Coney Island owner fined for razing game

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The owner of New York's famed Coney Island amusement park was hit with a $5,000 fine after razing the Shoot the Freak Boardwalk game.

The city's Buildings Department said Zamperla, the company that owns the park, didn't have a permit when it tore down the game and boarded up the property last week, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

The city issued a stop-work order to bar further demolition. The eviction hearing is pending in court.

Shoot the Freak, a carnival paintball game, is one of nine Boardwalk businesses Zamperla says it wants gone to allow for other attractions, the Daily News said.

"In the middle of the night they come and raze my place and knock it down without building permits or nothing," said Shoot the Freak owner Anthony Berlingieri. "This is all about greed."

Even though Zamperla will pay for him to move, Berlingieri said he was devastated the game is gone.

"It's an empty lot, like if Shoot the Freak was never there," he said.

Zamperla spokesman Tom Corsillo said the company "instructed its contractor to fully cooperate with the Buildings Department investigation."