Royal Flag of the Principality of Monaco
Monaco royal hurt, fmr. club owner charged in celebs'NYC bar brawl
ByEMILY SMITH, JULIA MARSH, TARA PALMERI and JEANE MACINTOSH
LastUpdated: 6:53AM, February 20, 2012
Posted: 1:12 AM, February 20, 2012
A vicious fight involving vodka and supermodels at a MeatpackingDistrict nightclub sparked a royal beatdown that landed Monaco’s Prince PierreCasiraghi in the hospital, The Post has learned.
The attack on the 24-year-old son of Princess Caroline andgrandson of Grace Kelly came during a late-night confrontation between theprince and his playboy pals and former Manhattan club owner Adam Hock at trendyDouble Seven on Saturday, witnesses and law-enforcement sources said.
After the fight, “Pierre’s face looked broken, with deep cuts andblood everywhere,” said one stunned witness.
“He looked like he needed plastic surgery.”
Hock, 47, had been partying with friends — including Double Sevenowner Jeffrey Jah, hairdresser-to-the-stars Joel Warren and catwalk stunners NatashaPoly, Valentina Zalyaeva and Anja Rubik — when Casiraghi strolled over to theirtable with shipping-scion pal and Paris Hilton ex Stavros Niarchos III and twoother men at around 2:30 a.m., witnesses said.
Members of Hock’s group said the prince and his entourage “werebeing completely obnoxious,’’ insulting the models and swigging from a $500bottle of vodka on Hock’s table.
“The next thing I saw, all hell broke loose,’’ one witness said.
Hock allegedly cold-cocked Casiraghi, sending him sprawling.
Casiraghi “fell very badly. He . . . flew across the room andlanded on a table on the other side,” the onlooker said.
Hock then allegedly punched out Niarchos, 26, and quickly landedblows on downtown hipsters Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld, 27, and Diego Marroquin,33 — as the flustered models frantically tried to break it up.
Casiraghi was taken to New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell MedicalCenter and released later Saturday, sources said.
Hock — the former owner of the Hawaiian Tropic Zone in TimesSquare — was charged with four counts of third-degree assault for the allegedattacks on Casiraghi, Restoin Roitfeld, Marroquin and Niarchos, whosesupermodel girlfriend, Jessica Hart, was with him.
At his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court yesterday, Hocksaid he was the victim. “I was defending myself and others,” he said. “Whyaren’t [Casiraghi and his pals] handcuffed?”
He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in courtnext month.
Friends of Casiraghi claimed Hock was the instigator.
“The prince walked up to the table, and Adam just slammed him forno reason,’’ one witness said. “Stavros jumped in to help Pierre, and then hegot slammed in the face.”
At one point, witnesses on both sides agree, a friend of Casiraghigrabbed a bottle of Grey Goose vodka from a nearby table and tried to crack itover Hock’s head.
Hock’s power lawyer, Salvatore Strazzullo, said, “My client washaving a nice time with a married couple and a lady friend and a group of very beautifulwomen, and these individuals were jealous, and they resorted toelementary-school tactics.
“My client is not Bruce Lee . . . These four guys are trust-fundbabies who think the world is owed to them. They are like spoiled brats.”
Richard Golub, who is representing the prince and his pals, said,“It was a horrifying incident . . . It was entirely unprovoked.”
PUNCH DRUNK: Former club owner Adam Hock leaves court yesterdayafter being charged with assaulting four jet-setters in a brawl at nightclubDouble Seven.
NOTE: Reflecting on this morning’s earlier Ronald Firbank post, and at the same time reading a funny passage in Firbank's final novel , The New Rhythum, a study of New York life in the 1920s, mymind predictably shifted into musing on the vast precincts of minor international royalties andnobilities. Imagine my surprise, then,when I spotted this lead story in today’s NewYork Post, detailing the slight life, timesand glass jaw of Pierre Casiraghi, a current visitor to our shores, as well as a charter major member of the minor house of Grimaldi, Serene rulers of the postcard/numismatic principality of Monaco.
Long before Pierre’s birth, I had the pleasure of attending apublic concert one summer in the courtyard of Monte Carlo’s Pink Palace featuring performances by the famous opera singer Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and pianist Sviatoslav Richter. I was a classical music illiterate, so I failed to appreciate what I believe must have been a wonderful musical evening. Although it passed me bylike the warm Mediterranean breeze, I did thrill at seeing Princess Grace there. I always loved her in To Catch A Thief. There has obviously been a great deal of unhappy water through Monaco's tinyharbor since then and this story makes you ponder “òu sont lesneiges d’antan?”
As a former Brooklyn, NY prosecutor, the Post story makes me think thatManhattan's police department and DA are unimpressed and unconcerned and that the slightly scarylooking Mr. Hock should worry little about his legal jeopardy. Because I have always had a soft spot for Princess Caroline, I’m sorry for her that her sonis such an idiot. However, it’s good tosee that Stavros Niarchos III is keeping up appearances and his family's name and reputation. A story like this one absolutely requires hispresence, and I doubt there’s anything he could do in Greece at the moment that wouldbe more positive and helpful than current New York City nightclub assignment.
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