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. Released in 1976, he hadnt missed a beat in prison, and walked out still the reigning prince of nude and topless dancing. 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. "It's 36 years of being with him that I've watched. 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. 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the scandal was resolved, the appropriate council members fined, the dirty campaign funds returned, the re-zoning law repealed, and, eventually, the moratorium lifted, has enough time passed for Heidi Wills to be trusted again as a Seattle council member? Besides nude dancing and doing time, their common interests apparently include a longing for females. plate heat exchanger sizing software. Wills told The Stranger during our endorsement meeting this year that Rosellini was a mentor to her and had asked her to "help solve a small business issue. Yet he is consistently vague about how many dancers he employs and how many clubs he runs. 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. Frankies plea bargain in the 1991 case allowed him to continue running the current six topless clubs (neither he nor anyone at Talents West returned calls or would comment for this story). The story amused Franks friends, as did some of his tough-guy antics. For Sale: Colacurcio house in Lake Forest Park 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. 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. "I never pay attention," he says every time he's asked. Among . 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. Seattle crime family. In 1959, Colacurcio was subpoenaed by the U.S. Senate Rackets Investigating Committee to testify in a nationwide probe of the coin-machine industry. project zomboid . Which he did. This is where the women are. He was paroled a year later. 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. "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. That's been my one drawback. I dont have any doubts Frank will be back, says a longtime friend. The trucking business was so good he took on a partner and set up an office at Western Avenue and Madison Street in Seattle. Wills was fined $1,500 for not disclosing her Rossellini meeting on the record. Frank Colacurcio Jr. appeared in court Friday. Frank said they werent fighting fair. 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. Sixteen years later, Wills told The Stranger that the Colacurcios had "bundled campaign funds to me, Judy, and Jim." She sits there rubbing and poking, and Frank cant say what he wants to say. Franks public persona was that of a tough but nonviolent charmer. Business was too good and they couldn't fit all their patrons in their lot. The doors of Ricks, Sugars, Honeys, and Foxs will finally be closed for good, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. His income has been estimated at $800,000 to $1 million a year. He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. After the business succeeded, he and Franks mother, also Sicilian, moved the family to the then-rural, farmlike Eastside of the 1930s. "I've never been an extravagant person," he says, quickly adding, "I have what I desire.". I dont want them to feel like they cant speak.. The extent of Colacurcio's involvement in the nightclub industry may never be known. Not a good move for an old con on parole. 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. 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. He was 93. 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. Each year, the council reviewed the moratorium. She wont leave. "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. As a result, Babes, like the well-patrolled Papagayos, went you-know-what up. His son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., also pleaded guilty to these charges. This political involvement meant persuading his friends and associates to donate the maximum limit to city council candidates. Owner of new Georgetown strip club denies ties to Colacurcio FBI Frank Colacurcio Jr. Sentenced to Prison in Strip Club Case Wills also did not disclose that she had met with Rossellini before the vote. [4] By age 18, he had opened his first trucking company. He was a subject of ongoing federal investigations into organized crime in the city and was suspected of being an organized crime boss. He spied on the girls, on the office help, watching people have sex. I mean, this is the scariest thing thats ever happened to me. We've all done things that weren't right up to kosher.". 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 . Despite city prohibitions, the corrupt practices were tolerated by cops who profited through kickbacks and payoffs (a First Avenue bar operator today says he still has this tendency, when spying a beat cop walking through his door, to put a paper sack full of cash on the bar as he did in the 1960s, and tell the officer, Lunch.) Mr. Colacurcio had been in declining health for some time, suffering from congestive heart failure. Look at the money theyre throwing at him. He liked the setting, the quiet. Hiring agency president, general manager and bookkeeper, high ranking member. Bios of the six men indicted | The Seattle Times Frank said the sex was consensual, the girl was just trying to get him to marry her. Ann Forbes, also of Consolidated, maxed out to Wills in the spring of 2001. Crime family based in Seattle, Washington. Rosellini was not charged in the investigation. "To tell you the truth, my memory's really hazy. Colacurcio Family, Seattle - GangsterBB.NET [6] He served more than a year at the Monroe State Reformatory (now known as the Washington State Reformatory). 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. 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. 2003 epilogue: Frank Colacurcio Sr. was eventually released from prison, is retired, lives in Seattle, and fishes in Alaska regularly. ", 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. The strip clubs run by this organization include Ricks in Seattle, Foxs in Parkland, Pierce County, Honeys in Everett and Sugars in Shoreline. In 1981, U.S. prosecutors charged him with skimming profits from the Brass Tiger in Federal Way and the Bavarian Gardens in Factoria. Mary Engrav answered Emergency Medicine 32 years experience. [4] In 1957, Colacurcio began working with Portland crime figure James "Big Jim" Elkins to open prostitution houses in Portland. Wills even told The Stranger, almost laughing, that, "The Dej Vu guy [Forbes] maxes out to every council member every year, right around the moratorium. 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. It ended much like it began-with some girl calling the cops. Frank Colacurcio Jr - Stratford, Connecticut, United States His son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., also pleaded guilty. 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. No problem, said the judge. Frankie lives with his wife and 14-year-old daughter in Arlington, Snohomish County, drives a 1991 Corvette and collects muscle . Shira Cole has been out of the dancing business for three years. A parade of police and officials were linked to an illegal gambling/payoff system in Seattle bars and bingo parlors. 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. Frank Colacurcio Obituary (1949 - 2020) - Newtown, CT - Connecticut Post Frank quit school in the eighth grade and became a truck farmer. COLACURCIO, JR. agreed to forfeit the Talents West building at 8600 Lake City Way, admitting it was used as part . He complained the feds had it in for him, and they did. Frank Francis Jr. is called Frankie. He stroked it like a golf club on the customers head and back. Frank Colacurcio Sr., the 92-year-old patriarch of a local strip-club operation, joined his son and four associates in federal court in . Now, I know that for many of you long-time Seattleites, you already remember Strippergate. In 1988, Sam pleaded guilty to profit skimming, Daniel pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigation by providing false information to investigators and prosecutors, and Patrick Colacurcio pleaded guilty to attempted trafficking in stolen property, all related to the operation of topless bars in Arizona. For less than a million dollars, you can own the home of deceased organized crime boss, Frank Colacurcio.