Eight current or former dancers make up the committee. He wasnt naturally chatty, but talked animatedly if the subject interested him. [1], In the 1960s, Colacurcio acquired more interests in restaurants and nightclubs. All except Frank Sr. reached plea deals with the government resulting in his four remaining clubs being . FRANK COLACURCIO JR, 48, and corporate defendant MM MR RM CORPORATION were sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle for conspiracy to commit RICORacketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations. Contact Us- Overview- Territory/Jurisdiction, News and Outreach - Press Room|Stories- In Your Community- Multimedia: Podcasts | Videos, About Us- Our People & Capabilities- What We Investigate- Our Partnerships- Seattle History, This content has been reproduced from its. ), Despite his nearly lifelong battles with the law and local crusaders, Franks empire thrives. He was 93. Hello, and welcome to Strippergate 101, a history lesson. Frank Jr. and the old mans associates operate a half-dozen strip joints in King and Pierce counties and most recently have opened, or tried to open, clubs in Kent and the Eastside-Papagayos Cantina in Overlake and Babes in Factoria. ", "He said that the neighbors didnt want to see additional parking because they didnt like the strip club that had been there for ages," Wills said, "and that he would erectsorry for the play on wordsa large barrier to prevent noise and other altercations from being visible to the surrounding neighbors, and that they would hire a parking lot attendant. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss fourteen other charges. 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. Dads legacy to son, thus, was that Babes dancers last year had to keep some of their clothes on. Their old pal, an ex-con named Gilbert Kapuha Pauole Jr., to whom they had loaned $200,000 to start up the clubs, had skimmed the profits at the direction of Frank and Frankie. Theres still quite a road ahead. Still, after all the money Colacurcio earned - his 1993 divorce records listed more than $2 million in assets - he hardly lives in luxury. Sam found his way to the federal pen in 1988 for skimming profits from topless bars in Arizona. Robert Payton a.k.a "Bobby" - Right-hand man of Frank Sr. The assets of the Colacurcio organization were frozen by the government in June 2008 following a two-year investigation. Frank quit school in the eighth grade and became a truck farmer. He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. In 1981, Junior testified as a hostile government witness "I look at Frank Colacurcio as my dad, my friend and a very special person." That dancer over there, he said, pointing to a topless woman writhing under amber-colored lights on a mirrored stage, thats a guy. (However, most dont show up at the monthly meetings. 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. 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 . Frank Francis Jr. is called Frankie. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on December 27, 1949, he was the son of Frank Colacurcio & Ethel Willis. Im not the Mafia, he liked to say, although state investigators reported he did take a meeting in Yakima with Bill Bonanno, son of the retired New York crime boss Joseph (Joe Bananas) Bonanno. 86 - died November 30, 2011 at her home. He got to keep the Rolex, the $400,000 home with an indoor pool at Sheridan Beach, and two other properties worth another $400,000. Frankie doesn't deny that he often turns to his father for advice. The civil charges against Frank Colacurcio Sr., 89, Frank Colacurcio Jr., 45, and Marsha Furfaro, 67, who is the manager of the Colacurcios' Talents West booking agency for club dancers, will be . 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Which is not to say that the story of Frank Colacurcio, 79, Seattles next-best thing to a criminal godfather, has necessarily reached its final chapter. After a 1991 guilty plea to tax fraud and the end of his 36-year-year marriage to Jackie Colacurcio about the same time, he and his son, Frank Colacurcio Jr . In some cases he owns the property; in others he works as a "consultant.". Sixteen years after "Strippergate" helped cost her a city council seat, Heidi Wills is running for council again. Rick's, Rosellini, Racketeering, and "Carnal Knowledge". "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. So Frank goes to work and tracks the guy down in San Francisco. I waited in line with two friends-both female-outside the popular Nitelite, often crowded beyond capacity. Like his father, Frankie sees nothing wrong with the adult-entertainment industry and says he doesn't understand what all the protests are about. [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. "Any politician, I dont care how large or how small, takes more of an interest in people who are donating than people who are not," Colacurcio Jr. said. During the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones told COLACURCIO, JR. It appears you followed in the footsteps of your father your entire life. You are at a crossroads right now in what you do in your life. The indictment follows the restraining order filed . ), 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. Now, I know that for many of you long-time Seattleites, you already remember Strippergate. "I never pay attention," he says every time he's asked. The story of Frank Colacurcio, the Bellevue boy who built a notorious nightlife empire. Back rent is an industry-wide issue. frank colacurcio construction. Shira Cole has been out of the dancing business for three years. ", Im a little concerned [about retaliation], Orwall told me. Last year, strippers (also called dancers) organized with Working Washington to get their concerns about the industrya highly regulated mess that has created a virtual monopoly in the stateheard by legislators. July 2, 2010. A daughter of Seattle's Oromo community, Biftu Dadi was remembered as a smart, spirited young woman. His father, William, had been a member of the Mafia in Sicily, not an uncommon affiliation in his native country. This story originally was published by Seattle Weekly sibling Eastsideweek on July 10, 1996. Colacurcio's only son, whom everyone calls Frankie, pleaded guilty in the same 1991 case that prohibited his father from working in the business. By 1962, Colacurcio had an interest in several bars, restaurants or nightclubs, including a beer garden at the World's Fair, and had brought topless dancing to Seattle. "I had been a council member for many years and I should have known better," Wills said. 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. Hey Frank, one said with a smile and a wave, standing over the battered, near-comatose man, this guy giving you trouble? That is a source of outrage to some and frustration to others. He liked the setting, the quiet. He looked like the president of the United States or something, says a former employee. Ann Forbes, also of Consolidated, maxed out to Wills in the spring of 2001. At 73, age was clearly becoming a factor in the continuation of Franks pro-crime crusade. But, one thing at a time. Frank, today bespectacled, gray hair thinning, a bit heavier at 200 pounds, is in reasonably good health as he heads toward his 80th birthday next June-although his doctor, Dr. Frank Gleeson, says Frank has polycythemia rubra vera, a condition that can lead to thrombophlebitis, or blood clotting. gs, conclusions and a eements will be bin' upon the Parties, th . Frank Colacurcio Sr., longtime resident of Newtown, Connecticut, passed away on September 28, 2020 at the age of 70. "Ive had a lot of life experience since then. Frank was breaking up with laughter when the unknowing politico raced up to the bar and ordered more drinks for me and my girl. 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. The Seattle crime family, also known as the Colacurcio crime family[1][2][3] or Seattle Mafia, is a crime family based in Seattle, Washington. She uses that freedom to advocate loudly for what dancers need. "Naturally, being Italian and being a man my age, I do love women.". As president of his dads company and combined interests, Talents West and Huns Entertainment of Seattle, Frank Jr. finds himself facing the same nagging problems as Frank Sr.: cops, moralists, probation officers, and zoning laws. Back when I was working, I couldnt even talk to anybody about [these issues], I was so afraid that I would get fired. Frank Colacurcio Sr. and his son Frank Jr. and four close associates were indicted in 2009 for conspiring to use their four Western Washington clubs as fronts for prostitution and money laundering. But it wasnt until 1971 that he was first convicted of racketeering-conspiracy and importing illegal bingo cards into Washington-and served two years in federal prison. In 2005, both Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. were indicted, but in February 2006 the judge . body swap books free leximi netlify app libra shqip. Saturday, May 31, 2014. Under the terms of Colacurcio Jr.'s plea agreement, he will be sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Where he resides today. Progress may not be tangible until this summer. Although Colacurcio never testified, Committee Counsel Robert F. Kennedy did question him about his alleged racketeering activities in Seattle. In a deposition in the divorce case, his mother, Jackie, wondered if Frankie was up to the job. [5], In 1943, Colacurcio was convicted for having sex with an underage girl. Dont hit me no more, the guy pleaded, crying. He told me, through interruptions when he would yell at his GPS to quit "yapping" at him, that he thought "it should be up to every business on how they run their business. Wills, who served one four-year term, 2000-03, as an at-large city councilmember, is currently . The judge politely refused; after all, how would it look for a probation officer to be supervising the boss of a nudie joint? 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 bill was enacted last summer. At the same time, the local prosecutor said the Colacurcios' business efforts had "all the earmarks" of a well-financed attempt to take control of the jukebox business in Seattle. During a 197O trial, in which Colacurcio was found guilty of assaulting a former bartender who was a police agent, a detective testified that the nightclub operator also was being investigated for vice, narcotics, dangerous drugs, assaults and prostitution. We've all done things that weren't right up to kosher.". Colacurcio strongly denied it. Forgive me while I rehash an issue you probably thought was long-dead. He thinks someone should put Fremont's Lenin statue on Sawant's lawn. "I've got to go play," he says, ushering his guest to the door. The city had turned down the rezoning application for the parking spots twice before 2003, once in 1989 and once in 1998. We bantered one night over the pulsing music at the Nitelite on Second Avenue, epicenter of the Talents West topless-dance empire (in trouble with the liquor board, Frank had the place put in the name of one of his sisters). The club was slated for demolition after following guilty pleas by the other members of the board -- identified in the lawsuit as Frank Colacurcio Jr., Frank Colacurcio Sr.'s nephew Leroy Richard Christiansen, longtime associate David Carl Ebert and Steven Michael Fueston, manager of a Tacoma club also closed through the plea. Still, he spends nearly every day at Talents West, the cramped, cluttered Lake City hiring headquarters for the clubs. Many of them written by Erica C. Barnett. It ended much like it began-with some girl calling the cops. Look at the money theyre throwing at him. We never did tell the guy he was smooching another guy.). Frankie pleaded guilty to a single felony tax charge. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In the following years Colacurcio continued to expand his strip-club business. Could the strip club buy it? Owner of 1-800-DRIVEWAY in the 203 area code. She wont leave. She said that's why she's concerned about the next city councilit will likely be made up of many first-time council members. I talked with Frank Colacurcio Jr. to see what he recalled from the 16-year-old event. Still, he professes to not even know a ballpark figure of either his income or his net worth. Millions of dollars, several prison terms and dozens of headlines later, what's most striking about Frank Colacurcio Sr. is what he's not: ominous, regretful or totally retired. [6] He served more than a year at the Monroe State Reformatory (now known as the Washington State Reformatory). By Posted sevier county septic records At the time Strippergate had happened, Wills had been a city council member for five years. He started our conversation talking about how he didn't even remember Heidi Wills and has only been paying attention to Council Member Kshama Sawant's race.