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Sex, Sports, and the Mob:
Atlanta's Gold Club
During the 90's, Atlanta’s Gold Club was one of the most successful and well known strip clubs on the East Coast. When the FBI become suspicious that owner Stephen Kaplan's friendship with members of the Gambino crime family might be leading to part of the club's $20 million dollar income being funneled back to organized crime, it lead to a major trial in the summer of 2001. But when testimony about sexual favors for celebrity athletes appeared, suddenly the trial became one of the biggest sex scandals in professional sports history.
Witnesses described a high-flying world of $50,000 tabs, private rooms, regular appearances by celebrities such as NBA stars John Starks and Dennis Rodman, NFL stars Terrell Davis, Madonna and actor Stephen Baldwin. (One witness stated that there was “more Perrier Jouet champagne sales than anywhere in the country.”) A number of athletes subsequently appeared on the stand, including Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves and New York Knick Patrick Ewing. Both testified to receiving “special treatment” from strippers at the Gold Club or nearby hotels.
Kaplan's connections to the mob (detailed in surveillance tapes of him and John Gotti, Jr. as well as Kaplan’s presence at a New York nightclub in 1988 when a Gambino member was shot and killed) and charges of credit card fraud, prostitution, money laundering and tax evasion were never confirmed. But after the sensational testimony of Ewing and Jones, Kaplan agreed to a plea deal, a $5 million fine and a prison sentence of three-to-five years.
Atlanta's Gold Club
During the 90's, Atlanta’s Gold Club was one of the most successful and well known strip clubs on the East Coast. When the FBI become suspicious that owner Stephen Kaplan's friendship with members of the Gambino crime family might be leading to part of the club's $20 million dollar income being funneled back to organized crime, it lead to a major trial in the summer of 2001. But when testimony about sexual favors for celebrity athletes appeared, suddenly the trial became one of the biggest sex scandals in professional sports history.
Witnesses described a high-flying world of $50,000 tabs, private rooms, regular appearances by celebrities such as NBA stars John Starks and Dennis Rodman, NFL stars Terrell Davis, Madonna and actor Stephen Baldwin. (One witness stated that there was “more Perrier Jouet champagne sales than anywhere in the country.”) A number of athletes subsequently appeared on the stand, including Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves and New York Knick Patrick Ewing. Both testified to receiving “special treatment” from strippers at the Gold Club or nearby hotels.
Kaplan's connections to the mob (detailed in surveillance tapes of him and John Gotti, Jr. as well as Kaplan’s presence at a New York nightclub in 1988 when a Gambino member was shot and killed) and charges of credit card fraud, prostitution, money laundering and tax evasion were never confirmed. But after the sensational testimony of Ewing and Jones, Kaplan agreed to a plea deal, a $5 million fine and a prison sentence of three-to-five years.
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