Council donations linked to strip clubs

Seattle strip-club magnate Frank Colacurcio Jr. and his associates have taken a sudden interest in city politics, donating at least $34,500 to three Seattle City Council incumbents who supported a rezone favorable to one of Colacurcio's clubs.

Most of the contributions went to Councilwoman Judy Nicastro, who has received at least $19,400 in donations from Colacurcio and his associates for her re-election bid. Much of that came in last month, when Nicastro raised almost $52,000 — an amount she touted as a single-month council fund-raising record. Contributors include more than 20 Colacurcio-affiliated attorneys, bookkeepers, business partners, strip-club managers, and longtime friends and their relatives. One donation even came from an El Paso, Texas, strip-club owner who could not recall Nicastro's name.

Colacurcio Jr., 41, is the son of 86-year-old Frank Colacurcio Sr., for four decades the head of a sprawling network of strip clubs that once spanned at least 10 states. Both father and son have spent time in prison for evading taxes on cash skimmed from the clubs.

In addition to Nicastro, Councilwoman Heidi Wills has received $8,650 from Colacurcio Jr. and his allies, and Councilman Jim Compton has received $6,500.

The donations are remarkable by city-election standards, which cap individual contributions at $650. They dwarf recent contributions by political heavy hitters, including Boeing and Vulcan, billionaire Paul Allen's development company.

All of the money came in before the council's June 16 vote approving a rezone for Rick's, a Colacurcio-owned strip club in Lake City.

The three council members said they weren't aware of how many of the donations were linked to the younger Colacurcio and insisted their votes in favor of rezoning were not influenced by the donations.

The rezone, which went against the recommendations of the city land-use department and a hearing examiner, granted the club more parking. Just two days after it was approved, Rick's received a city permit for an $185,000 expansion that will increase the club's size by a half, according to city records.

Council members said they were unaware of the expansion plans when they voted 5-4 to approve the rezone.

The Seattle Times was able to connect the donations to the Colacurcios through interviews, public records and law-enforcement sources.

Many of the people who contributed had not done so in the past, and when interviewed, some had a hard time recalling the names of the candidates.

Dean Reiber, a longtime Colacurcio associate who owns a topless nightclub and talent agency in El Paso, donated $650 to Nicastro in November.

But when Reiber was asked if he could recall the name of the councilwoman, he paused.

"You're making me think," he said.

Unable to come up with Nicastro's name, he finally recognized it when told her name.

Reiber said although he doesn't live in Seattle or have any business interests in the city, he was drawn to Nicastro because of her "good ideas and good attitude."

Asked what ideas he liked, he said, "I shouldn't use the word ideas. I should say her energy."

Reiber said he decided to donate to Nicastro after attending a fund-raiser for her in November. He said his memory was fuzzy on who invited him, but that it might have been Frank Colacurcio Jr., a longtime friend and financial partner in a strip club in Tacoma.

Walter Dauber, a retired Yakima lawyer who donated $650 to Nicastro June 7, grew angry and hung up on a reporter when asked whether he knew her name. A 1984 report prepared by King County police on the Colacurcio organization describes Dauber as having done legal work in Yakima for Colacurcio interests in the past.

Howard Schwartz, a lawyer in Dauber's old firm who donated $650 to Nicastro the same day, said he knows the Colacurcios but said he "wasn't exactly sure" who encouraged him to contribute. He, too, had trouble remembering Nicastro's name, giving an approximation when asked.

Richard Bartheld, a third lawyer with the firm, also gave $650 on the same day — Nicastro's biggest fund-raising day, when she reported $25,000 in donations.

Nicastro, who has amassed a campaign war chest of $144,000, said many people support her because she is known as a "independent and feisty." Elected in 1999 as an advocate for renters and the poor, Nicastro has often railed against big-money interests.

Nicastro said she favors public financing of campaigns but said given the current set of rules, she wants to raise as much money as possible.

"I accept all legal contributions from legal businesses," Nicastro said. "I don't know who is connected to Frank (Colacurcio) and who is not. I've been learning about that from the press."

Nicastro said if she learns any of the donations were improper, she will return them.

But she defended her vote on the rezone, noting it came with conditions to protect neighbors from rowdy conduct and noise. The club must hire a parking-lot attendant and put up a new fence as a condition of the rezone.

Nicastro, as chair of the council's land-use committee, helped to move along the rezone application.

Wills and Compton said they did not know that several of the people who donated to their campaigns were connected with Colacurcio Jr.

"I don't run a background check on all my donors," Compton said.

Wills and Nicastro said they count former Gov. Al Rosellini as a supporter and that he has hosted fund-raisers that Colacurcio Jr. may have attended. Rosellini owns a gas station adjacent to Rick's, and supported Colacurcio Jr.'s bid for the rezone in documents filed with the city. That gas station was recently cited by the city for providing illegal parking for Rick's at night.

Rosellini, governor from 1957 to 1965, could not be reached for comment.

'Straight shooter'

In an interview at Talents West, his Lake City agency that hires nude dancers, Colacurcio Jr., contended that his recent surge in political donations isn't so strange. He said he's always been a strong supporter of Democrats.

"I've always told everyone, including strangers on the street, you should vote — vote Democrat," said Colacurcio Jr., sitting Wednesday afternoon at a massive desk littered with a wad of cash and a plate of steak and eggs.

Colacurcio Jr. said he was particularly impressed with Nicastro, whom he described as "a blunt person, straight to the point — a straight shooter."

Colacurcio Jr., who lives in a $1.6 million Kirkland home, said he had been seeking the Rick's rezone for years but said he doubted the recent contributions had any influence on it.

"I wish life were so simple. It would make life easier, but no," he said.

Colacurcio Jr. said he didn't know why so many people associated with his family all gave money to Seattle candidates at the same time.

"My memory is short-lived on these things," he said.

Betty Howard, the bookkeeper at Talents West, said she contributed of her own volition, as she does for other candidates.

"I'm a big girl. I am 68 years old. I make my own decisions," she said.

Among longtime Colacurcio business associates who also contributed are LeRoy Christiansen, Steve Fueston, Phil McKibben and Gil Conte.

Gil Levy, a Seattle attorney who represents Colacurcio Jr., said he encouraged his client to become politically involved.

"A business of that nature doesn't get much protection from the courts anymore," Levy said, referring to decisions upholding restrictions on the conduct of nude dancers.

"So the only way they can protect themselves is like any other heavily regulated industry — to get involved in the political process," he said.

Colacurcio Jr. closed two clubs in Bellevue in the 1990s after the city passed an adult-entertainment ordinance that eliminated lap dancing by requiring dancers to stay at least 4 feet from customers.

The state Supreme Court upheld the ordinance, bolstering other cities, including Federal Way, Kent and Shoreline, that also enacted similar ordinances.

Colacurcio Jr., who has ties to Sugar's nightclub in Shoreline, financed a failed effort in 1998 to change Shoreline's government to a form he hoped would be kinder to nude dancing.

Levy said there is no connection between the restrictions enacted outside Seattle, which still allow lap dancing, and the spate of contributions to the Seattle council members.

Levy said publicity over the Rick's rezone and the contributions was unfortunate.

"I think it's going to embarrass some council members that I really like and believe in," he said. "But it also seems designed to suggest that there is something bad or wrong about my clients making campaign contributions, as opposed to campaign contributions that other people make."

The Colacurcio name has reverberated in the cash-rich world of strip clubs for nearly four decades. At one time, the Colacurcios dominated the strip-club industry in the Puget Sound area and were financing clubs in Alaska, Arizona, Texas, Oregon and New Mexico.

Tax evasion, racketeering

But the network dwindled under pressure from law enforcement, which included a string of convictions for income-tax evasion and racketeering.

Frank Colacurcio Sr., has been in and out of federal prison four times in the last 35 years, primarily for tax evasion. He was also convicted in 1971 of racketeering for bringing illegal bingo cards into the state.

During the bingo-card trial, federal attorneys exposed Colacurcio Sr.'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.

In 1991, Colacurcio Sr. pleaded guilty to two counts of preparing false income-tax returns in 1984. His son pleaded guilty to a single felony tax charge. Prosecutors said the Colacurcios had skimmed profits at two Alaska topless bars.

Colacurcio Sr. was sentenced to 2-½ years in prison, Colacurcio Jr. to 179 days in prison.

The terms of his 1991 conviction banished Colacurcio Sr. from operating adult-entertainment clubs, but Colacurcio Jr. was allowed to run clubs once he was released. Father still provides advice to son, however, and both can be regularly found at Talents West.

In 1995, Colacurcio Sr. was ordered back to prison for three years when a federal judge revoked his probation in the Alaska tax-fraud case for fondling a young woman applying for a job at a nude-dance club.

Colacurcio Jr. said he currently owns Rick's, Honey's in Snohomish County, Fox's in Tacoma and the property where Sugar's operates in Shoreline.

He said he will continue to support council members, particularly Nicastro.

"I like her because she doesn't sit on the fence. She says what she believes," he said.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com

Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com