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Dangerous liaisons Strip club events threaten reputations of athletes, leagues
Updated: Wednesday March 28, 2001 7:01 PM
By Art Harris ATLANTA-- Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo are used to being on the basketball court. A few weeks from now, they could be among several professional athletes in another court -- Federal court. Although not charged with any crime, Ewing and Mutombo have been subpoenaed to testify about sexual encounters with dancers at an Atlanta strip club named the Gold Club, a club at the center of an organized crime case. For league officials, it raises the question, were athletes and the mob too close for comfort? "Nothing has been proven yet," says Kevin Hallinan, Major League Baseball's Executive Director of Security. "But certainly what they are suggesting went on in the Gold Club is very, very unattractive to professional sports." The Justice Department says the Gold Club, which takes in millions of dollars every year, was part of a criminal enterprise that involved credit card fraud, skimming cash, money laundering, police corruption and paying protection money to the Gambino organized crime family.
Also at the club, say prosecutors was prostitution between strippers and professional athletes that was often paid for by club owner Steve Kaplan. "Prostitution was one of the key factors about the operations there," U.S. attorney Richard Deane told reporters on November 17, 1999. "In conjunction with those prostitution activities there, it is alleged that celebrities of various sorts and particularly professional athletes were enticed, invited and routinely cajoled to attend the Gold Club." The indictment also charges that club owner Steve Kaplan arranged for strippers to travel to a Charleston, South Carolina hotel in 1997 "to have sex with members of a professional basketball team." The only team there at the time was the New York Knicks, then Patrick Ewing's team. CNN/Sports Illustrated has learned that in addition to Ewing and Mutombo, other present or former athletes who have been subpoenaed in the Gold Club case include Terrell Davis of the Denver Broncos, Jamal Anderson of the Atlanta Falcons and former NBA player Dennis Rodman. Sources say FBI agents also have interviewed a number of other professional athletes who could be called to testify in the Gold Club case. No athlete has been charged with any criminal wrongdoing. As for the athletes under subpoena, they've been identified by witnesses and in court papers as having had sex with Gold Club strippers. An audiotape, obtained by CNN/Sports Illustrated, was secretly recorded by the defense in an attempt to help Kaplan's case. On it, the Gold Club owner's former girlfriend claims she saw Patrick Ewing in a sexual encounter in the club's exclusive Gold Room. "I actually walked into that big Gold Room and Patrick Ewing and all them basketball players were in there," says Deborah Pinson. "Patrick Ewing was getting [oral sex]. I got in so much trouble for that, for walking in that room." Under oath, one defendant, Jana Pelnis, agreed with the prosecutors' charges that Ewing engaged in sex at the club and that Steve Kaplan arranged for payment afterwards. She pleaded guilty and admitted she was paid for having sex with Terrell Davis. Jacklyn Bush was also a nude dancer at the Gold Club. The single mother of three is now a defendant in the case. "I was the best," claims Bush. "I was the top dancer in the Gold Club for the last three years." Her stage name was Diva. When asked whom she entertained, Bush replied, "Oh, professional athletes, movie stars. I've seen lots of people at the Gold Club. I'm not going to name names. They know who they are." But the government claims she did more than just dance nude -- that she performed acts of prostitution, including oral sex with an NBA player, and got paid for it. She denies it. "These are allegations they've got in the indictment which are totally false and I really have no comment on that," says Bush. "I can't speak further on that. It's false." Ewing would not comment on any alleged activities at the Gold Club. Nor would Terrell Davis, Dikembe Mutombo or Jamal Anderson. Dennis Rodman's attorney says his client did nothing wrong. Kaplan, through his attorney Steve Sadow, says sex might well have happened between athletes and nude dancers at his club. But Sadow says Kaplan did not allow any prostitution to take place. "If it is inappropriate and it is noticed or known about, we put an end to it," asserts Sadow. "If it occurred and if it was reported, something is done about it." That's not the way Kaplan's former girlfriend remembers it. "They did f--- those basketball players. And they did f--- those musicians. They did f--- those," Pinson says on the defense audiotape obtained by CNN/Sports Illustrated. When asked on the tape if she thinks it could have been done behind Kaplan's back without his knowledge, Pinson replies, "No. Steve loved it. He reveled in it. He thrived on it." Sadow insists his client is innocent of all the government's charges, including prostitution. "That's what the trial is all about, so we can show those allegations, those claims are inaccurate and false," insists Sadow. "And we have been waiting for over a year now for that opportunity. Bring it on, please!" Sadow says Kaplan was a huge sports fan, who realized star athletes at the Gold Club would not only generate a buzz, but big bucks -- a formula that helped the club ring up $20 million in revenue in its best year. "Steve Kaplan would arrange for celebrities, athletes to receive free drinks, on occasion free dancers, in order to get them to come to the club to have a good time, because it was good for his business," says Sadow. When Federal agents raided the Gold Club in 1999, they seized boxes of credit card receipts. This paper trail, obtained by CNN/Sports Illustrated, reveals that the Gold Club attracted a virtual Who's Who of professional sports. And the Gold Club often picked up the tab for VIPs. It's called comping, and pro athletes were routinely comped. Not unusual or illegal. However in this case, the government says, the red carpet was soiled because Steve Kaplan and the Gold Club are closely linked to organized crime. Especially, says the government, to Michael di Leonardo, also known as Mikey Scars, another defendant in the case. Although he's pleaded not guilty, the government says he's a high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family -- and associated with Steve Kaplan. The government charges that to operate the way he did Steve Kaplan paid protection to the Gambino family. Attorney Sadow replies, "Nonsense. Absolute nonsense." It is this charge, the alleged link between the strip club and the mob, which has league officials concerned. Spokesmen for the NBA and NFL say they are monitoring the Gold Club case. Kevin Hallinan heads security for Major League Baseball. "Comping, obviously, for entertainers and athletes is something that almost comes with the territory," Hallinan says. "What I tell players is that if you're going to be comped, what's happening is that someone has just started a scorebook on you." Hallinan says gambling, especially sports betting, is the lifeblood of organized crime. So any appearance of coziness between players and the mob can hurt pro sports. That's why he's concerned about the Gold Club case. "It is the athlete's worst nightmare, no question about it, and obviously for the league as well. The Gambino family is one of the five New York families and they are very active, very aggressive in what they do," says Hallinan. While there is no evidence any athlete was compromised in the Gold Club case, Hallinan says there's always that potential and adds that organized crime is always looking for ways to put its hooks into pro athletes. Former mobster Michael Franzese once ran gambling for the Colombo crime family and spent 10 years in prison for racketeering. He says strip clubs are ideal settings for mobsters to compromise athletes. "You can exploit an athlete through sex, through booze, through drugs," says Franzese. "Nothing would be more pleasing to them to see an athlete in a compromising position, take a picture or get the girl he might have been with and say, 'Hey! She knows everything you're doing and we're going to tell your wife if you don't hand over $100,000' or $50,000 or whatever the number might be. What's an athlete going to do?" Hallinan says sports leagues are trying to warn players to be careful, in the wake of the Gold Club case. The leagues have even put together a video for players showing the pitfalls of strip clubs. But for any athlete who has to take the stand in the Gold Club case, that advice comes too late. They already face the risk of fallout from public exposure.
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