The owner of a Riverdale bingo parlor said the city's police chief has tried to bully him into quietly closing his business by threatening to raid his club and throw employees in jail.

Now the owner is fighting back with a federal lawsuit against the city, claiming his right to due process were violated when city officials, including Riverdale Police Chief David Hansen, pulled the business license for Riverdale Dinner and Bingo without giving the owner a chance to have a hearing before the Riverdale City Council, as required by city ordinance.

Blue Sky Entertainment, which owns Riverdale Dinner and Bingo, claims in its lawsuit filed earlier this month, that Hansen told the club's manager, Frank Diana, that he was going to revoke the club's business license because he believed the establishment was engaged in gambling.

"Chief Hansen threatened that if Riverdale Dinner and Bingo made any trouble about being closed down, he would obtain a search warrant for the premises, seize all of the equipment and arrest Diana and the entire staff and take them to jail," the lawsuit said. "Chief Hansen suggested that if Riverdale Dinner and Bingo went away quietly, he could probably see that any criminal charges would also go away."