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Frank Colacurcio - Wikipedia The strip clubs run by this organization include Ricks in Seattle, Foxs in Parkland, Pierce County, Honeys in Everett and Sugars in Shoreline. Crime family based in Seattle, Washington. A parade of police and officials were linked to an illegal gambling/payoff system in Seattle bars and bingo parlors. These were scams Frank had been performing for four decades, but he still couldnt get it right. He was paroled a year later. Hiring agency president, general manager and bookkeeper, high ranking member. This settlement 's'made between Frank lacurcio, Jr. and Fr Colacurcio, Sr., (jo' ly, "Respondents") an ayne Barnett, Exe tive Director of the eattle Ethics and E tions Commission (co ectively, the "Parties". Colacurcio house for sale again, this time with a price break Its been horrible for Frank, too: Women have not only kept him in the money, but also in the courts. "You keep so busy, I've got so many things on my mind.". The woman was running before her feet hit the ground. 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. Robert Payton a.k.a "Bobby" - Right-hand man of Frank Sr. 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. ", The North Seattle Star, Media Hypocrisy, and Life Experience. Seattle newspapers were never quite sure what to call Frank. The trucking business was so good he took on a partner and set up an office at Western Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle. Business rivals claimed that he used threats to control the trade. (A longtime Colacurcio associate recalls there were three pre-operative transsexuals or transvestites who danced as women at Franks clubs. Under the terms of the plea agreement, FRANK COLACURCIO, JR., and the . His prison time, mostly spent reading westerns, did him some good, he reasons. 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. When questioned about the meeting, Frank Colacurcio replied with I went to Yakima to pick hot peppers, but I didnt pick no bananas.[4] The mention of bananas was a reference to the Bonnano family, which was involved in an internal war referred to by the media as the "Banana Wars". ), 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. Mary Engrav answered Emergency Medicine 32 years experience. 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. But the dancers often arrive needy and vulnerable. Out on probation in 1994, and ordered by the court to stay away from topless dancing, and dancers, Frank just couldnt help himself. 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 talked with Frank Colacurcio Jr. to see what he recalled from the 16-year-old event. I understand that they played the tape for him one day and he suddenly felt too old to seek re-election. And no fishing trip. Brutal spasms aside, Frank never quite made the criminal big time. Pending cases. Washingtons COVID-19 exposure notification app is scheduled to conclude May 11 in tandem with the end of the Public Health. 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. Writing to the court, prosecutors noted that this sentencing is a final chapter in a long running criminal enterprise. 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. Says a former Colacurcio employee today: I dont know about the cars, but we used dynamite caps on [rivals] slot machines. Nonetheless, those who know him are sure he sits in prison planning his exit and his next business move. They sized up their odds, took a deep breath, and pleaded guilty. Heidi Wills and Strippergate - George Howland Jr. "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. "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. "Dancers tolerate a lot of bad behavior," Jane said. The case was investigated by the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Seattle Police Department with assistance from the King County Sheriffs Department, Everett Police Department, Snohomish County Sheriffs Office, and the Pierce County Sheriffs Office. 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. The elder Colacurcio pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income-tax returns in 1984. . Frank Colacurcio Jr. agreed to a one-year prison . John Gilbert "Gil" Conte | Hollywood goodfella He had a family to support and there wasnt much call for a 65-year-old topless-bar manager. For less than a million dollars, you can own the home of deceased organized crime boss, Frank Colacurcio. Was a guy. Conviction overturned on appeal; case awaiting retrial. Rick's, Rosellini, Racketeering, and "Carnal Knowledge". In April 2010, the first group of defendants, all Colacurcio associates, entered guilty pleas and the strip club properties were closed. 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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. 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. Yet he is consistently vague about how many dancers he employs and how many clubs he runs. And, Colacurcio was supposed to have met with the son of New York mob boss Joseph Bonanno. Seattle's Frank Colacurcio - YouTube 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. 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. 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 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. I do understand that retaliation threat, Cole told me, I understand completely. 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. Frank Colacurcio Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 They were in separate prisons, notes a Seattle detective. Saturday, May 31, 2014. 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 - Stratford, Connecticut, United States 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. That mentality seemed to be at play in a much larger issue: A strip club moratorium that had been in place since 1988. Suddenly, the glass in the door shattered and flew into the club. Thanks to a host of associates, Colacurcio was often able to remain a silent partner in the clubs. ", "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. At Franks trial in 1971, a nightclub owner testified he once paid Colacurcio $3,000 a month for police protection. Colacurcio Jr. was convicted of tax . I feel [that] Frankie-if he had to run it and his father wasnt around-I dont think hes capable of doing it. 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. Franks home today is the federal correctional institution in Bastrop Texas, 30 miles out of Austin, built in 1979, holding 900 inmates whose average age is 37. I dont remember his name, says a friend of Colacurcios, but the guy had made off with funds from the state Democratic Party. 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. 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. So Frank goes to work and tracks the guy down in San Francisco. In the 1950s, Frank Colacurcio began operating cigarette and jukebox vending machines in the Seattle area. Forgive me while I rehash an issue you probably thought was long-dead. 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. [3] Colacurcio later worked as a butcher, farm hand, truck driver, and pulp mill worker. Legally theyre not allowed to retaliate, Jane explained. 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. Colacurcio Strip Club Associate Files Suit | Seattle Met Shira Cole has been out of the dancing business for three years. Jay Inslee for his expected signing. The other boys joined in, eventually setting up an office in Seattle. Frank said they werent fighting fair. He was behind bars for a total of about six years on separate convictions. "I don't think I did anything that would deliberately hurt anyone.". Frankie pleaded guilty to a single felony tax charge. [4] In the 1960s, Colacurcio opened topless clubs in Seattle and skimmed money. 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. Frankie pleaded guilty in 1991 to the felony charge of tax fraud but, like his father, says it was a setup. Frank Colacurcio Sr.Frank Colacurcio Sr., longtime resident of Newtown, Connecticut, passed away on September 28, 2020 at the age of 70.Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on December 27, 1949, he was the Forbes contributed $600 to Wills in the spring of 2001. Frank quit school in the eighth grade and became a truck farmer. His appeal on the first tax conviction failed, however, and Frank went off to the federal lockup. She told the officers Frank had sexually attacked her during a visit to his family home in Bellevue. By George Howland Jr. Heidi Wills rang my doorbell. In exchange, federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss fourteen other charges. Levy contributed $600 to Jim Compton on April 18, 2002; the moratorium was passed on April 22, 2002. 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. [5], In the 1950s, Colacurcio entered the jukebox, cigarette, and vending machine businesses. Franks public persona was that of a tough but nonviolent charmer. [5], In 1943, Colacurcio was convicted for having sex with an underage girl. Its one of those wood-burl tables, for sale for $600. [4] In the 1970s, Colacurcio met with Bonanno crime family member Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno in Yakima, WA to discuss a business relationship. Exactly how much the family and its associates reaped in profits over the years remains a mystery. Furfaro asked the court for mercy: Dont make him quit, he said, hes too old. "I never pay attention," he says every time he's asked. 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. He also got a reprimand from his exs lawyers for the bad habit of lying to a judge: Clearly, says an entry in court papers, the respondent [Frank] did not make a forthright and candid disclosure of his assets and financial affairs. He dropped out of school before completing the eighth grade and started a produce-hauling business. He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. Prosecutors said the Colacurcios had skimmed profits at two Alaska topless bars. That conviction was reversed on appeal. (Many of them written by Erica C. But that's the extent of his "mob connections." According to Orwall, at least one dancer was fired for organizing last year. But hell, hes Frank fuckin Colacurcio, the comeback kid. All except Frank Sr. reached plea deals with the government resulting in his four remaining clubs being . In 1981, U.S. prosecutors charged him with skimming profits from the Brass Tiger in Federal Way and the Bavarian Gardens in Factoria. 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. 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.). Well take care of it, one of the cops said, pulling the man off the walk. Mr. Colacurcio had been in declining health for some time, suffering from congestive heart failure. Rick's owners face civil charges So that would be mitigated and it seemed like a no-brainer to me.". [6] He served more than a year at the Monroe State Reformatory (now known as the Washington State Reformatory). "I see it no differently than a Denny's, a Fred Meyer or a Hard Rock Cafe," he says. Bill was convicted in 1980 of racketeering and gambling in New Orleans. 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. Or is a guy, I dont know. In 1991, Frank Sr. and Frankie were back in court. Everyone calls Frank Francis Colacurcio Sr. just plain Frank. His income has been estimated at $800,000 to $1 million a year. "Ive had a lot of life experience since then. The way they do it is by finding another reason to fire a dancer, she explained. "No ones going to pay attention to it and go down and see it for themselves unless you become politically involved.". This political involvement meant persuading his friends and associates to donate the maximum limit to city council candidates. This case represented a difficult problem of proof because of the respondents background.). Take the night in San Francisco, a story never before told publicly, when he hung that fella out the window. Still, he professes to not even know a ballpark figure of either his income or his net worth. "Because in my opinion, he's the one that has all the authority," she said in a deposition. 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. Male writers, anyway. Was Former Seattle Family Part of Official Mafia? What is he, 100, 150 years old? 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. Theres still quite a road ahead. In his 1974 federal court tax-evasion trial, Colacurcio conceded he had interests in a number of establishments but said he often kept his interests secret to avoid being denied liquor licenses by the state Liquor Control Board. The following fin . Dads legacy to son, thus, was that Babes dancers last year had to keep some of their clothes on. Boom, coins all over, and youre down the street. Members of the conspiracy were indicted in June 2009. He was 25 at the time and worked as a truck driver, hauling fruits and vegetables from local farms to wholesale distributors. [9] "I don't break the law, but who knows? After her conversation with Rossellini, Wills showed up at the Land Use Committee, which she was not a member of, and cast a key vote in favor of the re-zone. Frank Colacurcio Jr, son of the Boss of the Colacurcio Criminal Org/Family (Seattle). | Learn more about Frank Colacurcio Jr's work experience, education, connections & more by visiting their profile on LinkedIn. In a manner that history has not publicly recorded, the farm business evolved into a coin-operated machine business. Colacurcio was indicted last year along with his son, Frank Jr., and several associates. In 1962, he opened a beer garden at the Seattle World's Fair.[1]. The indictment further details how credit card machines and ATMs were used to facilitate the prostitution and how the proceeds of prostitution were laundered through various bank accounts. Seattle crime family - Wikipedia 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. Colacurcio strongly denied it. The training has to be done by July so they havent really allotted any other time for other issues, Cole said. They led him down the street, bloodied and looking like someone happy to be arrested. Bios of the six men indicted | The Seattle Times ", If its so bad that she reports it, Jane said, it's "because Ive been hurt or Im scared.". He liked the setting, the quiet. [3][6][7][8] The strip clubs owned by Colacurcio were being used as fronts for brothels. "To tell you the truth, my memory's really hazy. The government will receive payment equal to the appraised value of Honeys, and the building has been bulldozed. Sudden sharp pain under right rib cage when bending over He violated his terms in one fell swoop in May 1995-grabbing, kissing, and propositioning a teenager he was interviewing for a topless job. In 1959, Colacurcio was subpoenaed by the U.S. Senate Rackets Investigating Committee to testify in a nationwide probe of the coin-machine industry. In fact, Consolidated has donated nearly $9,000 in the last four yearswell over $1,000 coming around moratorium time. She wont leave. ), Despite his nearly lifelong battles with the law and local crusaders, Franks empire thrives. I freaked out, she said. In the early 1990s, Colacurcio pleaded guilty to tax fraud at strip clubs he ran in Alaska and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The final defendant in the case, Frank Colacurcio, Jr., 48, of Seattle, Washington, and MM MR RM Corporation will be sentenced September 24, 2010. One issue that was a common thread through all of those articles: Strippergate. Frank Colacurcio Sr., the 92-year-old patriarch of a local strip-club operation, joined his son and four associates in federal court in . 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.). 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. Frank Colacurcio Jr. L&I cannot do an inspection unless a complaint has been filed, according to Rep. Tina Orwall, who sponsored the bill last year. In a deposition in the divorce case, his mother, Jackie, wondered if Frankie was up to the job. Colacurcio strongly denied it. 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? The proceeds of the sales will go to the U.S. Treasury. The folklore that I remember growing up here in Seattle is that this was organized crime, if you will, and Mr. Colacurcio has no history suggesting that; there is no history of violence, there is no history of witness intimidation, there is no history of narcotics trafficking.