Morris Twp. Promoter to U.S.: Help Free Me from Angola

Morris Township Deputy Mayor Bruce Sisler said he's contacted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for assistance with the release of a local music promoter who has been held in Angola for the last month.

And that statement came just a day before the promoter himself made an impassioned plea to the U.S. government for help in a video posted on the Web.

Patrick Allocco—CEO of AllGood Concerts of Convent Station—and his son, Patrick Jr., . Although they have been allowed to stay out of jail, they've been forbidden to leave the country as they try to resolve accusations they defrauded an Angolan concert promoter out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, because rapper Nas failed to show up for a New Year's Eve show Allocco organized.

"A month is a long time," the elder Allocco said in a video posted to his Facebook wall (not publicly visible) Saturday. "We've been sitting here—today i just got word that my dog of 15 years passed away. I am asking you, the American people, and the government of the United States, to please intercede on our behalf and bring us home safely."

Allocco's Facebook page has been one of his primary resources for updating the outside world about his status. On it, he says he exact terms of his captivity keep changing. He said recently Angola promoter was Henrique “Riquhino” Miguel was asking for $315—enough to cover the $300,000 Miguel paid for the show and overhead.

But Friday, Alloco posted: “It's been three days since the $300,000 from NAS was received here in Angola. Today's deal du jour from the local promoter is that we pay an immediate additional $50,000 and then defer $25,000 in installments upon our return home. This, of course, contradicts the Public Prosecutor who has already called for our release upon the return of the $300,000."

He continued: "And how about the early release of my son? We are now in our fourth weekend of what our American counterparts in Egypt have dubbed 'de facto detention.' We continue to be held by the Government of Angola for no reason that should be deemed acceptable to the United States."

Sisler said he's sent a letter to Clinton and the State Department asking for assistance. 

"To date, no charges have been filed against the Alloccos, and their financial obligations have been met," Sisler says in the letter. "Congreesman Rodney Frelinghuysen has been working with the State Department in attempts to secure the Alloccos' release, and I have been in contact with him directly. I ask that you increase your efforts and the efforts of the United States Government to bring home Patrick and Patrick, Jr."

"They are my countrymen and my neighbors and friends," he concludes.