Or is a guy, I dont know. Kinney believes the Colacurcios have no connection to East Coast crime families but are "their own variant of organized crime" - a notion Colacurcio has long scoffed at. 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. (A longtime Colacurcio associate recalls there were three pre-operative transsexuals or transvestites who danced as women at Franks clubs. It is up to you, depending on your conduct, to ensure there is no sequel. Judge Jones observed that COLACURCIO, JR. was on the radar screen of the government, and the judge noted that prosecutors would not hesitate to ask that COLACURCIO, JR. be sent back to prison if he violated the terms of his supervised release. They were in separate prisons, notes a Seattle detective. John Gilbert "Gil" Conte | Hollywood goodfella He stroked it like a golf club on the customers head and back. In the 1950s, Colacurcio and his brother Bill were distributing vending, slot, pinball and cigarette machines. But hell, hes Frank fuckin Colacurcio, the comeback kid. Frank didnt have a high regard for women; between the first assault in the 1940s and the last in the 1990s, there were myriad dancers, girlfriends, and prostitutes with Franks pawprints all over them, former employees say. Progress may not be tangible until this summer. Bill was convicted in 1980 of racketeering and gambling in New Orleans. Rather than marry, hed do the time, and did: two years for carnal knowledge. Brutal spasms aside, Frank never quite made the criminal big time. Colacurcio Jr. pled guilty in 2011. Hey Frank, one said with a smile and a wave, standing over the battered, near-comatose man, this guy giving you trouble? That dancer over there, he said, pointing to a topless woman writhing under amber-colored lights on a mirrored stage, thats a guy. The trucking business was so good he took on a partner and set up an office at Western Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle. 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. The key to this case: testimony by Gilbert Pauole, the manager of one of the Alaska nightclubs, who is now in the witness-protection program. It was finally ended in 2007, but during that 18-year period no new strip clubs could be operated in Seattle. You light the fuse and then just slap the cap onto the underside of the machine and walk out. The Strippergate scandal was first broken by the North Seattle Star, now-defunct Lake City paper. 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. He violated his terms in one fell swoop in May 1995-grabbing, kissing, and propositioning a teenager he was interviewing for a topless job. 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. In 1962, he opened a beer garden at the Seattle World's Fair.[1]. He attended Bullard Havens Technical School. Seattle Times staff reporter Louis T. Corsaletti contributed to this report. Topless joints are cash operations and Frank learned quickly how to skim off the top, avoiding taxes. Wills was fined $1,500 for not disclosing her Rossellini meeting on the record. "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. 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. 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. "Mafia malarkey," he said recently. "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. Owner of 1-800-DRIVEWAY in the 203 area code. In front of us, a big man began drunkenly banging on the door, tired of waiting. "Quasi-judicial rules are really important," Wills said. (However, most dont show up at the monthly meetings. In 1991, Frank Sr. and Frankie were back in court. 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. 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. . And even the road to that progress is difficult for dancers who see these improvements, while necessary, as merely scratching the surface in an industry that many are desperate to change in bigger, more sweeping ways. This was Franks favorite place. I understand that they played the tape for him one day and he suddenly felt too old to seek re-election. The corporations and three of the individual defendantsLeroy Richard Christiansen, 68, of Seattle, Washington, David Carl Ebert, 62, of Monroe, Washington and Steven Michael Fueston, 62, of Tacoma, Washingtonare barred from operating any adult entertainment business in Washington State for the next five years. "We've always been very close; he's always given me advice on everything," he says. I feel [that] Frankie-if he had to run it and his father wasnt around-I dont think hes capable of doing it. 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. Frank Colacurcio Jr - Stratford, Connecticut, United States Hello, and welcome to Strippergate 101, a history lesson. (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.). Last month, she was the only dancer who showed up in person. 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. COLACURCIO, JR. agreed to forfeit the Talents West building at 8600 Lake City Way, admitting it was used as part . Frank Colacurcio Jr. agreed to a one-year prison . 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 complained the feds had it in for him, and they did. "How do you define criminal?" frank colacurcio jr. artmodeling studios bell 429; mom blackmailed for sex blooket hack to get all blocks; 2017 volvo truck fuse box diagram ultimate cheat menu the forest; proxmox find mac address of host; prime hydration. He wasnt naturally chatty, but talked animatedly if the subject interested him. The charges were dismissed against Colacurcio Sr. after his death. Male writers, anyway. Frank was among those accused of heading up a shakedown operation in which hed extort money from other bar operators, then kick back part of it to the cops. These were scams Frank had been performing for four decades, but he still couldnt get it right. Some in law enforcement believe Colacurcio's time in prison opened the door to competition, and today the Detroit-based Deja Vu chain has the edge on the number of local strip clubs. 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. 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. 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. In the following years Colacurcio continued to expand his strip-club business. Now banished to the sidelines by the terms of his probation for a tax-fraud conviction, Seattle's former topless-dance king, now nearing 80, is not allowed to work for or even frequent the adult-entertainment clubs he once ruled. Jane said that the clubs are worried theyll get sued by customers. 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. 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. In 1991, Frank, 73, and Frankie, 28, were convicted for failing to pay income taxes on profits skimmed from two clubs in Alaska-the Good Times and the Wild Cherry-between 1980 and 1989. He spied on the girls, on the office help, watching people have sex. No problem, said the judge. I was among those who talked with Colacurcio back in his more expansive days. The tapes contents never surfaced from the investigation back then, but, says a former Colacurcio associate today, The tape was a recording Bill made of a city councilman describing how the payoff system worked, how the cops picked up the money and then passed it down the line-to him and others. 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 various recorded conversations, the Colacurcios and their associates dissuaded dancers and managers from reporting acts of prostitution and repeatedly returned dancers who were arrested for and caught in acts of prostitution back to the clubs. SEATTLE - The son of longtime Seattle strip club mogul Frank Colacurcio Sr. agreed to spend a year in prison and turn over $1.3 million Friday in a plea deal with federal prosecutors - likely . 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 . He's been banned from working in the adult entertainment industry for life and said he is currently a "consultant" for a strip club called Kittens Cabaret in Georgetown. This agreem is binding Since the divorce settlement, ex-wife Jackie Colacurcio has lived in a modest bayfront home in Poulsbo, trying to avoid the spotlight. "I have no way of knowing," he says. A paranoid voyeur, Frank liked to keep an eye on things around the clubs. The doors of Ricks, Sugars, Honeys, and Foxs will finally be closed for good, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. The Stripper King | Seattle Weekly Writing to the court, prosecutors noted that this sentencing is a final chapter in a long running criminal enterprise. A report issued by the State Patrol Organized Crime Unit to law-enforcement agencies in 1979 alleged that Colacurcio controlled a crime group operating topless taverns and other businesses in the state. [5], In the 1950s, Colacurcio entered the jukebox, cigarette, and vending machine businesses. Knowing what I know now, of course, it's better to know the rules of the city council." The final defendant in the case, Frank Colacurcio, Jr., 48, of Seattle, Washington, and MM MR RM Corporation will be sentenced September 24, 2010. [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 indictment lays out the actions members of the conspiracy took to promote prostitution at the clubs and their failure to stop prostitution when it was reported to them. Hiring agency director and high ranking member of family. The story amused Franks friends, as did some of his tough-guy antics. We've all done things that weren't right up to kosher.". The government will receive payment equal to the appraised value of Honeys, and the building has been bulldozed. he counters with a sly smile. Frank quit school in the eighth grade and became a truck farmer. He was 25 at the time and worked as a truck driver, hauling fruits and vegetables from local farms to wholesale distributors. 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. Colacurcios trial was the centerpiece of local corruption scandals back then. His appeal on the first tax conviction failed, however, and Frank went off to the federal lockup. Sentenced to Prison in Strip Club Case Colacurcio Jr. Forfeits Millions in Cash and Property", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seattle_crime_family&oldid=1144903083, Organized crime groups in the United States, Articles with dead external links from May 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 March 2023, at 06:01. 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. In 2008, local police and federal agents raided Colacurcio's home and business. She also didn't know that she had to disclose that she had met with Rosellini before the council vote, or what Rosellini's history was with the Colacurcios. The other boys joined in, eventually setting up an office in Seattle. The attention began in 1943. Pending cases. The strip clubs run by this organization, Rick's in Seattle, Fox's in Parkland, Pierce . Amid all the consternation and conflicting accounts, Wills then lost her 2003 re-election campaign. USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - WAW And, Colacurcio was supposed to have met with the son of New York mob boss Joseph Bonanno. Seattle, it turns out, has a storied and very puritanical past when it comes to strip clubs, and The Stranger had a wealth of articles on the subject for me to dig into. According to Orwall, at least one dancer was fired for organizing last year. Frank Colacurcio - Wikipedia The proceeds of the sales will go to the U.S. Treasury. Colacurcio, the eldest son in a family of eight children, was convicted of "carnal knowledge" with a 16-year-old girl. Still, he professes to not even know a ballpark figure of either his income or his net worth. ", Im a little concerned [about retaliation], Orwall told me. Coming up in Bellevue, Washington, he grew up during the so-called "rackets era," where drugs, gambling, prostitution and corruption ensnared businessmen, government officials and police alike. He married back in 1961, but never lost his roving eye and touch. Frank F. Colacurcio Sr. (1917-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial I do understand that retaliation threat, Cole told me, I understand completely. With money earned from these businesses, Colacurcio started investing in bars, restaurants, and clubs. Colacurcio says he doesn't spend much time wondering how things might have been. He owns it with a nephew and uses it for fishing expeditions in Alaska. Former Councilmember Mike OBrien referred her to Working Washington which jumpstarted this whole thing. Frank Colacurcio Obituary - Monroe, CT - Dignity Memorial 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. In 2005, both Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. were indicted, but in February 2006 the judge . I have had more back rent in the past year than I have ever had in my nearly 15-year career of dancing., Not all clubs use back rent, according to Frank Colacurcio Jr. (Yes, that Frank Colacurcio Jr.), whothough banned from running strip clubs in Washingtonis a consultant for Kittens Cabaret. That was his deal, he didnt trust anyone. Many of them written by Erica C. Barnett. He thinks someone should put Fremont's Lenin statue on Sawant's lawn. Frank Colacurcio Jr. At 73, age was clearly becoming a factor in the continuation of Franks pro-crime crusade. Frank Colacurcio Jr. In a deposition in the divorce case, his mother, Jackie, wondered if Frankie was up to the job. 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. His income has been estimated at $800,000 to $1 million a year. Thanks to a host of associates, Colacurcio was often able to remain a silent partner in the clubs. 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 . His house is jammed between its neighbors on a busy strip of Bothell Way Northeast in Lake Forest Park. Still, after all the money Colacurcio earned - his 1993 divorce records listed more than $2 million in assets - he hardly lives in luxury. But there have been several meetings with the adult entertainment advisory committee. He was 93. 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. Media attention became rampant. 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 Kinney, who tracked the Colacurcios and their associates for years but was never able to deal the blow that would knock them out. His brothers and sisters, raised in the big family home in north Bellevue, looked up to Frank, the oldest of seven kids. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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 . "But theres so many rules that council members need to know." "Naturally, being Italian and being a man my age, I do love women.". For me, I didn't know this was, as the kids say, a "thing" until this past April when I was researching a story about strip clubs in Seattle. The courts sentences will ensure that the notorious strip clubs stay closed and that the men who operated the strip clubs be severed completely from the businesses and properties they used to run their illegal operations. "I've got to go play," he says, ushering his guest to the door. Everyone calls Frank Francis Colacurcio Sr. just plain Frank. (She got the Lincoln, the $350,000 house in Kitsap County, stocks, and other property. It ended much like it began-with some girl calling the cops. John Rosellini . "None will last if not run properly.". [9] . We never did tell the guy he was smooching another guy.). His undisclosed testimony became part of a headline-grabbing 1960s probe of the pinball industry, which led to passage of a law banning the gambling devices in Seattle, and spilled over into the 1970s kickback/payoff scandal. "I don't break the law, but who knows? Its been horrible for Frank, too: Women have not only kept him in the money, but also in the courts. Frank Calacurcio (1917-2010) - Find a Grave Memorial Frank Colacurcio Jr. appeared in court Friday. In a manner that history has not publicly recorded, the farm business evolved into a coin-operated machine business. In 1981, U.S. prosecutors charged him with skimming profits from the Brass Tiger in Federal Way and the Bavarian Gardens in Factoria. Cole would like to make it illegal. He dresses in golf shirts and a simple gold chain and drives a used Lincoln worth $1,500. Immigrating first to New York, William followed other relatives to Seattle and became a hard-working truck farmer in South King County. She has been to a number of the advisory committee meetings and confirmed that "there hasnt been a huge number of people actually in the room" and only a small number of dancers were present. For decades, his name conjured up a seamy underworld of handshake deals, bare-breasted women and bundles of cash. But that's the extent of his "mob connections." Factoria was the venue of the old mans onetime-flagship dance club, the Bavarian Gardens, a topless beer-and-pool pub tucked into a strip mall with a next-door massage parlor. ", If its so bad that she reports it, Jane said, it's "because Ive been hurt or Im scared.". [10] He was sentenced in September to a year in jail and fined $1.3 million.[10][11]. Robert Payton a.k.a "Bobby" - Right-hand man of Frank Sr. He never hung around long, and his associates kept the nudie business humming, taking their cues from Frank long-distance. His father, William, had been a member of the Mafia in Sicily, not an uncommon affiliation in his native country. She was frustrated. Frank Sr.: from modest roots to racketeer | The Seattle Times I keep saying that Id like to talk about other issues, but theres not enough time, Cole said. For less than a million dollars, you can own the home of deceased organized crime boss, Frank Colacurcio. Frank Colacurcio Jr., 47, of Seattle, is the heir to his father's strip club empire, which has waned in recent years as cities have restricted nude dancing. 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.
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