Ex-owner of mob-linked restaurant got $6 million from Nassau County

Roger Basile was driving south from Westbury in October 2018 when Nassau County police pulled him over.

That traffic stop ultimately led to his arrest, an interrogation, a lawsuit alleging a brutal beating — and, earlier this year, a $6.3 million payment from Nassau County, according to records reviewed by Newsday.

It’s the county’s second multimillion dollar payout in a police misconduct case within four months. In April, Nassau County paid a $10 million settlement to a man who spent more than 20 years in prison after his conviction was overturned, Newsday reported.

The payment marks a new twist in the colorful history of Basile, 62, a Bellmore man who works in real estate and is the former co-owner of a seafood restaurant with documented ties to organized crime.  

Basile and attorneys representing him did not reply to requests for comment.

Many of the facts of the incident that led to the payment are not in dispute, according to court records.

Earlier that day, Oct. 11, Basile and his wife had had an argument, and he had left the house with her purse in his car. She called 911 to report he had driven away with her purse.

Police pulled him over, saw the purse in the car and brought him to the Seventh Precinct in Seaford. While in an interrogation room, Basile said a police officer struck him in the head multiple times, causing a concussion, according to a federal lawsuit he filed in 2020.

Nassau County, meanwhile, argued in court records the injury was self-inflicted.

Police charged Basile with grand larceny, but the charge was ultimately dismissed, according to his lawsuit.

A jury decision

The case went to trial before U.S. District Judge Eric R. Komitee in Brooklyn in October 2023.

Much of the proceedings centered around the identity of the man who allegedly struck Basile. The man identified by Basile, now-retired Det. Jesse Perkins, denied he had entered the interrogation room that day.

"I’ve never seen this man a day in my life," Perkins said of Basile, according to trial transcripts.

Another officer who admitted entering the interrogation room, now-retired Det. Robert Lashinsky, "wasn’t the one that assaulted me," Basile testified, according to court records.

The jury ultimately found that, while Basile did not conclusively prove that one specific officer hit him, he did prove that "any Nassau County officer or detective subjected him to a battery." The jury awarded him $4.5 million, "plus prejudgment and post judgement interest," according to court records.

Perkins called the payment "the biggest travesty of justice I've ever heard in my life" in a brief phone interview with Newsday.

"I never met this guy," he said. "I had nothing to do with this case." 

Earlier this year, Komitee declined Nassau County’s motion to change the jury's verdict. The county ultimately paid out $6.3 million in July, according to records obtained by Newsday. 

A spokesperson for the Nassau County Police Department referred a request for comment to the county attorney's office.

"The occurrence took place in 2018, and the case was filed in 2020. Both circumstances occurred under a different County Executive and therefore we have no further comment," Thomas Adams, the Nassau County attorney, said in a statement.

A Nassau police internal affairs report on the incident filed with the court found Basile’s allegations of excessive force were "undetermined." But the report — signed by, among other police officials, future NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell — recommended "surveillance cameras be installed in all Squad holding cells."

A spokesperson for the Nassau County Police Department did not respond to a question about whether that ultimately took place.

A colorful past

The payout marks a new twist in Basile’s colorful history on Long Island.

Basile is the son of the late Philip Basile, who owned a series of popular nightclubs, including Action House, Channel 80 and J. Sprats on the Water.

Along with his late brother, Frank, Roger Basile owned the now-closed Hudson & McCoy, a popular Freeport seafood eatery that had well-publicized dealings with organized crime, according to multiple news reports.

Lewis Kasman, who has described himself as the adopted son of John Gotti of the Gambino family, had effectively taken control of the restaurant and was skimming away big chunks of profit, according to media reports from the early 2000s.

The restaurant was "very good, very lucrative," Kasman said in an interview. "It was the place to be. I mean, I used to get calls at my house from family friends — ‘Oh, can you get me in?’ We were sold out every day, every night."

Seeking a solution, the brothers turned to another mob family: the Luccheses, according to reports in New York media outlets. But the Luccheses followed much the same playbook with the restaurant as their predecessors. 

"Prosecutors said the defendants secretly drained the receipts from an outdoor restaurant bar last summer, averaging $7,000 to $10,000 a night," reads a 2002 Newsday article describing federal charges against alleged Lucchese associates.

Detailed wiretap records eventually led to prison sentences for some involved with the restaurant, according to media reports.

Years later, in 2007, the Basile brothers were both charged with assault after the beating of Frank’s son’s Little League coach at a game, Newsday reported at the time. Both men pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, according to court records.