Seattle – from www.komonews.com – Seattle strip club operator Frank Colacurcio Jr. was sentenced Friday in federal court to a year-and-a-day in prison on a racketeering conviction.

The 48-year-old had pleaded guilty in June in an agreement with federal prosecutors.

“It appears you followed in the footsteps of your father your entire life,” said U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones.

“You are at a crossroads right now in what you do in your life. It is up to you, depending on your conduct, to ensure there is no sequel.”

Jones said Colacurcio Jr. was “on the radar screen of the government,” and noted that prosecutors would not hesitate to ask that Colacurcio Jr. be sent back to prison if he violated the terms of his supervised release.

Federal prosecutors said this is the final chapter in a long running criminal enterprise. Authorities seized and closed four strip clubs in May: Rick’s in the Lake City neighborhood of Seattle, Sugar’s in Shoreline, Honey’s near Everett and Fox’s in Parkland. Investigators said dancers performed sex acts with customers.

Last year prosecutors charged Colacurcio and his father Frank Colacurcio Sr. and four associates. The associates pleaded guilty and were sentenced to probation. Colacurcio Sr. died in July at 93.

from www.seattlepi.com – The son of deceased Seattle strip club mogul Frank Colacurcio Sr. was sentenced to a year in prison Friday to charges related to a years-long prostitution and racketeering probe.

Having pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering in June, Frank Colacurcio Jr. was sentenced in accordance with a plea agreement. Four other men associated with his father’s strip club chain previously were sentenced to probation; Frank Colacurcio Sr, died shortly after his 93rd birthday while under federal indictment.

Entering the plea following lengthy negotiations, Frank Colacurcio Jr. joined four other men associated with his father who’ve pleaded guilty to federal charges related to allegations of prostitution at the Seattle-area strip club chain.

Unlike the other men, Colacurcio Jr. has agreed to serve a one-year prison term as part of the plea deal, which saw several charges against him dropped in exchange for Friday’s admission of guilt. He’s also been ordered to forfeit $1.3 million and ownership stakes in several properties, including the Talents West office in Seattle’s Maple Leaf neighborhood.

In an indictment filed in June 2009, federal prosecutors accused Frank Colacurcio Sr., his son and four others of racketeering, using interstate commerce to facilitate prostitution, money laundering and mail fraud. Until Friday, Colacurcio and his son were the only remaining defendants.

At issue are allegations that the strip clubs — Rick’s, Sugar’s in Shoreline, Honey’s in Everett and Fox’s in Tacoma — were used as fronts for prostitution that allegedly garnered the men $25 million in the four years preceding the indictment. Each of the clubs has since been closed as part of a plea agreement struck by the other defendants.

The indictment followed a six-year investigation that culminated in June 2008 with raids by Seattle police and federal agents on the clubs and Talents West, a Colacurcio-owned agency that hires dancers for the clubs. Federal prosecutors have interviewed more than 200 witnesses and reviewed hours of recorded phone calls, surveillance video and intercepts from listening devices placed in several Colacurcio businesses.

In April, three close associates of the Colacurcios pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to forfeit about $4.5 million worth of real estate in exchange for a binding sentencing recommendation that would see each avoid prison time.

Frank Colacurcio Sr.’s nephew Leroy Richard Christiansen, longtime associate David Carl Ebert and Fox’s manager Steven Michael Fueston pleaded guilty. Christiansen and Ebert pleaded guilty to racketeering in the furtherance of prostitution and money laundering; Fueston pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of conspiracy to commit prostitution near a military base.

Per the plea agreements with Fueston, Ebert and Christiansen, each received five years of probation when sentenced in July. They will not serve jail time unless any violate the conditions set forth in the plea agreement. None of the men was required to testify against the Colacurcios, but each is barred from being involved in the adult entertainment industry in the state.

As part of a plea deal, the strip clubs were forced to close.