Two Saturdays ago, the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections, with Philadelphia police and state troopers in tow, launched a surprise midnight inspection of "swingers club" Kama Sutra at 714 South St. It was no secret what was going on over at CKS, what with City Paper's Feb. 12, 2004 cover story on the spot and all. Still, rarely has an L&I raid reverberated so profoundly throughout the "legitimate world" and the underworld.

The repercussions pit City Hall against some members of the Philadelphia Police Department, and the owner of Kama Sutra against neighborhood civic groups and South Street business owners. Bizarrely, it has united, in opinion only, local county prosecutors—not named Lynne Abraham—with the local Mafia. The two primary issues: privacy (as in the right to get it on in a "private club" without being caught in a TV-news "sweeps" special) and an alleged "double standard" in city business practices.

As for the latter, while most of Philly's business owners and residents have to endlessly apply for zoning and business permits, the city claims CKS owner MAJ Entertainment operated without permits or zoning variances for five years while catering to a membership including big-name politicos, media personalities, high-powered lawyers, Philadelphia and suburban police officers and a few federal agents. (We know names but we're not giving them up.)

L&I claims

MAJ Entertainment never disclosed the location would be a sex club in zoning and registration permit applications filed in July 2000, so they are now re-examining the original applications.

L&I opened their investigation after CBS 3 showed them a videotape of raunchy sex inside the club. When L&I raided, inspectors found numerous fire, electrical and zoning violations and closed the place down for "operating a restaurant not in accordance with the approved permit … a sex club without a zoning and/or use registration permit … and a private club without a zoning and or registration permit."

On Tuesday, club owner Alan Tizer was limited in comments he could make but told City Paper, "

Club Kama Sutra has been operating for five years with the full knowledge and approval of all governmental authorities. Club Kama Sutra complies with all laws and has all necessary permits, licenses and certificates, and CKS parties are private assemblies of consenting adults.

"To the extent that L&I may have found some minor code violations, they have been examined and immediately corrected. Any business in the city subjected to a secret midnight raid would probably turn up a few code violations."

Members are also fuming over Channel 3's use of hidden cameras for the stories that featured obscured and pixilated faces and bodies. A retired Philadelphia policeman tells City Paper that some of his fellow police officers, both men and women, are members. They want to sue for invasion of privacy.

"I told them, 'What privacy?'" the cop says. "You want to get up in front of a jury and say, 'Hey, I was sucking and fucking men or women—or men and women at the same time—in front of hundreds of strangers every weekend, but now I feel violated because someone maybe took my picture?'"

The ex-cop admits he thought the club didn't have proper permits and worries friends still on the job could be investigated.

"Who ever heard of a place that had a license from the city to run a sex club?" he says.

The ex-cop claims a friend who works as a CBS 3 technician told him station honchos were so concerned about the story that they barely promoted it. "If that had been Channel 10, they would have had commercials about it for a week," he says. "Then, the stories would have run for a week and everybody would have watched and everybody would've seen us on TV. We lucked out with Channel 3. They buried it."

City officials have confirmed that the Police Department has ordered officers to stop talking about CKS. The managing director's office and the law department are now looking into the history of code enforcement at Kama Sutra. L&I has launched an internal review while the mayor's office is asking to be kept in the loop.

Still, a former Philadelphia assistant district attorney, as well as high-ranking ADAs in Bucks, Montgomery and other counties say that while their bosses don't want to pick a public fight with Abraham, they are stunned Kama Sutra was able to operate openly for so long. They cite criminal statutes regarding live sex shows and argue that charging people to watch others have sex is illegal.

CKS branded itself as a place for sensual couples and singles and claimed it was a private, fully licensed club. Members were charged $100 to join and admission fees ranging up to $100 for each visit to the three-story building. (No wonder, some members are riled that they're losing coin on account of the raid.) Inside, there are bars (it's BYOB), an orgy room, "sex cubicles" and a lounge referred to as "blow job" alley. Members receive the exact address of the club only after they join and are discouraged from telling "outsiders" the location. (The club has never removed the "Señor Rattlers" restaurant sign that hangs outside, a remnant of the previous tenant.)

"I would cite a place like that every day they were open until we shut it down," says one Bucks County ADA.

Down in the underworld, mobsters are wondering why CKS wasn't shut down like so many of their "legitimate" businesses.

"If we was runnin' that place, the FBI would be all over it," says one local mafioso. "They'd grab us up for racketeering in a heartbeat. Close us right down. But because cops go there and politicians go there it stays in business for years. And they call us organized crime."

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office is now said to be looking at L&I reports as well as the club's tax returns.

While Tizer remains hopeful the club will again open its doors somewhere, an L&I source said, "Kama Sutra will never open in this city again. The business community and civic associations around South Street are pissed off. Even if Kama Sutra comes into compliance with everything else, they have to go before a judge to ask for a variance to open a sex club there. There is no judge in Philadelphia that's going to sign off on that."