Warning- clubbers in Sydney

hello
Ended up at Soho (downstairs) on Saturday night after a cocktail party, and despite being perilously pissed, managed to have a good dance and a good time.
However, I was absolutely bolloxed by the huge prescence of undercover police at the venue. I'm talking at least 4-5 groups of undercovers, including one group of AFP (Feds). They even had one of their lovely unmarked Volkswagon surveillance vans outside, presumably getting some nice audio and video.
After I worked out what the weird vibe at the place was about (everbody watching everybody), I had a good dance and relaxed cos I didn't have anything on me.
But I was trying to work out why the huge police prescence. Was it:
1) Cops watching cops: ie undercovers watching police who pill and are a bit shady
2) Cops pretending to pill and cop dealers
3) Cops watching the staff aka Underground cafe
4) Cops pilling and us being paranoid
5) All of the above at the same time.
ANyway, the prescence of the Feds makes me think that it was a fairly big thing. Maybe they see Soho as some sort of dist point are are looking for the front end of the operation.
So, if you are heading there for a night, keep an eye out for badly dressed guys rubbing your neck and asking "what are you having tonight..."
cheers
pinger
[This message has been edited by pinger (edited 01 May 2000).]

hmmmmm interesting, i was at Soho last easter sunday, when they had their easter sunday party all day and openend up the whole place, pretty mad i must say. but now that you mention that, im trying to think who i talked to that night, cause i saw dealing like 4/5 times and even took part in one, cops either musnt of been there or are pretty inept
ah well youve gone and turned soho into a paranoia den for me....thanks
------------------
its that feeling you get....oh yeah Fukitzpumpin!!!

Believe it or not Soho used to be my regular hangout hehehe, yeah I used to go there pretty much every week, was friends with management etc etc So I saw alot of what went on there too.
I don't want to say too much (for fear of my own safety ) but yeah, Soho has always had a bit of a dodgy 'inhouse' crowd, and has therefore always been watched very carefully. I wont say it definitely happened because I can't be sure, but a reliable source very close to me said he saw a gun being pulled in the toilets once...
Nice huh? Yeah there are some shady characters that hangout at Soho and most of them have participated in the wheelings and dealings of that part of the 'Scene' for a really long time...they're usually the ones to watch. Makes sense to have undercovers yeah?
Saying that, they're not there to pick on the average clubber, just to prevent anykind of warfare happening in there I think..oh and the dealers of course.
mona.
ps. did this make sense?

i didn't mean to make you paranoid.
Let's give the police some credit. They have intelligence and understand that heaps of normal 9-5 Joes take pills. They aren't interested in you.
But it was a weird atmosphere, the two sides eyeing each other off all night from opposite sides of the room. I think it is still probably a safe place to "get on one", as the cops don't care about you, they are scoping their targets. And their targets are openly staring them down and standing around with their roid boy heavies.
I felt like I was doing a pre-match dance at a boxing match, you know when the contestants are staring each other down. Heavy, but inherently humourous.
am i making sense as well??
pinger

nah im not being that serious, but having Ds arounds shits me, cause now that they try to pretend they are pillin they come up and annoy the shit out of you, its fucked....
ahh well, yeah soho is nice, if you dont think about all the drug dealing, gun toting low lives
ahhh well......hmmm nothing to say......ah well
thats it
------------------
its that feeling you get....oh yeah Fukitzpumpin!!!

Yeah, Soho has its ups and downs.
Used to go there a lot in the early days, but now i am pretty much over it, try to stay away, but i do show up on the odd occasion to see whats happening.
one thing is for sure there, i would not buy or sell there for the life of me. u r just taking too much chance. they always have had weekends where cops r keeping an eye out etc etc.
also, rumour has it that soho lost its license for dealing, and the owners had to re-license it under their parents names.
its always been seedy, and for awhile now has attracted a very "un-vibey" oxford st crowd. so if u r spending at sat night there, take it easy, watch where u pop, and u should have a great time.
brookster

Me and friend got busted racking up in the cubicle at SOHO ( or So-Low as we christened it) circ 2 years ago. The bouncer was pretty cool and said just one at a time from now on Boys heaps of D's around otherwise I will turf you out ....
It was funny on the night.....But I think about it now shit I was lucky .....
Chill

I dunno...You let pinger out on the piss and look at the trouble he has stirred up
Haven't been to SOHO downstairs yet, but a friend of mine goes quite a bit and is pretty blaise about who she grabs stuff off. I passed the info along to her at anyrate.

I picked up on this same vibe when i was down your way a month ago at sounds on sunday - the warfare and the d's there to stop shit happening part anyway.
To sum things up i'd put it down to paranoya but then again you was pissed and i quote"The truth comes out when your pissed"
------------------
I am the Klone of cruise_e - may he R.I.P - age 74posts and shit i just superglued my fingers together!!!

mini-me - I think one of the problems with Sounds on Sunday is that alot of patrons have been going strong all weekend, often using speed to keep them going - that in itself breeds paranoia.
The other thing with sounds is that some want to be there but not indulge so have a few drinks instead which creates a different vibe too.