Cosa Nostra News

Frank Colacurcio Sr. The Seattle Times  reports that a vacant building on Aurora Ave.in Shoreline that was "the cornerstone of a criminal enterprise" is now a church some five years after the indictment of its former criminal owners. "Formerly Sugar’s nightclub, the building was once a strip club, a haven for prostitution and the front of a racketeering operation owned by the notorious Colacurcio family," the report notes. But this "organized crime" group seems relatively benign, focusing on gambling and strip clubs that offered TLC on the side (prostitution).

The Italian Cosa Nostra and Russian Mafia together allegedly smuggled Eastern European women into New York to work in high-end strip clubs — and even arranged sham marriages to keep some of them here. The women were recruited via Facebook and newspaper ads. Twenty suspects, including seven reputed Gambino and Bonanno mobsters, were arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court on charges ranging from racketeering to visa fraud. The schemers allegedly recruited women in Russia and neighboring countries through Facebook and newspaper ads to work as strippers.