That one peed him off, says an old friend, because it was a setup deal; they lied to get him. Strippergate 101: Everything You Need to Know About a City Council That dancer over there, he said, pointing to a topless woman writhing under amber-colored lights on a mirrored stage, thats a guy. While the scandal was resolved, the appropriate council members fined, the dirty campaign funds returned, the re-zoning law repealed, and, eventually, the moratorium lifted, has enough time passed for Heidi Wills to be trusted again as a Seattle council member? This case represented a difficult problem of proof because of the respondents background.). Sudden sharp pain under right rib cage when bending over This is where the women are. Crime family based in Seattle, Washington. He was a stocky rock of a man, 5-7, 180 pounds, a fisherman when he wasnt angling for money and women, who flashed a well-practiced angelic smile. ), A lot of the dancers who are on the advisory committee are afraid to go in person to the meetings, Jane, a dancer in downtown Seattle told me. He wasnt naturally chatty, but talked animatedly if the subject interested him. Frank Colacurcio Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 Conviction overturned on appeal; case awaiting retrial. "The majority of the attention we got wasn't deserved.". Anders said Colacurcio Jr.'s then-wife, Teena Colacurcio Hines, collected two $600 checks for Wills' campaign from her sister and her sister's boss, and were reimbursed by Hines. 2003 epilogue: Frank Colacurcio Sr. was eventually released from prison, is retired, lives in Seattle, and fishes in Alaska regularly. Exactly how much the family and its associates reaped in profits over the years remains a mystery. He did four years, got out in 1985, and went right back at it, hiding his interests through frontmen and continuing to pocket untaxed profits. I doubt they want to out themselves as having been in a strip club and having been accused of bad behavior.. A federal grand jury indictment unsealed today charges FRANK COLACURCIO, SR, his son FRANK COLACURCIO, JR, and four of their close associates with a Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization . The audio quality is often too terrible to even contribute meaningfully, Jane said. One of the main sticking points for the clubs is the customer blacklist that would ban bad acting customers. In the following years Colacurcio continued to expand his strip-club business. Mostly, she wants the clubs to believe women. He got three years. . The Shoreline building was sold at auction in 2011 and has remained vacant. "These club managers dragging their feet and acting like we have to do this the right way is literally causing harm to people," she said. He violated his terms in one fell swoop in May 1995-grabbing, kissing, and propositioning a teenager he was interviewing for a topless job. Washingtons COVID-19 exposure notification app is scheduled to conclude May 11 in tandem with the end of the Public Health. Colacurcio Jr. pled guilty in 2011. In 2003, law enforcement launched a criminal investigation in the Seattle area known as "Strippergate. It was finally ended in 2007, but during that 18-year period no new strip clubs could be operated in Seattle. Colacurcio strongly denied it. Lives Lost, Lives Ruined, Lives Changed - Butcher Baker The story of Frank Colacurcio, the Bellevue boy who built a notorious nightlife empire. They dont want management to see them there and retaliate against them, myself included.. I saw another side one night in the late 1970s. Colacurcio was indicted last year along with his son, Frank Jr., and several associates. If passed, the property tax levy will help fund behavioral health infrastructure in the region. Theyll try to make sure they rack up a lot of back rent and are in debt to the club, Jane said. He finds him in a hotel room and, five stories up, opens the window and holds the guy out over the street by his neck. Washington Strippers Won New Workplace Protections Last YearSo Where According to his divorce records, he received $480,000 in wages from Huns in 1990, most of which was paid to his attorneys for legal fees. With the permanent closure of these strip clubs, divesting the defendants of millions of dollars, and the transfer of the club properties to the government, Seattle is now a safer and cleaner place to live, said Marcus Williams, the IRS Special Agent in Charge of the Pacific Northwest. The city had turned down the rezoning application for the parking spots twice before 2003, once in 1989 and once in 1998. Sixteen years after "Strippergate" helped cost her a city council seat, Heidi Wills is running for council again. The guys wiggling and screaming and saying, Dont drop me, I got the money, Ill give it back! In 2003, a criminal investigation began in Seattle known as " Strippergate " focusing on strip clubs owned by Frank Colacurcio, Sr. and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr. Back when I was working, I couldnt even talk to anybody about [these issues], I was so afraid that I would get fired. [5], In 1943, Colacurcio was convicted for having sex with an underage girl. Colacurcio's only son, whom everyone calls Frankie, pleaded guilty in the same 1991 case that prohibited his father from working in the business. He stroked it like a golf club on the customers head and back. These were scams Frank had been performing for four decades, but he still couldnt get it right. plate heat exchanger sizing software. Sentencing in suitcase murders | Podcast, King County Councilmember proposes regional ban on public drug use, King County Crisis Care Levy passing in first election results, Washingtons COVID-19 exposure notification app to end May 11, Firearms scheme leads to federal charges | King County Crime Dive. Frankie pleaded guilty in 1991 to the felony charge of tax fraud but, like his father, says it was a setup. Francis Colacurcio Sr. (June 18, 1917 - July 2, 2010) [1] was an American mobster and boss of the Seattle crime family known for running strip clubs in Seattle, Washington. So finally he stands up, goes over to the hotelman, peels off six $100 bills, walks back, picks up the coffee table, and throws it in the fucking fireplace! Saturday, May 31, 2014. She told the officers Frank had sexually attacked her during a visit to his family home in Bellevue. The elder Colacurcio pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income-tax returns in 1984. . Although Colacurcio never testified, Committee Counsel Robert F. Kennedy did question him about his alleged racketeering activities in Seattle. Frank said they werent fighting fair. Business was too good and they couldn't fit all their patrons in their lot. He was paroled a year later. He received this advice from Rick's attorney Gilbert H. Levy, who was friends with and received guidance from Rossellini, according to the Seattle Weekly. Franks star began its notorious rise in the late 1950s, amid a series of hearings and newspaper reports pointing to him as the man behind illegal gambling, prostitution, and payoffs at clubs in downtown Seattle and around the state. No problem, said the judge. A year later, a grand jury indicted Colacurcio; his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr.; and four associates involved in operating four Western Washington strip clubs. Espresso stands raided; sheriff's sergeant arrested Members of the conspiracy were indicted in June 2009. Pauole was at that point an unindicted co-conspirator safely ensconced in the witness protection program, and in order to stay there, and out of prison again, was ready to finger Frank and Frankie. Frank Colacurcio Jr, son of the Boss of the Colacurcio - Reddit They havent even decided which panic buttons to use (Cole and Jane both want a button that triggers flashing lights) or where to place the buttons. Three rows behind her sat Frank Colacurcio, Jr., a friend of Dadi's and onetime heir . Everyone organizing who still works is really brave.. In June 2008, the FBI, IRS and local police raided the then-90-year-old Colacurcio's home and other . The big guy was on the pavement, screaming, holding his bloody hands over his battered face as Frank continued to raise the rod to full extension over him. And despite his highly publicized trials and convictions, Franks sentences havent been necessarily harsh-he got only 30 months in prison and five years probation for the 1991 conviction because the judge figured Frank was a harmless old man. In 1962, he opened a beer garden at the Seattle World's Fair.[1]. [8], On June 30, 2009, Frank Sr., Frank Jr., and four associates were indicted by a federal grand jury on racketeering and other charges stemming from years-long investigations into allegations of prostitution and money laundering. The Strippergate scandal was first broken by the North Seattle Star, now-defunct Lake City paper. COLACURCIO, JR. agreed to forfeit $1.3 million in cash, all interest in the strip clubs and related property worth more than $6 million, and . Frank Colacurcio Jr. He was self-employed for many years. "Because in my opinion, he's the one that has all the authority," she said in a deposition. Frankie doesn't deny that he often turns to his father for advice. In 1959, Colacurcio was subpoenaed by the U.S. Senate Rackets Investigating Committee to testify in a nationwide probe of the coin-machine industry. Last month, she was the only dancer who showed up in person. "It didn't bug me that much except you don't have women, which is horrible," he says. Bill went on to New Orleans where he was convicted in the 1980s for racketeering. Frank Colacurcio Sr. Frank Colacurcio Sr., longtime resident of Newtown, Connecticut, passed away on September 28, 2020 at the age of 70. . He married back in 1961, but never lost his roving eye and touch. Frank Colacurcio Obituary - Monroe, CT - Dignity Memorial She uses that freedom to advocate loudly for what dancers need. And no fishing trip. The final defendant in the case, Frank Colacurcio, Jr., 48, of Seattle, Washington, and MM MR RM Corporation will be sentenced September 24, 2010. The government seized the properties, including Sugar's, in 2010. Knowing what I know now, of course, it's better to know the rules of the city council." According to Orwall, at least one dancer was fired for organizing last year. The indictments alleged Colacurcio Sr . Colacurcio house for sale again, this time with a price break Hadn't they made the inroads to prevent this? public synchronized void methodint i string msg. Frank Colacurcio, Sr. died in June 2010, still under indictment for the RICO conspiracy. I waited in line with two friends-both female-outside the popular Nitelite, often crowded beyond capacity. Rick's, Rosellini, Racketeering, and "Carnal Knowledge". Writers liked him. "Ive had a lot of life experience since then. It ended much like it began-with some girl calling the cops. Nearly six years ago, Seattle police and federal authorities broke up the strip club empire of the late Frank Colacurcio with prostitution and corruption raids in King and Pierce counties. They only meet once a month for three to four hours. Federal agents say the three men, along with Colacurcio, Sr.,93,and Frank Colacurcio, Jr., 48,conspired to force club dancers to sell sex in order to pay hefty payments to club managers and keep . Back rent is an industry-wide issue. [9] In April 2010, Colacurcio Sr.'s nephew Leroy Richard Christiansen along with club manager Steven Michael Fueston, Colacurcio Sr.'s close associate David Carl Ebert, and Colacurcio Sr.'s driver John Gilbert Conte all pleaded guilty to prostitution and racketeering. The elder Colacurcio, after talking to an unexpected visitor for an hour on a recent Friday evening, suddenly looks at his watch and stands up. Frank Francis Jr. is called Frankie. Indeed. (At a 1985 legislative hearing on crime in New Mexico, a federal investigator testified that Franks gang then numbered about 50 throughout the West and was behind an assortment of topless-related enterprises.). Progress may not be tangible until this summer. The U.S. Senate Rackets Committee ordered Frank to show up for its hearings on organized crime back in the late 1950s after Frank was accused of threatening bodily harm to four Seattle businessmen for not buying into his operation. "None will last if not run properly.". COLACURCIO, JR. agreed to forfeit $1.3 million in cash, all interest in the strip clubs and related property worth more than $6 million, and a $1.7 million property at 8600 Lake City Way which houses the Colacurcio company Talents West. COLACUCIO, JR. was sentenced to one year and a day in prison as called for in the plea agreement signed in June 2010. She sits there rubbing and poking, and Frank cant say what he wants to say. Levy contributed $600 to Jim Compton on April 18, 2002; the moratorium was passed on April 22, 2002. Writing to the court, prosecutors noted that this sentencing is a final chapter in a long running criminal enterprise. In court, the judge looked down and saw a much younger Frank this time. He knows that doing time goes with the work, says a friend, although, the odd thing is, I think he could have gotten just as rich doing it all legit. Frank Colacurcio Jr - Stratford, Connecticut, United States But, back to Strippergate. Frank will be 82 if and when he gets out by 1999. [4] In the 1970s, Colacurcio met with Bonanno crime family member Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno in Yakima, WA to discuss a business relationship. In 2003, a criminal investigation began in Seattle known as "Strippergate" focusing on strip clubs owned by Frank Colacurcio, Sr. and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr. (She got the Lincoln, the $350,000 house in Kitsap County, stocks, and other property. A lifelong . I keep saying that Id like to talk about other issues, but theres not enough time, Cole said. Jr. Pleads Guilty | Seattle Met [4] In the 1960s, Colacurcio opened topless clubs in Seattle and skimmed money. Strippergate (Seattle) and Related Topics - hyperleap.com If a dancer doesnt make enough to pay off the house rent, they basically get an IOU from the club, an amount that the manager on duty sets seemingly arbitrarily. That conviction was reversed on appeal. Amid all the consternation and conflicting accounts, Wills then lost her 2003 re-election campaign. In a split second, Frank was out the door, long steel rod in hand. Owner of new Georgetown strip club denies ties to Colacurcio The city needs an experienced council member, Wills said. "At some point, the issue was brought up that no ones going to look at [the lot]," Colacurcio Jr. said, declining to say who told him this. "[7] The investigation focused on Frank Sr, Frank Jr., and former Washington Governor Albert Rosellini for bribing members of the Seattle City Council. Charges were never filed, but when rival operators claimed the brothers threatened them with bodily harm if they didn't join the Colacurcio Bros. Amusement Co., the Seattle City Council refused to renew William Colacurcio's operating license. ), Despite his nearly lifelong battles with the law and local crusaders, Franks empire thrives. She had hosted a campaign fundraising event after the Land Use Committee vote and "Al Rosellini came and added a stack of checks to what was already a stack of checks. ", According to legal documents, property records and what can be extracted from his memory, Frankie is connected to Sugar's, Honey's, Rick's, Fox's, Papagayo's and Babe's dance clubs. Brother Bill, who became known as the Pinball King of Seattle, and Frank, the Jukebox King, were accused of illegally undercutting competitors in the vending, jukebox, pinball, and cigarette machine business. asks a longtime Seattle detective. The 1991 conviction, his fourth, brought his running total at that point to nine years in stir the past two decades, and 11 years since 1943. USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - WAW The divorce settlement left her with several properties in addition to the Poulsbo house and $3,000 a month, but she says she is hardly living in luxury. As part of his plea agreement, FRANK COLACURCIO, JR. is barred from participating in any adult entertainment enterprise in the State of Washington for the three year term of supervised release which will follow his prison sentence. Says a former Colacurcio employee today: I dont know about the cars, but we used dynamite caps on [rivals] slot machines. ", Nathalie Graham reported on city hall for. The Colacurcio name still reverberates in the cash-rich world of nude women three decades after Colacurcio and his brothers, William and Sam, started a jukebox business. Frank Calacurcio (1917-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial At Franks trial in 1971, a nightclub owner testified he once paid Colacurcio $3,000 a month for police protection. We never did tell the guy he was smooching another guy.). Colacurcio Jr. said it's about "the question of what are the customer's rights" and there "has got to be some sort of fairness in everything. As Bob Payton, Franks personnel director (and house-sitter when Franks off doing time) said in court last year, the young job seekers regularly tell him, I have no money, Im broke, my boyfriend left me, my husband beat me, Im on welfare, can I get paid under the table-things like that. She would also like to change restrictive zoning laws and end prohibition in clubs across the state (it is illegal to consume alcohol in Washington strip clubs.). Frank Colacurcio Sr., longtime resident of Newtown, Connecticut, passed away on September 28, 2020 at the age of 70. Colacurcio, who died in 2010, was the owner of strip clubs Sugar's in Shoreline and Rick's in Lake Forest Park. In Seattle, thats already pretty expensive, from $120 to $180 depending on the club and how many nights a dancer is scheduled to work. For Sale: Colacurcio house in Lake Forest Park Barnett.) [2], Born to immigrant parents from southern Italy, Colacurcio was the eldest of nine children, and worked on his father's vegetable farm in Seattle. In March 2006, the FBI started a multi-agency task force to investigate alleged organized crime, racketeering, and cold case murders tied to Frank Sr. Son of Seattle strip club mogul headed to prison | king5.com Two of Franks other brothers, Patrick and Daniel, also pleaded guilty to criminal charges connected to the Phoenix and Tucson topless operations. Wills had received money from Forbes as well as Levy, the Colacurcios' lawyer, since 2001 according to a Stranger report by Barnett and former news editor Josh Feit: Like clockwork, in April or May, folks in Seattle's strip club industrylike Rick's owner Frank Colacurcio Jr., Colacurcio Jr.'s attorney Gilbert Levy, and longtime porn industry player Roger Forbes (identified in city Ethics & Elections records as president of Dej Vu's bookkeeper, Consolidated Bookkeeping, until November 2002)make donations. "I did not know what they were. Furfaro asked the court for mercy: Dont make him quit, he said, hes too old. "I call it comfortable.". He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. The charges were dismissed against Colacurcio Sr. after his death. Mr. Colacurcio had been in declining health for some time, suffering from congestive heart failure. The View from Frank Jr. He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. During the bingo-card trial, U.S. attorneys exposed Colacurcio's role in an extensive payoff and extortion system, in which Seattle and King County police were getting paid in return for tolerating illegal gambling. [4] By age 18, he had opened his first trucking company. 1995: Sent to federal prison for two years after violating probation by fondling a woman applying for a job at one of his clubs. Hey Frank, one said with a smile and a wave, standing over the battered, near-comatose man, this guy giving you trouble? In 1991, Frank Sr. and Frankie were back in court. In 2005, both Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. were indicted, but in February 2006 the judge dismissed the charges. The office featured an exceptionally large, handsome desk at which Frank sat proudly. The key to a good business, he says, is consistency. Robin Price's daughter A Life of Crime . Son Frankie and his associates paid $1.8 million for the Papagayos property three years ago, and Frank himself is listed in court papers as worth at least $2 million, some of which he split with his wife during a 1993-94 divorce. In court, Frank politely asked the judge if, before he started serving his time, he could maybe take a trip to Canada and Alaska, and spend the summer-perhaps the last summer ever, your honor-fishing off his boat. . One of his attorneys, John Wolfe, told a federal judge last year that Franks Mafia links were local myth: I mean, there is a lot of folklore about this gentleman. According to Jane, in the months after the bill was passed, she spent a night consoling a 19-year-old dancer who had been assaulted in a VIP room. It was the site of Franks first major criminal mistake-getting caught-leading to a federal prison term and spurring a Bellevue law forbidding nude dancing in or near residential areas. A paranoid voyeur, Frank liked to keep an eye on things around the clubs. I talked with Frank Colacurcio Jr. to see what he recalled from the 16-year-old event. Sam found his way to the federal pen in 1988 for skimming profits from topless bars in Arizona. Allegiance: Seattle crime family: Francis Colacurcio Sr. (June 18, 1917 - July 2, 2010) . Hello, and welcome to Strippergate 101, a history lesson. [4] The vending machine businesses became important to organized crime figures who easily skimmed money. His house is jammed between its neighbors on a busy strip of Bothell Way Northeast in Lake Forest Park. Theres still quite a road ahead. Frank Colacurcio, Sr., 93, remains the sole defendant in the RICO case. John Gilbert "Gil" Conte | Hollywood goodfella Francis Colacurcio Sr. (June 18, 1917 July 2, 2010)[1] was an American mobster and boss of the Seattle crime family known for running strip clubs in Seattle, Washington. More than half a century later, having achieved geriatric gangster status, amassing several million dollars from his nude- and topless-dancing operations, and with his wife of 36 years bailing out on him, Frank grabbed this other girl, 18, fondling and then offering her $500 to go to bed with him. Franks public persona was that of a tough but nonviolent charmer. He had to have the honor. Colacurcio, the eldest son in a family of eight children, was convicted of "carnal knowledge" with a 16-year-old girl. Frank Colacurcio. This story originally was published by Seattle Weekly sibling Eastsideweek on July 10, 1996. His father, William, had been a member of the Mafia in Sicily, not an uncommon affiliation in his native country. Frankie lives with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Arlington, Snohomish County, drives a 1991 Corvette and collects muscle cars as a hobby. The strip clubs run by this organization, Rick's in Seattle, Fox's in Parkland, Pierce . That must have put a crimp in those father-son picnics. After the business succeeded, he and Franks mother, also Sicilian, moved the family to the then-rural, farmlike Eastside of the 1930s. In April 2010, the first group of defendants, all Colacurcio associates, entered guilty pleas and the strip club properties were closed. In declining health, Colacurcio died at the age of 93 of heart failure, on July 2, 2010, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle;[1] he was buried at Acacia Memorial Park in Lake Forest Park. But even with that knowledge, he got snared again. "Frank Colacurcio Sr., Seattle's legendary organized-crime figure, dies at 93", "The Stripper King: The story of Frank Colacurcio, the Bellevue boy who built a notorious nightlife empire", "Colacurcio family no stranger to controversy", "Seattle strip-club magnate Frank Colacurcio Sr. dies at 93", "Strip Club Operator and Long Time Alleged Seattle Crime Boss Frank Colacurcio Dead at 93", "Colacurcio Sr. sentenced for assault in club", "Police, feds raid strip clubs: Corruption", "Colacurcio Sr., five others indicted on a charge of conspiracy and racketeering", "Frank Colacurcio Jr. gets prison term, $1.3M fine", "Frank Colacurcio Jr. sentenced to prison in strip club case Colacurcio Jr. forfeits millions in cash and property", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Colacurcio&oldid=1142781914, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 10:07.