'Dangerous' Gang Plans Large Party At Illegal Hamptons Rental: Town

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — A "dangerous street gang" was trying to book a short-term rental in Southampton, where they planned to host a large party, town officials said Thursday.

According to Ryan Murphy, public safety and emergency management administrator for Southampton Town, there have been "continued attempts by gangs attempting to rent properties within the town to host parties."

This week, Murphy said, a street gang — Murphy did not identify the gang but said it was not MS-13 — was advertising a "large-scale party." The gang was attempting to use an illegal short-term rental that did not comply with the minimum stay of 14 days, a standard laid out in the town code, Murphy said.

The residence, which was advertised on the internet as a short-term rental, was not listed on Airbnb, Murphy said.

Southampton Town Police intelligence uncovered the plan by the gang to rent the property, Murphy said.

"The police intelligence community works tirelessly to try and head off these type of dangerous situations, and the public can help by keeping these illegal short term rentals from happening," town officials said.

“Not only could a rental such as this have devastating effects on a property, as was seen in the situation that the Police Department responded to in North Sea last year, conducting rentals in this fashion is also an illegal act by the property owner,” said Captain James Kiernan of the Southampton Town Police Department.

In March, 2021, people fired shots into a North Sea home, seriously injuring three, police said. The three people were shot during a birthday party and rap video shoot being held at the home, located on Long Springs Road, on March 2 at 2:30 a.m., police said. Two males and a female, all in their 20s, were seriously injured and transported to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital; two were later transported to Stony Brook University Hospital, police said.

Detectives believe there are at least three people involved in the shooting, police said. At the time, Newsday reported that, according to Southampton Police, there were about 40 people, with "six to eight dancers", at the home; it appeared multiple weapons were at the scene, police said, according to the report.

That report also said that police believed there was a "potential for gang affiliation" in regard to the incident.

Murphy said this week that the Southampton Town Police Department works closely with the town's department of public safety code enforcement division to try and address illegal rental issues throughout the town whenever they become aware of potential illegal rental situations.

“Code enforcement is routinely searching the different internet rental platforms to try and identify properties without permits, as well as responding to resident complaints regarding potential illegal rentals," Murphy said.

His office, Murphy said, works with the police department to "try and interrupt" the illegal rental process before "tragic situations" happen, but that the ease of listing a house online for rent makes the task challenging.

“Property owners who participate in transient, short-term rentals are placing their property at risk and are also committing code violations that could result in summonses,” Murphy said.

Although the property involved with the 2021 North Sea rental was not listed on Airbnb, the town's department of public safety and emergency management is working with the company to share information about the town’s rental rules with Airbnb hosts, including adding town information on Airbnb’s host resource page, Murphy said.

“The town is thrilled to embark on this cooperative effort with Airbnb and hopes that this outreach results in greater compliance and safety throughout the Town,” Murphy said.

A representative for Airbnb responded to a request for comment by Patch, emphasizing that the property involved in the March, 2021 incident was not listed on Airbnb.

However, Airbnb does have a background check policy; and officially bans house parties on its platform, the representative said.

"Last month, we announced the launch of an anti-party pilot in the United States to help identify potentially high-risk reservations and prevent those users from taking advantage of our platform," the Airbnb representative said. For additional information on that initiative, click here.

And, Airbnb confirmed that it is working with towns: "We're working with town officials to share information about the town's short-term rental rules with hosts via direct email communication and by creating a resource page on the Airbnb site," a representative said.