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TROUBLES TAKE THEIR TOLL ON KING OF CLUBS

The King of the Clubs has had a bumpy reign.

Peter Gatien’s night-life empire has been rocked by drug charges, tax fraud, and a grisly murder case -but he has managed to keep his embattled hotspots, Tunnel and Limelight, up and running.

The Canadian-born king launched his entrepreneurial career when he was 17, opening a clothing store with a $17,000 insurance settlement from a hockey accident that cost him his left eye.

It wasn’t long before he set his sights in the United States, and in 1983 he opened the Limelight in a former church in Manhattan. A decade later he added the Palladium and the Tunnel.

Success had its dark side, however.

There were rumors of rampant drug use and violence in the clubs, and complaints from neighbors prompted authorities to take a closer look at Gatien.

In May 1996, the feds inducted him on drug-conspiracy charges, claiming he opened the doors of the Limelight and Tunnel to dealers to draw thousands of club kids looking for an easy fix.

His legal problems mounted when authorities also accused him of being a tax cheat, pocketing more than $1 million that should have gone to state and city coffers.

Gatien’s right hand man, party promoter Michael Alig, began cooperating with authorities, but his usefulness was compromised when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in a gruesome 1996 slaying.

Alig, who is serving 20 years in prison, admitted killing drug-pushing club kid Angel Melendez, whose dismembered body was found floating off Staten Island.

When Gatien’s drug case went to trial last year, six dealers took the stand, testifying he encouraged them to peddle mind-bending substances.

But the jury took only seven hours to clear him of all charges in February 1998.

“I’m elated. I’m just grateful to God. I want to go to church,” he crowed after the verdict.

his troubles weren’t over.

In January, and 18-year-old Long Island boy died of an Ecstasy and Special-K overdose after partying at Gatien’s Tunnel -fueling a new controversy over the clubs.

The same month, Gatien and his wife pleaded guilty in the tax case. he was sentenced to 90 days in jail and given five years of probation. He begins serving his sentence on May 24.