When the New Orleans promoters were indicted in January, partyers and promoters across the country sat up and paid attention. Robert Brunet, Brian Brunet and James ("Donnie") Estopinal were partners in New Orleans' most popular all-night dance party, Freebass, at the State Palace Theater dance club. Every weekend, Freebass would fly in the world's top DJs to play for thousands of ecstatic dancers -- just like dozens, if not hundreds, of other clubs and parties across the United States.

Undercover cops from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the New Orleans Police Department infiltrated the parties; finding that some attendees were doing drugs, the U.S. district attorney in New Orleans drew up charges against the promoters. This, in itself, was not unusual -- promoters have skirmished with authorities for years -- but the law under which the three were eventually indicted offered a frightening new twist. Federal authorities were using a musty, long-forgotten law from 1986, the "crack-house statute," which was originally written to attack the proprietors of havens for crack cocaine. Although the Brunets and Estopinal had not personally sold any drugs at their parties, they were charged with "knowingly and intentionally" running a club where people used drugs.

The punishment? A possible 20 years in prison, and potentially millions of dollars in fines.

	Print story E-mail story

The ramifications were far-reaching. If the Brunets and Estopinal were found guilty of running a 21st century crack house, then every promoter who threw a club, party or similar event where attendees did drugs could be found similarly liable. Other than the occasional Amy Grant concert, are there any music events where you can't find attendees who are doing drugs of some sort? The indictment was a shot fired across the bow of the entire dance music industry.

"The government has this crazy notion that, somehow or another, a promoter should be held criminally responsible as a drug offender because of what people in the audience may do," said Arthur Lemann III, the lawyer for Brian Brunet. "It's a lot like arresting the usher because Pavarotti stabs the fat lady at the end of the opera."

The New Orleans promoters faced a legal ordeal that could take years. It could cost them millions and still land them in jail. On Wednesday, the three promoters accepted a plea bargain; their company, Barbecue Inc. (rather than the individuals themselves), would plead guilty to one count of operating a crack house, and the corporation would pay a $100,000 fine. The promoters would not have to serve any jail time. But the settlement also included an injunction that forbade the presence of glowsticks, Vicks VapoRub, masks, pacifiers, massage tables and chill rooms at future parties. (Partyers rub the Vicks under their noses for an additional buzz; the pacifiers are used to stop tripping dancers from grinding their teeth or simply as a fashion accessory; dust masks are for fashion, to enhance the effects of the Vicks -- and sometimes just to keep dance-floor dust out of their system.)

Lemann calls the plea bargain a "face-saving masquerade" to hide the fact that the government didn't have a strong case; and the deal was certainly a personal victory for the promoters, who no longer face spending the rest of their lives in jail. But the fact remains that a company that throws late-night parties and sells glowsticks was found guilty of running a crack house; and that decision could still spell disaster for the nation's other clubs. (Estopinal did not accept the plea bargain; and although he has not been personally reindicted, it remains a possibility that he could still go to trial.)

"It is a bad precedent," says University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, who consulted on a legal brief for the defendants. "Even if the charges are bogus, the government proved that they can extort a plea agreement, because any rational [promoter] faced with the threat of going to jail for 25 years is going to agree to a plea bargain like this that makes it all go away. But it's extortion, not justice."

Now playing: Read all the recent movie reviews by Salon's critics