Frank Colacurcio Jr. back to helping run Seattle strip club
Frank Colacurcio Jr., son of a notorious organized-crime figure, says an insistent friend convinced him to return to the adult-entertainment scene, just weeks after the conditions of his latest criminal conviction in a federal racketeering and prostitution case had lapsed.
By Lewis Kamb and Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporters
January 17, 2015
Frank Jr.jpg
Just when he thought he was out, she pulled him back in.
Frank Colacurcio Jr. says an insistent friend convinced him to return to Seattle’s adult-entertainment scene, just weeks after the conditions of his latest criminal conviction in a federal racketeering and prostitution case had lapsed.
The son of one of the most notorious organized-crime figures in Seattle history candidly admits that after his stint in federal prison, his attempts to change careers — and his life’s direction — flopped.
No one would hire him because of his criminal record, Colacurcio said.
And so, following what he called a “nice four-year break,” Colacurcio said he recently agreed to work as a consultant at a business that’s all too familiar to the Colacurcio family legacy: a strip club.
“At times, I ask myself, why did I get back (and) agree to this?” Colacurcio Jr. said during an interview last week at Kittens Cabaret in Georgetown.
From behind his desk, Colacurcio added, “I didn’t know if I wanted to be involved in this type of business in any capacity.”
But when Kittens owner Michelle Ebert persisted in seeking his help, Colacurcio said he relented six weeks ago.
These days, “Junior“ spends his time in the dimly lit club along gritty Fourth Avenue South, providing a range of professional expertise to boost the struggling business amid Seattle’s increasingly competitive adult-entertainment industry.
He’s recommended changing the paint color on the club walls, altering its stage lighting and upgrading the music. He also lends a hand interviewing prospective dancers, he said.
“I sit here, give her (Ebert) advice on different aspects of the business that they had wrong originally,” Colacurcio said. “Originally, they had all these TVs hung up everywhere. And what’s the reason to have TVs in an adult nightclub?”
But Colacurcio emphasized that his role is only temporary, and he claimed he’s not getting paid a dime.
“I just wanted to be a consultant, and I would do that in my spare time,” he said.
The 53-year-old’s new role at Kittens might have gone unnoticed, if it weren’t for his name.
A target of law enforcement for decades, the Colacurcio syndicate — with Frank Sr. at the helm — at one time was alleged to run criminal rackets out of strip clubs in multiple states. In more recent years, father and son and their longtime business partners ran four strip clubs in the Seattle area.
In 2009, following a two-year undercover FBI probe, a grand jury indicted both Colacurcios and four associates. The indictments alleged the group conspired to use the clubs as fronts for prostitution and money laundering.
A year later, after his 93-year-old father died while still under indictment, Colacurcio Jr. struck a plea deal to serve a year and a day in prison. He also agreed to forfeit cash and properties collectively valued at $9 million.
As part of his sentence, Colacurcio also was banned from participating in any adult-entertainment enterprise in Washington for three years following his release from prison. But that condition ended this fall.
Last week, during a slow weekday afternoon at Kittens, Colacurcio Jr. greeted two Seattle Times reporters who arrived unannounced. He invited them into a disheveled office where he explained he has no stake in the club’s ownership or finances.
But the club’s lineage traces to the Colacurcio organization. Ebert, the owner, is the former wife of David Ebert — one of Colacurcio Sr.’s closest associates and a co-defendant in the 2009 federal racketeering indictments.
David Ebert, who was sentenced to five years’ probation, remains banned for that period from adult-entertainment work in Washington state.
Shortly after divorcing David Ebert in 2013, Michelle Ebert opened Kittens.
Michelle Ebert, who said she worked as a dancer for 10 years at the then-Colacurcio-owned Rick’s strip club on Lake City Way, said bringing “Junior” in as an adviser was a no-brainer.
“If we’re going to hire someone, we’re going to hire the best,” she said.
His role with the business, Colacurcio Jr. said, is to help make it viable.
“It’s been open for a year now and she’s gone through a couple of people before me, who have made drastic mistakes,” he said.
Word of Colacurcio’s recent return to the family business drew little response from federal authorities. “Since Frank Colacurcio Jr.’s term of supervised release is complete, we would not have any comment on his activities,” Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, said last week.
Colacurcio said he was hesitant to take the Kittens job, but his criminal record prevented him from landing work at UPS and other warehouse-related businesses. He’d studied for that career change, he said, following his release in 2011 from the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.
Colacurcio’s inability to land a warehouse job led to “very, very lean years,” during which he said he lost his Seattle house to foreclosure. His father’s estate, he said, is tied up in probate and produced little money.
When Michelle Ebert continued to seek his help, Colacurcio said, he finally agreed to advise her on her strip club.
“I was looking for a job where it was a nonthinking job,” Colacurcio said.
Kittens, he noted, is operating legally.
Managers, he said, keep a close watch on the dancers, including in the VIP room — a private area similar to those that led to prostitution and lewd-conduct problems at Colacurcio’s former clubs.
Like at those clubs, the dancers at Kittens are considered independent contractors, who pay $40 or $75 to work a shift, depending on the time of day. Dancers work to make back their money and any profit from table dances that cost $15 on the main floor and $20 in the VIP room.
Slim business can provide an incentive for dancers to offer illegal acts for extra tips. But Colacurcio insisted that prostitution is not tolerated at Kittens, where customers are charged a $10 cover fee.
Colacurcio acknowledged his tolerant attitude about such illegal acts at his former clubs contributed to the federal prosecution.
“Did I have knowledge of prostitution? I admitted that, yes, I did. Did I make mistakes as far as giving girls second chances? Yes, I did. So the government was right, you know,” Colacurcio said.
“If it were any other person of any other name,” he added. “I think the charges would have been less and it would have been more of a local charge than a federal charge.”
Now living in Snohomish County with his third wife, Colacurcio said he is living off the proceeds of a confidential financial settlement with his former business partners.
Sometimes, he said, he drives past the former offices of Talents West, the onetime headquarters of the Colacurcio organization, off Lake City Way. Seized and sold in the federal case, the building now houses a medical-marijuana dispensary operating under the state’s relaxed pot laws.
“I think it’s kind of funny,” Colacurcio said. “Here the government takes the building because of illegal activity and then they put something in there that is still federally illegal ... Can you explain how that works, now?”
Colacurcio insisted that David Ebert is not a secret owner of Kittens, an old tactic Frank Sr. employed to shield his role from investigators.
“If David were involved here, I wouldn’t offer to help, and I don’t mean that to sound bad toward David. All of us wanted our separate ways,” said Colacurcio.
David Ebert, reached in Arizona, where he now lives, said he is not involved in Kittens. “I’m retired. It’s too much work,” he said.
Michelle Ebert, who also manages a bar and grill next door to Kittens, separately said her ex-husband isn’t involved in her strip club. She added that her plan with Colacurcio is to eventually expand operations.
“We’d like to open up three clubs,” she said.
Colacurcio said he doesn’t fear scrutiny by the feds or local cops.
“Hopefully, they pay to come in and be customers,” he quipped. “We could use a lot more of those down here. But no, I’m not concerned because I’m not doing anything wrong.”
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/ ... rnxml.html
[b]Frank Colacurcio Jr. back to helping run Seattle strip club
Frank Colacurcio Jr., son of a notorious organized-crime figure, says an insistent friend convinced him to return to the adult-entertainment scene, just weeks after the conditions of his latest criminal conviction in a federal racketeering and prostitution case had lapsed.
By Lewis Kamb and Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporters
January 17, 2015[/b]
[attachment=0]Frank Jr.jpg[/attachment]
Just when he thought he was out, she pulled him back in.
Frank Colacurcio Jr. says an insistent friend convinced him to return to Seattle’s adult-entertainment scene, just weeks after the conditions of his latest criminal conviction in a federal racketeering and prostitution case had lapsed.
The son of one of the most notorious organized-crime figures in Seattle history candidly admits that after his stint in federal prison, his attempts to change careers — and his life’s direction — flopped.
No one would hire him because of his criminal record, Colacurcio said.
And so, following what he called a “nice four-year break,” Colacurcio said he recently agreed to work as a consultant at a business that’s all too familiar to the Colacurcio family legacy: a strip club.
“At times, I ask myself, why did I get back (and) agree to this?” Colacurcio Jr. said during an interview last week at Kittens Cabaret in Georgetown.
From behind his desk, Colacurcio added, “I didn’t know if I wanted to be involved in this type of business in any capacity.”
But when Kittens owner Michelle Ebert persisted in seeking his help, Colacurcio said he relented six weeks ago.
These days, “Junior“ spends his time in the dimly lit club along gritty Fourth Avenue South, providing a range of professional expertise to boost the struggling business amid Seattle’s increasingly competitive adult-entertainment industry.
He’s recommended changing the paint color on the club walls, altering its stage lighting and upgrading the music. He also lends a hand interviewing prospective dancers, he said.
“I sit here, give her (Ebert) advice on different aspects of the business that they had wrong originally,” Colacurcio said. “Originally, they had all these TVs hung up everywhere. And what’s the reason to have TVs in an adult nightclub?”
But Colacurcio emphasized that his role is only temporary, and he claimed he’s not getting paid a dime.
“I just wanted to be a consultant, and I would do that in my spare time,” he said.
The 53-year-old’s new role at Kittens might have gone unnoticed, if it weren’t for his name.
A target of law enforcement for decades, the Colacurcio syndicate — with Frank Sr. at the helm — at one time was alleged to run criminal rackets out of strip clubs in multiple states. In more recent years, father and son and their longtime business partners ran four strip clubs in the Seattle area.
In 2009, following a two-year undercover FBI probe, a grand jury indicted both Colacurcios and four associates. The indictments alleged the group conspired to use the clubs as fronts for prostitution and money laundering.
A year later, after his 93-year-old father died while still under indictment, Colacurcio Jr. struck a plea deal to serve a year and a day in prison. He also agreed to forfeit cash and properties collectively valued at $9 million.
As part of his sentence, Colacurcio also was banned from participating in any adult-entertainment enterprise in Washington for three years following his release from prison. But that condition ended this fall.
Last week, during a slow weekday afternoon at Kittens, Colacurcio Jr. greeted two Seattle Times reporters who arrived unannounced. He invited them into a disheveled office where he explained he has no stake in the club’s ownership or finances.
But the club’s lineage traces to the Colacurcio organization. Ebert, the owner, is the former wife of David Ebert — one of Colacurcio Sr.’s closest associates and a co-defendant in the 2009 federal racketeering indictments.
David Ebert, who was sentenced to five years’ probation, remains banned for that period from adult-entertainment work in Washington state.
Shortly after divorcing David Ebert in 2013, Michelle Ebert opened Kittens.
Michelle Ebert, who said she worked as a dancer for 10 years at the then-Colacurcio-owned Rick’s strip club on Lake City Way, said bringing “Junior” in as an adviser was a no-brainer.
“If we’re going to hire someone, we’re going to hire the best,” she said.
His role with the business, Colacurcio Jr. said, is to help make it viable.
“It’s been open for a year now and she’s gone through a couple of people before me, who have made drastic mistakes,” he said.
Word of Colacurcio’s recent return to the family business drew little response from federal authorities. “Since Frank Colacurcio Jr.’s term of supervised release is complete, we would not have any comment on his activities,” Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, said last week.
Colacurcio said he was hesitant to take the Kittens job, but his criminal record prevented him from landing work at UPS and other warehouse-related businesses. He’d studied for that career change, he said, following his release in 2011 from the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac.
Colacurcio’s inability to land a warehouse job led to “very, very lean years,” during which he said he lost his Seattle house to foreclosure. His father’s estate, he said, is tied up in probate and produced little money.
When Michelle Ebert continued to seek his help, Colacurcio said, he finally agreed to advise her on her strip club.
“I was looking for a job where it was a nonthinking job,” Colacurcio said.
Kittens, he noted, is operating legally.
Managers, he said, keep a close watch on the dancers, including in the VIP room — a private area similar to those that led to prostitution and lewd-conduct problems at Colacurcio’s former clubs.
Like at those clubs, the dancers at Kittens are considered independent contractors, who pay $40 or $75 to work a shift, depending on the time of day. Dancers work to make back their money and any profit from table dances that cost $15 on the main floor and $20 in the VIP room.
Slim business can provide an incentive for dancers to offer illegal acts for extra tips. But Colacurcio insisted that prostitution is not tolerated at Kittens, where customers are charged a $10 cover fee.
Colacurcio acknowledged his tolerant attitude about such illegal acts at his former clubs contributed to the federal prosecution.
“Did I have knowledge of prostitution? I admitted that, yes, I did. Did I make mistakes as far as giving girls second chances? Yes, I did. So the government was right, you know,” Colacurcio said.
“If it were any other person of any other name,” he added. “I think the charges would have been less and it would have been more of a local charge than a federal charge.”
Now living in Snohomish County with his third wife, Colacurcio said he is living off the proceeds of a confidential financial settlement with his former business partners.
Sometimes, he said, he drives past the former offices of Talents West, the onetime headquarters of the Colacurcio organization, off Lake City Way. Seized and sold in the federal case, the building now houses a medical-marijuana dispensary operating under the state’s relaxed pot laws.
“I think it’s kind of funny,” Colacurcio said. “Here the government takes the building because of illegal activity and then they put something in there that is still federally illegal ... Can you explain how that works, now?”
Colacurcio insisted that David Ebert is not a secret owner of Kittens, an old tactic Frank Sr. employed to shield his role from investigators.
“If David were involved here, I wouldn’t offer to help, and I don’t mean that to sound bad toward David. All of us wanted our separate ways,” said Colacurcio.
David Ebert, reached in Arizona, where he now lives, said he is not involved in Kittens. “I’m retired. It’s too much work,” he said.
Michelle Ebert, who also manages a bar and grill next door to Kittens, separately said her ex-husband isn’t involved in her strip club. She added that her plan with Colacurcio is to eventually expand operations.
“We’d like to open up three clubs,” she said.
Colacurcio said he doesn’t fear scrutiny by the feds or local cops.
“Hopefully, they pay to come in and be customers,” he quipped. “We could use a lot more of those down here. But no, I’m not concerned because I’m not doing anything wrong.”
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2025487642_colacurcioreturnxml.html