Owner of alleged gambling den inside San Francisco Tenderloin market ordered to pay $150K

By Tim Fang

The owner of a shuttered corner store in San Francisco’s Tenderloin has been ordered to pay over $150,000 for allegedly running an illegal drug and gambling den inside his establishment, prosecutors said.

City Attorney David Chiu’s office announced Monday that the city prevailed in its lawsuit against Mohsen Mused, who operated the Tenderloin Market and Deli at 200 Leavenworth Street. The store, which has been in business since 2013, was evicted on Aug. 26.

“This store was not a humble market and deli—it was a magnet for illegal activity,” Chiu said in a statement.

Chiu also said the owner made disparaging remarks about the community.

“Referring to the Tenderloin as a ‘human zoo’ and its residents as ‘animals’ shows the store owner’s callousness and willingness to profit off human suffering. The City is better off without the Tenderloin Market and Deli, and we look forward to seeing a new law-abiding business lease this space,” the city attorney added.

According to Chiu’s office, San Francisco police responded to dozens of calls in or around the market since 2020. The calls ranged from drug use, to fights, stabbings, robberies, dice games on the street, stolen vehicles, domestic violence, weapons and other criminal behavior.

In 2024, police officers said they saw patrons playing slot machines at the market. Officers executed a search warrant, seizing seven slot machines, a loaded firearm, more than $6,100 in cash and a money counting machine.

Authorities said the market sold drug paraphernalia in plain view to minors, including items used to smoke methamphetamine and crack cocaine.

That October, the City Attorney’s Office sued the owners of Tenderloin Market and Deli, alleging the store created a public nuisance, engaged in unlawful and unfair business practices, violated the California Gambling Control Act and the Red Light Abatement act, along with other state and local laws.

Chiu’s office said the store owner continued to violate the law.

In June, police said a tobacco inspection yielded illegal tobacco products, drug paraphernalia and prescriptions. Police also received a report by a man who said he lost money on an app he used to gamble at Tenderloin Market and Deli.

Along with ordering Mused to pay $151,000 in penalties, the court also barred him from possessing gambling machines or drug paraphernalia at his two other stores in the city.

Chiu’s office said they have sued or shut down 13 stores in the Tenderloin for violations of the city’s nighttime safety ordinance or other illegal activity. The city has ongoing lawsuits against seven other markets in the Tenderloin.