Bar worker sought in barkeep's death

A beloved bartender whose body was discovered Friday in the basement of a Port Richmond bar was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a bar employee after an argument "over something trivial," police said yesterday.

Then, cops said, the body was wrapped in a tarp and tied with tape in the basement of the establishment, where it was later found by his family.

Yesterday, police said that an arrest warrant had been issued for 36-year-old John McLaughlin in the slaying of James "Seamus" O'Neill, 60, who worked at the nearby My Blue Heaven bar.

McLaughlin runs McWhitey's tavern, on Venango Street near Mercer, authorities said, but the establishment appears to be owned by his sister.

It was in the basement of McWhitey's that the body was found.

"This is a very brutal homicide," Chief Inspector Keith Sad-ler, chief of detectives, said during a news conference yesterday.

"The victim died of blunt-force trauma to the head and body. We have all of our units looking for this man."

Yesterday, O'Neill's friends said he could now rest in peace.

"It's a big relief," said Kim Pinciotti, who worked with O'Neill at My Blue Heaven, upon learning of the arrest warrant.

Sadler said O'Neill, a native of Ireland, is reported to have been last seen early Thursday leaving his job and going to McWhitey's, less than a mile away.

O'Neill's wife and brother, who had reported him missing, went looking for him, found his car parked near McWhitey's and asked a bar employee to allow them to look around inside.

They found the body about 11 a.m.

Sadler said McLaughlin attacked O'Neill during an argument with what detectives believe was a bat.

But the details of the argument were unclear.

During their investigation, police said they found a half-pound of marijuana in the upstairs area of the bar, which was closed Saturday by the Department of Licenses and Inspections at the request of police.

Friends and neighbors described O'Neill as a "caring man" who was willing to do anything for loved ones.

He tended bar at My Blue Heaven for about 15 years. Pinciotti, who works as a cook and waitress at the bar, said she considered him family.

"I knew him since I was 10," she said. "My mother and him were good friends."

She said that despite the tough circumstances, his memory will be kept alive.

"We're all just hanging in there," she said.

McLaughlin was described as white, 6 feet 2 inches tall, and weighing 230 pounds.

He was believed to be driving a brown Lincoln Aviator SUV. It was unclear whether he had fled the area.

One of his last known addresses was on Gaul Street near Allegheny Avenue.

Tipsters may contact the hom-icide unit at 215-696-3334. *