Angola takes “the show must go on” to scary extremes.
A New Jersey father and son have been held captive in a hotel in the southern African nation for 44 days and counting after New York City hip-hop star Nas skipped out on a concert there.
Nas, along with budding rapper Jemiah Jai, reportedly pocketed $315,000 in advance — but never boarded a plane to perform New Year’s shows in Luanda, the capital.
That left American concert promoter Patrick Allocco, 51, and his son Patrick, 22,of Morristown, NJ, stuck in a nightmarish dispute with a furious Angolan promoter and his gun-toting henchmen.
“That they’re being held for something that somebody else did is preposterous,” said worried wife and mother Abby Allocco.
On New Year’s Eve, when the duo realized the show would not happen, they hopped a cab and rushed to the American embassy.
Instead of stopping at the embassy, the driver pulled up in front of a supermarket. “I have to meet someone,” he said.
“Dad, this isn’t good,” the son whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
They jumped out and tried to pry open the trunk to grab their luggage.
Too late. Twenty thugs armed with AK-47 machine guns encircled their taxi.
“Wait, wait,” snarled the thugs, some clad in T-shirts with Angolan promoter Henrique Miguel’s company name, Casa Blanca Entertainment.
“The hair stands on the back of your neck,” Allocco recalled. “You know it’s a set up.”
One gunman grabbed young Patrick and smashed his head into an SUV, and shoved both men into the back seat, the Alloccos recalled in a phone interview with The Post.
“We are going to die,” Allocco’s son said.
Miguel, who was behind the wheel of the SUV, sped off.
The senior Allocco dialed the embassy on his cell phone and left the call open.
“We are being taken. We are being abducted,” he said.
Miguel and his entourage pulled up in front of a light blue, one-story, concrete building. The local police station.
The Alloccos were interrogated by local cops in Portuguese and then the DNIC, the country’s federal investigation arm.
“Is Nas going to come?” the sole English-speaking officer demanded. “Why don’t you call him and tell him to come? We still want him to come here.”
The pair was finally released after six and a half hours — but told they couldn’t leave the country, despite never being charged with a crime. Their passports had already been taken by officials when they entered the country, they said.
A public prosecutor said that the junior Allocco could leave if they repaid $300,000, Allocco said. The Angolan promoter wants $75,000 more.
They claim they cannot pay demands with their own money because their $100,000 reserve has been depleted by $40,000 in phone calls to American authorities, and by astronomical prices for mere necessities. A hamburger goes for $45.
Three weeks into the ordeal, on Jan. 23, Nas finally forked over his $300,000 advance, Allocco said, but Jemiah Jai won’t return the $15,000 she received.
Locals took out the junior Allocco to celebrate his impending release, but wound up binding his arm with a belt and dragging him in the street, the senior Allocco said.
“How much can your daddy pay for you?” they taunted and demanded $10,000, the senior Allocco alleged.
The pair remain shut-ins at the Epic Sana Hotel, a no frills joint with hot water, electricity and two beds — at the cost of $500 a night.
“Don’t ever leave a hotel again. You’re a target,” hotel employees warned.
They sometimes pass the time watching Disney and Al Jazeera, two of only three English channels.
The duo formally applied for refuge at the American Embassy on Jan. 23, but were denied by the State Department, whose top requirement is the risk of serious harm.
“We did not find, in this case, that Mr. Allocco met the criteria for refuge. However, we did bring [the son] into the Embassy temporarily,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. “My understanding is we gave him some clothes and some medicine, but we didn’t take him in for refuge.”
The Angolan government has also distanced itself from the Alloccos’ cause.
“The government is not involved,” said consulate spokesman Manuel Antonio.
New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez tried reaching out to Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, whose been in charge since 1979. “I am personally willing to raise this issue directly with President Obama, if necessary,” he warned a Feb. 8 letter, urging the release of his constituents.
Allocco says his beef is with Nas.
“He put us in real harm, in real possible danger,” Allocco said. “This is the closest thing we came to someone up and running with the money.”
Both performers did not respond to requests for comment.