The Green Bar on Westminster Street in Providence.

The Providence Journal Connie Grosch Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — The Green Bar, which has had a role as a crime boss’s hangout in the Brotherhood cable-TV drama, is back in business.

The West End bar was closed for about 10 days last month after the police complained to the Board of Licenses that the bar had become a real-life drug den. Drug deals were being made in the bar’s restrooms and parking lot, the police alleged, and three people had been arrested.

If major changes were not made in the bar’s operation, the police said, the Board of Licenses should revoke the bar’s liquor license. The Green Bar reopened after the co-owners agreed to take a stronger hand in its day-to-day management, among other steps.

The license board is holding the case open pending a review that is tentatively scheduled for next Friday, Richard H. Aitchison, city license administrator, said this week. But the police are not satisfied.

Lt. Thomas A. Verdi, commander of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Bureau, said the police made two more arrests inside the bar, for cocaine, since the deal was struck. He wants the board to take up the complaint again without waiting for the scheduled review.

The Green Bar is at 1718 Westminster St., housed in a compact green-tinted building with a shamrock and a leprechaun’s face painted on the exterior and is visible to traffic on the Route 6-10 connector.

Its interior and exterior have appeared on Brotherhood, which is shown on the Showtime TV network, but producers have set up a replica bar in East Providence to shoot new scenes. Episodes of the show’s second season are being shot in and around Providence.

The license is held by T&M Tavern, a corporation that is owned by brothers Teodoro “Ted” DePina, of East Providence, and Benvindo “Ben” DePina, of Pawtucket, according to City Hall records.

They offered to close for a time, and did close, while they discussed remedial steps with the police and the city Law Department. An agreement was struck in which the co-owners, who had not been active in the daily management, promised to take a full-time role. They also agreed to:

•Terminate the bar’s security company.

• Demote the acting manager to bartender.

•Install locks on the doors of the two restrooms and have the keys held at the bar to ensure that only one person at a time is inside a restroom.

•Repair the parking lot lighting and install more lighting.

•Have employees check the lot occasionally to make sure people who are not customers are not congregating there.

•Consider installation of surveillance cameras inside and/or outside.

At least some of the expected improvements have been made, and when officers have made recent spot checks, either of the owners has been on the premises, according to Verdi. When the latest drug arrests were made Saturday, however, only a manager was on duty, he said.

The police entered the bar and said they saw two suspects, Johnny “Batman” Ruiz, 37, of 60 Prairie Ave., South Providence, and William J. Dutra, 49, of 68 Messina St., Wanskuck, playing pool. Both men were searched, crack was found, and each was charged with cocaine possession, the police said.

gsmith@projo.com