Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Electric Zoo Founder Previously Managed Drugged-Out Cheslea Nightclub
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 3, 2013
Modified Sep 3, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Mike Bindra and Laura De Palma
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 3, 2013
Modified Sep 3, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The deaths of two Electric Zoo attendees over the weekend has brought increased scrutiny on the festival's co-founder, Mike Bindra; it turns out he formerly ran a Chelsea nightclub that closed after a series of drug-related deaths and illnesses. Twilo, located on West 27th Street, closed in 2001 after two college students overdosed at the club and allegations emerged that Twilo routinely called private ambulances for patrons who had passed out.
Twilo was notorious for being a great place to score ecstasy, and there were allegedly many instances of patrons having drug-related problems on premises. According to court records obtained by DNAinfo, a bouncer named Joseph Murray said management instructed him “to hide those people" who passed out. He was arrested in 2000 for hiding three unconscious patrons in a dark room—even after paramedics arrived and were searching for them in the club.
"During the three years that I have worked on security inside Twilo, I have seen at least 100 instances in which unconscious or semiconscious patrons have been placed in the safe area by security and left there," Murray said in his affidavit, according to the New York Times.
Bindra, 44, was never charged with any wrongdoing. But in 2001, the city won a court battle to revoke Twilo's liquor license, and it finally closed after six years in business. Bindra went on to run another nightclub in Tribeca, and then launched Made Events with his wife Laura De Palma, producing the first Electric Zoo event in 2009.
The last day of Electric Zoo was canceled on Sunday after Bindra bowed to pressure from the mayor's office in the wake of the deaths of Olivia Rotondo, 20, and Jeffrey Russ, 23. Autopsies have proven inconclusive so far, and the Medical Examiner’s Office is awaiting toxicology and tissue tests to determine their cause of death. It's believed that both Rotondo and Russ took Molly (slang for MDMA) at Electric Zoo. Molly is usually in powdered form, but the Post reports that "cops are investigating whether a 'bad batch' of ecstasy pills was behind the string of overdoses."
Four other Electric Zoo attendees were hospitalized with substance-related issues. As news of the overdoses spread on Saturday, the festival's security implemented changes at the gate. The Times Jon Pareles writes, "My shoulder bag was searched far more thoroughly on the way in than on Friday, and through the day, Made Events representatives made sober announcements onstage urging people to rest, hydrate, get help for anyone in trouble and not to overdo alcohol and drugs — the last of which drew some laughs."
Tagged
drugs
electric zoo
mdma
mike bindra
Molly
overdose
randall's island
twilo
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .