‘Operation Swill:’ N.J. raids bars to see if they are passing off cheap liquor as premium brands
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Last updated: Thursday May 23, 2013, 7:45 AM
BY HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Is it Grey Goose or Smirnoff? Macallan or Old Smuggler?
MITSU YASUKAWA/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A detective from the state Division of Criminal Justice carries boxes of evidence out from TGI Friday on Route 3 West in Clifton.
That’s what state investigators were trying to find out Wednesday as they raided 29 bars and restaurants, including two in Bergen County and one in Passaic County, suspected of serving cheaper liquor as high-priced, name-brand spirits.
More than 100 investigators from the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control simultaneously entered the establishments — nearly half of them TGI Fridays — around the state at 11 a.m. Among them were The Brick House in Wyckoff, Railroad Café in Rutherford and TGI Fridays in Clifton, the Attorney General’s Office said.
The raids were the result of a yearlong probe dubbed “Operation Swill.”
https://www.northjersey.com/news/208510021_NJ_raids_Bergen__Passaic_restaurants_in_liquor_scam.html