’s deaths “remain ongoing.”

A history of turmoil

Collectively, the Avant Gardner complex is one of the largest music venues in the city, with a total capacity of about 6,000 people. It is known for hosting some of the biggest names in electronic music, as well as for the 200-foot-wide LED video screen that serves as the backdrop to the Brooklyn Mirage’s stage.

In March, a Gothamist investigation detailed the venue’s close ties to Adams’ office, which brokered a meeting between Avant Gardner owner Billy Bildstein and a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul last year during a time when the State Liquor Authority was cracking down on the venue in part for extensive drug use among its patrons.

At least 1,600 people were treated at Avant Gardner for intoxication or “altered mental state” — a condition often tied to drug use — from 2018 to mid-2022, Gothamist’s investigation found. At least three patrons died of accidental drug overdoses since the venue opened at its current location in 2017, according to police records.

The most recent incidents this summer have all occurred in the neighborhood outside Avant Gardner, an industrial zone of warehouses that’s a 15-minute walk from the nearest subway. Street lighting is inconsistent and patrons report that cell service is often unreliable when the venue is crowded with thousands of concertgoers.

Those incidents include:

• On June 11, 27-year-old Queens resident Karl Clemente went missing. He was last seen around 10 p.m. outside the Mirage, according to the NYPD. His family and friends told various media outlets he was denied entry for intoxication, and his body was found in the nearby Newtown Creek five days later.
• On July 23, two men were arrested in Norwalk, Connecticut on kidnapping charges after a Norwalk resident claimed they held him against his will over several days. A police report obtained by The Norwalk Hour said he was allegedly taken captive after climbing into a taxi while leaving the Mirage.
• On July 29, John Castic, 27, was last seen around 3 a.m. exiting the Mirage. He told his friends he was feeling ill and was heading home, according to his father, Jeffrey Castic. Three days later, his body turned up in Newtown Creek, according to the NYPD.

The NYPD has not suggested Castic or Clemente’s deaths were the result of foul play. The medical examiner has not yet released a cause or manner of death in either case; a spokesperson said both cases remain under investigation.

Jeffrey Castic said the authorities told him his son drowned and there was no criminal activity involved, though there are still unanswered questions — such as why his son was missing his shirt when he was discovered. Castic also said that surveillance footage shows his son briefly getting into a car upon leaving the venue before exiting and walking away.

“Frankly, the person who could give the answers is the one we're speaking about,” Castic said, referencing his son. “Probably, we will never actually know.”

On social media, Mirage patrons speak out

Soon after the deaths of Clemente and Castic, Brooklyn Mirage patrons took to social media to air their complaints. One Reddit user circulated a form letter to send to City Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, who represents the neighborhood, which spurred a lengthy discussion about the Mirage’s safety and what, if anything, can be done about it. Fellow concertgoers joined in, signing the letter and emailing it to the councilmember’s office.

The letter, which Gutiérrez’s office has received, says patrons have “serious concerns regarding the safety of concert attendees at the Brooklyn Mirage,” accusing the venue and its security team of “extreme negligence … regarding the safety of patrons exiting the venue.”

It points to a lack of security outside the Mirage, as well as the frequent presence of unlicensed taxis posing as Uber and Lyft drivers when thousands of patrons exit, often at 4 a.m. when many shows wrap up.

“What's even more alarming is once you leave the exit area, there is little to no street lighting surrounding Johnson Avenue, Ingraham Street, and Gardner Avenue when walking to the Jefferson Street subway station,” the letter reads. “This is where I believe patrons are also being targeted and at risk for getting lost, or worse, being manipulated into danger.”

Miranda Miller said she has been attending events at the Brooklyn Mirage and Avant Gardner since 2018, when she was still in college. Among other problems, she pointed to issues regarding cell service. When leaving the venue, patrons often can’t get any service to order a car service, leaving them to wander into the industrial neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning to try to get a signal to call an Uber or Lyft.

Miller said she’s seen men standing outside with the words Lyft, Uber or taxi lit up on their phone screens.

“They’re not waiting for you to approach them,” she said. “They’re approaching you and they’re saying, ‘Taxi, taxi, you need Uber?’ And if you tell them no, sometimes they’ll leave you alone, sometimes they’ll keep doing it — like, ‘Oh, come on, you need an Uber? I’m cheaper.’ And then you basically have to tell them to f— off.”

Both the letter and Miller also pointed to an issue inside the venue itself: Overcrowding. They claim shows at the Brooklyn Mirage and Avant Gardner are often oversold, creating the potential for a dangerous “crowd crush” situation.

It’s a concern that was raised last year by T&M USA, a private investigations firm that once served as an independent monitor of Avant Gardner for the State Liquor Authority, an arrangement that fell apart in mid-2022 after Avant Gardner summarily fired the firm amid a billing dispute.

In a report to the SLA, T&M included data showing Avant Gardner sold upwards of 3,600 tickets to shows at the Great Hall, one of its indoor venues, despite the maximum capacity only being 2,776. The venue’s management claimed the excess ticket sales were to account for no-shows and that the capacity was never exceeded.

“I know crowd crush can hurt anyone, but I am a 4’11” woman,” Miller said. “I am incredibly susceptible to that if I were ever in a big crowd, and it has surprised me that no one has died that we know of at crowd crush at the Mirage.”

A shared responsibility

Gutiérrez said she believes the infrastructure in the industrial zone around the Mirage should be bolstered, calling for better “lighting, signage, phone and data connectivity, and accessible public transportation.”

Her position is supported by a handful of local elected officials — including Rep. Nydia Velázquez, state Sen. Julia Salazar and Assemblymembers Emily Gallagher and Maritza Davila, all Brooklyn Democrats — who signed on to a joint statement echoing the call.

Gutiérrez told Gothamist that she spoke with Bildstein twice after Clemente and Castic’s deaths. She believes Bildstein is “invested in trying to make this better and making sure this doesn’t happen again.” But she said he also told her that he’s done a lot already to improve safety at the venue.

“His tone was like, yeah, this is terrible. But I think he was also like — this is terrible it's being tied to the Mirage,” Gutiérrez said.

Ariel Palitz, the founding and former director of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Nightlife, said ensuring a safe environment outside of clubs and music venues is a shared responsibility.

“That includes the venue and ensuring there's greater security and good lighting, and the city, of course, knowing that there is a large venue with thousands of people gathering there on a weekly basis to ensure that all of the lights are working and if there is any additional support that they can offer,” Palitz said.

Palitz said some of the responsibility falls on the patrons themselves to “know how to ensure their own safety as best as possible,” including by traveling with friends and not letting someone leave on their own if they’re intoxicated — or even if they’re not.

“Everyone involved has to be looking out for each other,” she said.

The recent deaths appear to have done little to dent Avant Gardner’s standing in the electronic dance music industry.

On Aug. 2, the day after Castic’s body was recovered in Newtown Creek, DJ Magazine named it the “best large club” in North America.