Colacurcio strongly denied it. She said that's why she's concerned about the next city councilit will likely be made up of many first-time council members. That mentality seemed to be at play in a much larger issue: A strip club moratorium that had been in place since 1988. Frank Colacurcio Sr., longtime resident of Newtown, Connecticut, passed away on September 28, 2020 at the age of 70. Furfaro asked the court for mercy: Dont make him quit, he said, hes too old. She tries to make it to every meeting. The trucking business was so good he took on a partner and set up an office at Western Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle. "It takes a lot for them to say, 'This guy is out of line,' because were trying to make money. For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorneys Office, at (206) 553-4110. 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. While the council members who got embroiled in Strippergate were absolved of any criminal liability, the Colacurcio donations, while the biggest, were not the first they'd received from strip club owners. 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. "Not until I'm in the grave.". 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. The key to a good business, he says, is consistency. 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 . He was even mentioned in the McClellan Committee by James "Big Jim" Elkins, a major crime figure in Portland, Oregon. In fact, he credits the trouble with making the good times seem better. So that would be mitigated and it seemed like a no-brainer to me.". Suddenly, the glass in the door shattered and flew into the club. Having too much back rent is an easy excuse to fire a dancer. Frank Francis Jr. is called Frankie. "I had been a council member for many years and I should have known better," Wills said. Frank, meanwhile, was working on another regular appearance behind bars. He didnt, however, figure out how to avoid getting caught at it or, whenever he got out of stir, how not to go back to the female commodity business. I understand that they played the tape for him one day and he suddenly felt too old to seek re-election. 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. Robin Price's daughter A Life of Crime . Heidi Wills, the Seattle City Council candidate currently running in District 6 against Dan Strauss, was one of the council members who found herself at the center of this major local drama. He says his one indulgence is his boat, a 38-foot Bertram called 4PLAY, worth about $80,000. As Frankie put it a while back to a Seattle Times reporter, discussing his six-month tour of duty in the federal system, It didnt bug me that much except you dont have women, which is horrible. Frankie pleaded guilty in 1991 to the felony charge of tax fraud but, like his father, says it was a setup. Frank Colacurcio, Sr., 93, remains the sole defendant in the RICO case. 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. In the 1950s, Colacurcio and his brother Bill were distributing vending, slot, pinball and cigarette machines. 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. ", The North Seattle Star, Media Hypocrisy, and Life Experience. [4] In the 1960s, Colacurcio opened topless clubs in Seattle and skimmed money. In 2008, local police and federal agents raided Colacurcio's home and business. . "He gives me advice on what shoes to wear.". Everyone calls Frank Francis Colacurcio Sr. just plain Frank. In consideration of Franks perceived dotage, a judge gave him just 30 months and a $10,000 fine; Frankie got three years, with all but six months suspended, and was fined $10,000. 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. "It didn't bug me that much except you don't have women, which is horrible," he says. 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. Like his father, Frankie sees nothing wrong with the adult-entertainment industry and says he doesn't understand what all the protests are about. Where he resides today. This was a big disappointment to the head of the party, who was Franks old friend. 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. | Learn more about Frank Colacurcio Jr's work experience, education, connections & more by visiting their profile on LinkedIn. Topless joints are cash operations and Frank learned quickly how to skim off the top, avoiding taxes. They were in separate prisons, notes a Seattle detective. With money earned from these businesses, Colacurcio started investing in bars, restaurants, and clubs. [5], On September 24, 2010, Frank Colacurcio Jr. was sentenced to one year in prison, fined $1.3 million and ordered to forfeit all interest in the strip clubs and related property worth more than $6 million.[10][11]. "I've never done anything wrong," he says, quickly adding, "Does that include traffic violations? He spied on the girls, on the office help, watching people have sex. The View from Frank Jr. In 1959, Colacurcio was subpoenaed by the U.S. Senate Rackets Investigating Committee to testify in a nationwide probe of the coin-machine industry. The training will incorporate a crash course in financial independence, being an independent contractor, dealing with workplace harassment, and more. 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. "Naturally, being Italian and being a man my age, I do love women.". Frankie lives with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Arlington, Snohomish County, drives a 1991 Corvette and collects muscle . Its one of those wood-burl tables, for sale for $600. Legally theyre not allowed to retaliate, Jane explained. I dont have any doubts Frank will be back, says a longtime friend. A bill partially unwinding a 2021 policing reform clears the Legislature. Colacurcio strongly denied it. We've all done things that weren't right up to kosher.". 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. Still, in divorce papers filed in 1993, Frankie's mother, Jackie - Colacurcio Sr.'s wife of 36 years - said she believed her ex-husband was still running the show. (In a related 1991 case, Nick Furfaro, Franks old friend since they started up the Magic Inn on Union Street in 1963, was convicted of a tax violation and, as part of his short sentence, was told he had to give up his job running one of Franks places, Sugars, the North Seattle soda-pop-and-nude-dancing emporium. 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. Hello, and welcome to Strippergate 101, a history lesson. She sits there rubbing and poking, and Frank cant say what he wants to say. 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. The first time, 1943, Frank was 25 and the girl, 16. 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? I saw another side one night in the late 1970s. He was released from prison in 2013, and entered the strip club industry again in 2014. Frank Colacurcio, Sr., ran a strip-club empire and was depicted as a sort of Godfather of the Pacific Northwest. "I never pay attention," he says every time he's asked. In Seattle, thats already pretty expensive, from $120 to $180 depending on the club and how many nights a dancer is scheduled to work. 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 . [10] In June 2010, Colacurcio Jr. pleaded guilty to a racketeering and conspiracy. [10] He was sentenced in September to a year in jail and fined $1.3 million.[10][11]. He liked the setting, the quiet. The elder Colacurcio pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income-tax returns in 1984. 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. Back when I was working, I couldnt even talk to anybody about [these issues], I was so afraid that I would get fired. 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 Colacurcio Jr. a.k.a "Frankie" - Son of Frank Sr. I feel [that] Frankie-if he had to run it and his father wasnt around-I dont think hes capable of doing it. 2003 epilogue: Frank Colacurcio Sr. was eventually released from prison, is retired, lives in Seattle, and fishes in Alaska regularly. Still, he spends nearly every day at Talents West, the cramped, cluttered Lake City hiring headquarters for the clubs. Members of the conspiracy were indicted in June 2009. The audio quality is often too terrible to even contribute meaningfully, Jane said. COLACURCIO, JR. agreed to forfeit the Talents West building at 8600 Lake City Way, admitting it was used as part . The few female reporters who encountered him then had a less kindly view: Frank was lecherous, even dangerous-drawbacks that male writers tended to overlook during happy hour. While clubs are required to make changes, the laws are still going through the rule-making process with Washington State Labor & Industries and many clubs are waiting until those rules are finalized to implement blacklists and panic buttons. "It's 36 years of being with him that I've watched. The moratorium gave Seattle's existing strip clubs "a lock on the market" and "a competitive lock on the dancers," according to Stranger reporting from the time. The proceeds of the sales will go to the U.S. Treasury. Hadn't they made the inroads to prevent this? He never hung around long, and his associates kept the nudie business humming, taking their cues from Frank long-distance. His parole officer said a plea agreement designed by his lawyer ensured that Frankie, now 33, would be allowed to run the clubs once he was released. "I have no way of knowing," he says. "I did not know what they were. Granted, it was on a snow day for Seattle Public Schools and most dancers couldnt find childcare, Cole said. Could the strip club buy it? 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 public was outraged because the apparent cozy relationship between Rick's and city hall led to eight new parking spaces, they've ignored the same cozy relationship year after year when it has led to a de facto ban on new clubs. The indictments alleged Colacurcio Sr . Under the terms of the plea agreement, FRANK COLACURCIO, JR., and the . This story originally was published by Seattle Weekly sibling Eastsideweek on July 10, 1996. In June 2008, the FBI, IRS and local police raided the then-90-year-old Colacurcio's home and other . Mostly, she wants the clubs to believe women. Cole was one of the original dancers who took her complaints and vision for change to the Seattle City Council around two years ago. In front of us, a big man began drunkenly banging on the door, tired of waiting. The woman said Frank first asked her to go home and cuddle and be lovey, then kissed her and offered her money. She wont leave. Colacurcio, who died in 2010, was the owner of strip clubs Sugar's in Shoreline and Rick's in Lake Forest Park. The next meeting is on Monday, February 10 at 1:30 p.m. in L&Is Tukwila offices. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on December 27, 1949, he was the son of Frank Colacurcio & Ethel Willis. The Colacurcios wanted to expand Rick's north Seattle parking lot. Every night, a dancer has to pay the club house rent. 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. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Barnett.) He was paroled a year later. Theres still quite a road ahead. "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. Frank Colacurcio Jr. He owns it with a nephew and uses it for fishing expeditions in Alaska. Theyll try to make sure they rack up a lot of back rent and are in debt to the club, Jane said. Frank will be 82 if and when he gets out by 1999. Seattle newspapers were never quite sure what to call Frank. 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. I freaked out, she said. In April 2006, the state supreme court reinstated money laundering and political corruption charges from Strippergate charges against Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. On June 2, 2008, local police and federal agents raided Frank Sr.'s home in Lake Forest Park, the Talents West offices, and multiple strip clubs in three counties. The scandal centered on Rick's strip club, an old Lake City haunt that was famously co-owned by Frank Colacurcio Sr. and his son, Frank Colacurcio, Jr. gs, conclusions and a eements will be bin' upon the Parties, th . plate heat exchanger sizing software. Ameduri said that L&I is working to improve this. Frank Colacurcio, Sr. died in June 2010, still under indictment for the RICO conspiracy. His prison time, mostly spent reading westerns, did him some good, he reasons. I mean, this is the scariest thing thats ever happened to me. Nathalie Graham reported on city hall for, Supreme Court Ruling Could Allow Washington to Tax the Rich, How Washington Plans to Fix the Behavioral Health Crisis, Ambitious Housing Reform Has a Real Shot This Year. But even with that knowledge, he got snared again. But the dancers often arrive needy and vulnerable. The guys wiggling and screaming and saying, Dont drop me, I got the money, Ill give it back! To avoid trouble obtaining liquor licenses, Colacurcio had relatives and associates front as the business owners. He had a family to support and there wasnt much call for a 65-year-old topless-bar manager. 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. But in 2003, when the council voted on the zoning issue again, it passed 5-4, thanks in part to three Seattle city council members: Judy Nicastro, Jim Compton, and Heidi Wills, who collectively had received $36,000 in their campaign coffers from the Colacurcios and people connected to them. [4] In the 1970s, Colacurcio met with Bonanno crime family member Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno in Yakima, WA to discuss a business relationship. 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. He got three years. The Musician Who Gave Me the City and Stars, Vangelis, Is Dead, Chris Cornell Interview, Extended Version, Seattle Sticker Patrol: Free Housing 4 All (Or Else), No, Washington Did Not Just Pass a Law Allowing the State to Kidnap and Transgenderify Children, Olympia Shatters Plan to Reboot Its War on Drugs, No Clear Path Toward Criminalizing Drugs in Washington, Washington Senate Wants to Punish the Addiction Out of People, Washington Democrats Defeat Transphobic Bills as Most LGBTQ Protections Clear Hurdles. Susan Byrnes, Katherine Long, Louis T. Corsaletti. I do understand that retaliation threat, Cole told me, I understand completely. Frank then put the rod down against his side, bootlegging it as two beat cops walked up. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Todd Greenberg and Tessa Gorman. Saturday, May 31, 2014. Crime family based in Seattle, Washington. Male writers, anyway. If passed, the property tax levy will help fund behavioral health infrastructure in the region. "We've always been very close; he's always given me advice on everything," he says. (However, most dont show up at the monthly meetings. 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. But Frank wasnt beyond the dramatic, Hollywoodesque gangster gesture to get his point across. He was behind bars for a total of about six years on separate convictions. For Jane, she would feel much more comfortable advocating for herself and her fellow dancers by saying these kinds of things in meetings if she knew there would be no professional ramifications. Franks empire expanded steadily, and by the end of the decade he ran a handful of Seattle and King County clubs and another half-dozen scattered from the Southwest to Alaska. I talked with Frank Colacurcio Jr. to see what he recalled from the 16-year-old event. 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. [4] By age 18, he had opened his first trucking company. In some cases he owns the property; in others he works as a "consultant.". Although Colacurcio never testified, Committee Counsel Robert F. Kennedy did question him about his alleged racketeering activities in Seattle. . He pauses. The government seized the properties, including Sugar's, in 2010. The judge politely refused; after all, how would it look for a probation officer to be supervising the boss of a nudie joint? "I've never been an extravagant person," he says, quickly adding, "I have what I desire.". That conviction was reversed on appeal. The extent of Colacurcio's involvement in the nightclub industry may never be known. 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. 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. Two of Franks other brothers, Patrick and Daniel, also pleaded guilty to criminal charges connected to the Phoenix and Tucson topless operations. Aside from a brief partnership with a friend as an interior designer, Jackie Colacurcio says she dedicated her life to raising her only son. 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. Bill went on to New Orleans where he was convicted in the 1980s for racketeering. [6] He served more than a year at the Monroe State Reformatory (now known as the Washington State Reformatory). Though requirements of his probation ordered him to stay away from the topless business, Frank nonetheless had an office in the agency, witnesses say, complete with some of his infamous press clips on the wall. That is a source of outrage to some and frustration to others. 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. In 2005, both Frank Sr. and Frank Jr. were indicted, but in February 2006 the judge dismissed the charges. John Rosellini . 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. Boom, coins all over, and youre down the street. The woman was running before her feet hit the ground. 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. Everyone organizing who still works is really brave.. But the detective acknowledged that nothing could be substantiated. he counters with a sly smile. Business rivals claimed that he used threats to control the trade. His son, Frank Jr., 34, himself an ex-con convicted of skimming bar profits and avoiding federal taxes, continues to operate the primary family enterprise, nude dancing clubs. He wasnt naturally chatty, but talked animatedly if the subject interested him. 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. 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. Wills also did not disclose that she had met with Rossellini before the vote. That manifested in a bill that accomplished four main things: putting panic buttons in VIP rooms, implementing a customer blacklist for bad actors, creating a mandatory training for dancers to complete, and establishing an adult entertainer advisory committee. Washingtons COVID-19 exposure notification app is scheduled to conclude May 11 in tandem with the end of the Public Health. A lingering mystery of those long-ago probes has been a tape recording confiscated by U.S. agents from Bill Colacurcios house and said to be prime evidence of corruption by a top Seattle city official. It was Junior's testimony which landed Frank and his son, Frank, Jr. in federal prison for two and a half years on plea bargain to charges of tax fraud. I dont want them to feel like they cant speak.. The final defendant in the case, Frank Colacurcio, Jr., 48, of Seattle, Washington, and MM MR RM Corporation will be sentenced September 24, 2010. Frank said they werent fighting fair. That must have put a crimp in those father-son picnics. So Frank goes to work and tracks the guy down in San Francisco. annabel henley don henley's daughter; west philly shooting last night; how do i check my hdb tenant status; frank colacurcio construction. [5], In 1943, Colacurcio was convicted for having sex with an underage girl. Jane isnt her real name. [6][7][8], In 2009, Colacurcio Sr., his son Frank Colacurcio Jr., and four others were indicted and charged with conspiracy and racketeering. In 1991, Frank Sr. and Frankie were back in court. 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. Knowing what I know now, of course, it's better to know the rules of the city council." One day were sitting in the lobby of the Lake Quinault Lodge, by a big fireplace, talking business, says a former employee. She sits down and rubs it and pokes around and starts asking about it. The doors of Ricks, Sugars, Honeys, and Foxs will finally be closed for good, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. In a deposition in the divorce case, his mother, Jackie, wondered if Frankie was up to the job. 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! In depositions, Colacurcio has said he often had $100,000 in cash on hand. Levy contributed $600 to Jim Compton on April 18, 2002; the moratorium was passed on April 22, 2002. Crime family based in Seattle, Washington, Frank Colacurcio Sr., Seattle's legendary organized-crime figure, dies at 93, Everett strip club a front for brothel, feds say, Strip club sting foreshadows possible federal charges, Colacurcio Sr., five others indicted on a charge of conspiracy and racketeering, "Frank Colacurcio Jr. gets prison term, $1.3M fine", "Frank Colacurcio Jr.
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