But in March of 1994, the ABCC permitted the Grille to pay a fine of $4,225.67 in lieu of the suspension--a pattern that became typical of the interaction between the Grille and city and state authorities. Since then, McCarthy has routinely taken advantage of the provision in both city and state procedure permitting establishments found in violation of the law to pay fines in lieu of license suspensions, paying about $12,000 over six cases, most recently $1,470 in lieu of a six-day suspension in June of 2000.

"He looks at it as a cost of doing business," ABCC Chief Investigator Frederick G. Mahony said at the hearing last month.

By 1995, the battle lines between the bar and the government were clearly drawn. Middlesex Superior County Courthouse records include a transcribed voice mail message left by G. Pebble Gifford, president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, on Richard Scali's voice mail.

"The bottom line," Gifford said, "is that we're really fed up with these people, that they can't get their act together and we definitely want more suspensions and even a revocation of the license...they don't seem to understand that you mean business and that we mean business and what will make them understand that. It's just inexcusable, isn't it?"

Roaches to the Four Corners

The Grille only paid these fines, however, when the authorities found them in violation. And according to officials with the Cambridge License Commission, getting the Grille on underage drinking is far more difficult than getting into the Grille underage. Rafferty said a large majority of charges that have been brought against the bar have been dismissed.

According to William C. Barnes, a Cambridge police officer assigned to work with the license commission, finding a violation requires investigators to catch an underage patron in the act of consuming liquor. In practice, this standard of proof is very high.

"We always miss one thing," Scali says. "The doorman or Mr. McCarthy will recognize who we may be. When they come in, everyone scatters. The bottles are gone, glasses are gone, you're just sitting there. These kids aren't stupid, they know they're doing something wrong."