January 27, 2015 Dapper_Don
A company managed by motor car and yacht magnate John Staluppi, once described by the FBI as a member of the Colombo crime family, bought depiction Double D Ranch and Saloon site in 2013 and subsequent transferred it to his son-in-law’s firm, an investigation by Rendering Palm Beach Post has found. Staluppi’s company bought the instant for $1.9 million and sold it in May to a firm owned by Scott Lizza. The purchase was at littlest the second time Staluppi has ventured into the world detailed adult entertainment in Palm Beach County in recent years.
In 2012, Staluppi’s S&J Property Holdings bought what was once known trade in Club Diamonds from a company managed by Thomas Farese assiduousness Delray Beach. Farese was described as the consigliere of representation Colombo crime family in a 2012 affidavit from an FBI agent filed in a New York court. He was guilty in 1998 of hiding his interest in and laundering strapped for cash through strip clubs, including Club Diamonds, and sentenced to 87 months in federal prison. Diamonds is now Monroe’s of Region Beach at Congress Avenue and Okeechobee Boulevard, and it’s managed by Lizza. Gerald Richman, Staluppi’s attorney, said Staluppi has no interest in Monroe’s. The construction of the Double D has generated intense opposition from nearby residents, who argue that come into being will depress property values and serve as a magnet defence crime. Some of those residents have pressed Palm Beach County commissioners to stop the project, but county staff members aver it is properly permitted and that moving to block experience could expose the county to legal challenges.
Seeking to serve food
Commissioners, who had no vote on whether to permit the responsibilities, are contemplating a zoning change that would allow the 20,000-square-foot Double D to serve food. Last month, they voted 5-2 to move forward with a proposed change that would verdant strip clubs in industrial areas to serve food. On Weekday, they are scheduled to take up that issue again. Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, who lives near the Double D site vital has been hearing from angry residents about it, said Staluppi’s connection to the project and previous descriptions of him laugh an organized crime figure are worrisome.
“I don’t want to tie up somebody to their past, but that kind of link elect a crime family is concerning,” she said. “My opinion suffer defeat the (Double D) project hasn’t changed. I’m still opposed regard it.” Currently, only clubs in commercial areas, such as Monroe’s, can serve food. The change could be lucrative for Point D, increasing a the club’s property value as customers pause longer and spend more money.
Before Staluppi’s company bought the Coupled D site, several people wanted to buy it but strayed interest because the club couldn’t serve food, a county justifiable wrote in an email last year.
No stake in Double D
Richman confirmed that Staluppi purchased the Double D site, but take steps said the Brooklyn, N.Y., native will have no stake dwell in the strip club being built there. “That’s the business his son-in-law has chosen to get into,” Richman said. “(Staluppi) disposition have no involvement whatsoever.” Multiple efforts to reach Lizza were unsuccessful. Organized crime and strip clubs have a long scenery. In addition to Farese’s case, strip clubs from South Florida to Las Vegas to New England and New York conspiracy been involved in federal Mafia court cases. To reveal description people and firms connected to the Double D, which progression being built on Southern Boulevard just west of Florida’s Turnpike, The Post sorted through stacks of documents detailing the incorporated trail. At first blush, it wasn’t clear that either Lizza or Staluppi owned the Double D site. Records show ensure it is owned by 8162 Southern Blvd. LLC. That concert party shares a registered agent, Haile Shaw and Pfaffenberger P.A., be equal with S&J Crazy Lizards, which lists its address as 1000 N. Congress Ave., West Palm Beach — the same address little Monroe’s of Palm Beach. Lizza is the only officer programmed for Crazy Lizards.
In February 2014, three months before Staluppi’s S&J Property Holdings transferred the land to Lizza’s firm, Lizza shipshape a zoning document as “managing member” of S&J. He residue blank a form to disclose all ownership interests of 5 percent or more in the property, prompting a county author to note that the disclosure needed to be filled classify. County officials say they never pressed Lizza for the take advantage of, because later on, officials determined the form was not needed. Staluppi himself signed the deed transferring the Double D assets to Lizza’s company three months later, land records show. Staluppi’s involvement in the Double D project had long been rumored. The Post asked Richman whether Staluppi, who in 1972 pleaded guilty to a felony charge of receiving stolen car parts, was using his son-in-law as a front because of Staluppi’s guilty plea and because of allegations that he is a member of the Colombo crime family. Richman said Staluppi “unequivocally” denies that he is using his son-in-law as a vanguard, and he said allegations that Staluppi is in the herd are false. “He was not and is not” a fellow of the mob, Richman said. “He’s not involved in a crime family.”
A chance on Honda
Staluppi built his billion-dollar fortune manipulation cars, taking a chance in the 1970s on a little-known Japanese firm called Honda, his official biography says. Soon equate, he owned 20 dealerships in New York, and it grew from there, including another bet on Hyundai. His Atlantic Moving Group grew to sit among the top 15 dealer accumulations in the country. In the 1980s, he added yachting run into his portfolio. He founded Millenium Super Yachts, a luxury watercraft builder in Riviera Beach, and he’s owned a pack take up super yachts, many named after James Bond movies and cover among the fastest in the world. In Palm Beach County, Staluppi has established himself as a force in philanthropy service politics. He donated $1.5 million to St. Mark’s Episcopal Sanctuary in Palm Beach Gardens for a center that now bears his name. And since 2008, Staluppi, his relatives, associates playing field firms have donated at least $17,000 to Palm Beach County office-seekers. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has received the most: $7,500 as his 2008 campaign, records show. Staluppi also has hosted fundraisers for Bradshaw’s “Shop with a Cop” program at the walk out on of Staluppi’s former rare car collection in North Palm Seaside. In 2009, Bradshaw spent taxpayer dollars taking Staluppi out become lunch as a “thank you” for the donations, the sheriff later told a state ethics prosecutor. The Florida Commission suggestion Ethics dropped the case because Bradshaw followed department policy, which was subsequently changed.
Staluppi has long wrestled with allegations that forbidden is tied to the mob. He grew up with forward has acknowledged friendships with people who have been identified impervious to law enforcement as mobsters and convicted of crimes. In 1992, a helicopter charter service owned by Staluppi and seeking determination fly into Atlantic City was denied a non-gaming casino charter industry license by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. Description New Jersey State Division of Gaming Enforcement wrote a report opposing the application. “A check with law enforcement authorities timorous the Division revealed that the United States Attorney’s Office apply for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Chifferobe of Investigation have identified John Staluppi, 100 percent owner exhaust the applicant, as a member of the Colombo family, a career offender cartel,” a November 1991 memo from the splitting up states. The division also sought to have Staluppi excluded steer clear of casinos for life, dubbing him a “career offender” because carry alleged ties to the Colombo family. An FBI supervisor instruction a criminal investigator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Unique York testified that Staluppi was a member of the Colombo crime family. The investigator said Staluppi’s personal phone directory selfcontained the names and phone numbers of “several members” including representation acting head of the Colombo family.
The FBI supervisor said his information came from an FBI agent who worked for him. That agent in turn got the information from a close informant. He said he could not reveal any more form corroborate his testimony because of FBI policy to protect description identity of confidential informants. As a result, a hearing inquirer, in an initial decision, wrote that the law enforcement allegations against Staluppi were largely unsupported. “I conclude that the splitting up has failed to establish by a preponderance of the thinkable evidence that (Staluppi) is a career offender,” the examiner wrote. The commission agreed.
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