Council Suspends Mangos Cafe For 30 Days

Mangos Cafe, a Lower East Side bar and restaurant, will be closed for the next month as a result of a suspension handed down by the Common Council.

The council unanimously approved a 30-day suspension Tuesday following a Licenses Committee hearing where nearby residents said issues with patrons coming or going from the bar, 1682 N. Van Buren St., have escalated in the past two years and now often include fights and guns. The suspension is in effect from Feb. 11 at 12:01 a.m. through March 11 at 11:59 p.m.

“There definitely has been a major change in the past year about the number of complaints I am getting about this bar,” said area Alderman Nik Kovac when the committee met on Jan. 25. “I think it’s clear that there is an issue with this bar.” The tavern has operated at the location since 2016.

Mango’s co-owner Francisco Sandino-Badillo, who also co-owns Makk’n’Cheese and Juana Taco, said he is committed to meeting with neighbors to improve the situation, has hired new management, is purchasing a new security camera system and is now regularly at the establishment himself.

The committee reviewed police reports on three incidents that occurred in the past year, but six neighbors provided sworn testimony that more occurred and Kovac acknowledged he has seen their videos.

“It’s just endless stupidity come out of that bar,” said neighbor Michael Wojner who lives two doors down from the establishment. “I’m afraid to walk out of my house at night. I’ve been living there for 13 years. It’s ridiculous.” He recounted a Jan. 22 situation where he could hear people outside his window discussing plans to harm an individual still in the tavern.

Sandino-Badillo said he was present inside the bar and the issue stemmed from being removed from the bar, and not being back in the bar, and that the police were called. Kovac said citations were issued, but expressed concern that the bar’s security team wasn’t hearing issues that were only a block away.

“We’re generally not seeing terrible things or violence happening in the bar,” said Kovac. But he said the bar needs to take control of the issues happening with its patrons outside of the bar. “It does seem we got pretty good testimony today that there is a pattern of people being at minimum loud and at a maximum firing guns at one another or displaying guns.”

Multiple residents detailed problems with people drinking in their vehicles and tossing bottles in neighboring lawns before going into the bar. “My sidewalk sparkles with glass,” said Wojner.

What happens as the bar closes is of greatest concern. A June 27 incident, captured on multiple neighbors’ cameras, had patrons gathering in a lawn approximately 10 houses to the south. An individual pulled out a weapon and people scattered.

“At bar time it’s a melee often,” said Jennifer Chier, describing noise and fights she has tracked back to this bar, despite another bar being closer to her house.

“We’re tired of it and we want it to go,” said Raymond Sims, whose lawn the gathering was in. He said police confirmed the group was from Mangos and that one of the individuals was previously kicked out of the bar.

On Aug. 5 a vehicle, captured by neighbors’ cameras, conducted a drive-by shooting of the bar before speeding off. It does not appear in the police report, but no one contested that it occurred.

On Aug. 11 an employee attempted to break up a fight in the bar, only to have an individual brandish a handgun. The individual fled. The Milwaukee Police Department was called, and when an officer was at the scene, the individual returned and an unloaded gun was located in their vehicle. The individual, a female, was arrested and described as “uncooperative” in the police report.

An Oct. 3 incident, captured by a MPD pole camera setup to monitor the nearby intersection of E. Brady St. and N. Van Buren St., captured a portion of a shooting outside the tavern. The subsequent investigation revealed that Mango’s exterior cameras weren’t working.

Tavern representatives told the committee that the shooter had never been a patron of the bar, he was just talking to other patrons outside. “If the reason the shooter was outside the bar is because they are lingering, hanging out with people that had just been in the bar, and a bullet ends up in your house, it’s the same difference,” said Kovac of the neighbor’s perspective. He acknowledged that, for the bar, it was better they weren’t a patron.

The alderman moved for a 30-day suspension, and said he wasn’t ready to suggest a full non-renewal. “It’s a good establishment that serves good food and I think it can add value to the neighborhood,” said Kovac.

“The one redeeming quality that I can see is going here is Mango’s does call the police when there is a problem,” said tavern attorney Vincent Bobot. But he did not specifically argue for a shorter suspension or no suspension at all. “Mango’s is going to resolve this and have a working relationship with all of the neighbors.”

“I hear you guys loud and clear,” said Sandino-Badillo. He pledged to meet with neighbors to address the situation. “At the end of the day we don’t want the patrons pre-drinking in front of your houses because that’s going to cause issues for me at the end of the night.”

A new security system is scheduled to be installed this month. Bobot said the bar is also enacting a policy to prohibit patrons from exiting and entering the establishment multiple times on the same night. He said such a policy would be normal for a nightclub, but not a restaurant.

Neither Bobot, nor Sandino-Badillo appeared before the Common Council on Tuesday to contest the suspension. A written objection also was not filed. In a Facebook post, the bar announced “we are remodeling.”

According to a license application, Sandino-Badillo owns a third of the bar. It is also owned by Gregory Kieckbusch and Sandino-Badillo’s father Francisco Sandino-Escobar Sr. Sandino-Badillo and his father were also co-owners of the prior establishment, Van Buren’s Whiskey Bar & Grill.