Frank Sr.: from modest roots to racketeer

In municipal court, 2005: Colacurcio, then 87, on his way to a hearing stemming from charges that he groped a waitress at Rick's strip club. (KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES)

The early years

1917: Born June 18 in Seattle, the first of nine children of immigrant parents.

1932: Quit school, began farming at age 15 and started a produce-hauling business.

1943: Convicted at age 25 of carnal knowledge with a teenage girl, served 16 months in prison.

Building a business — and a rap sheet

1950s: Entered the jukebox, cigarette and vending machine business, prompting allegations from rivals that he used threats to control the trade.

1957: Labeled a racketeer before a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime.

1962: Held an interest in several bars, restaurants and nightclubs, including a beer garden at the Seattle World's Fair.

1965: Introduced go-go dancing to Seattle at the Firelite Room in downtown Seattle.

1969: Convicted of assaulting a former bartender working as a police informant.

1971: Found guilty of federal racketeering and conspiracy charges stemming from illegal bingo activities; served 25 months in prison. Prosecutors exposed his role in a payoff and extortion system in which police were paid to tolerate illegal gambling.

1974: Convicted of income-tax evasion; overturned on appeal.

The law-enforcement crackdown

1981: Convicted of tax fraud stemming from his strip-club operations in King County; served 2 ½ years in prison.

1984: Subject of a two-day law-enforcement conference in Las Vegas organized by the FBI and attended by investigators from 12 Western states.

1987: Targeted by Arizona authorities, which led to indictments of his relatives for alleged profit-skimming at topless taverns, bribery and money laundering.

1991: Pleaded guilty to tax fraud at Alaska strip clubs; sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison. His son, Frank Colacurcio Jr., also pleaded guilty.

1995: Sent to federal prison for two years after violating probation by fondling a woman applying for a job at one of his clubs.

Pending cases

2005: Found guilty of a misdemeanor, groping a strip-club waitress. Conviction overturned on appeal; case awaiting retrial.

Charged, along with Frank Jr. and two others, with illegally funneling campaign contributions to Seattle City Council candidates; case dismissed on a technicality but reinstated in March by the state Supreme Court.

Sources: Seattle Times archives; The Oregonian; Seattle City Attorney; U.S. Senate transcript

In court, 1958: Colacurcio was accused during this period of threatening rival jukebox operators. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)
At the barber, 1957: Frank Colacurcio Sr., the year he was identified as a racketeer before a U.S. Senate committee investigating organized crime. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)
Out of prison, 1985: Colacurcio, flanked by two associates, returns to Seattle after serving a prison term for engaging in tax fraud. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)
Under pressure, 1969: Colacurcio, about the time he was under investigation for racketeering. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)
In handcuffs, 1973: Colacurcio, escorted by federal marshals, enters the U.S. Courthouse to face tax-evasion charges. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)
Facing charges, 1980: Colacurcio outside the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle, where he was indicted on tax-fraud charges. (SEATTLE TIMES ARCHIVE)