173: Stripper Wars: Chippendales’ Glamour, Greed & MURDER?!
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Hello everyone and welcome to our episode on Chippendales. Oh, did you think we were doing an episode on Chippendale the cartoon? Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch

Yeah, no. We're talking about strippers, Joan. Come on. How did you miss the memo? I said dress slutty. Okay, look, we're all on different pages here because Paul over here is just as bad. He's wearing a shirt from Alvin and the Chipmunks? What happened here? This was a miss. Okay, start over. Okay, we're back and everyone is finally in their proper costumes except for Joan. She's just naked. Paul is dressed like a stripper and he even brought his little friend Rob. Hi, Rob. Woo!

Woo! I love that full head of hair. You guys look great. You're such a cute couple. Okay, so I've mentioned this a handful of times. I went to Vegas. I think it was last year. It might have been the year before. Everything's a blur. And, you know, I went to a little meal strip club situation with some of my friends. And my ass got pulled on stage. Woo!

Look, I brought some video evidence. I'm not gonna show you the full video, but just so you could see. So that's me on stage, okay? I got called up there. - And making love all night long. - Okay, that's not the good clip. Let me show you when I'm getting dry humped. Okay, maybe I shouldn't show this clip actually, now that I'm seeing it.

Okay, I wanted to show you guys a clip, but as I'm realizing, probably not appropriate, but I got pulled up on stage. Let's zoom out. Okay, it was so much fun though. All these guys were on stage, all oiled up, the lights, the performance, the theater. It was so fun. And then I got called on stage and I was like,

Okay, I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, you guys. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. You know, so I go up there. And then I realized, like, because there was three of us up there. And each one was getting dry humped. And I was like, uh-oh, I'm next. And listen, if I'm gonna get dry humped on stage, I'm gonna perform. Okay? And let me just say, I was fully clothed. They were fully clothed. I was getting dry humped. But I was like, you know, getting all into it. Like, mm.

It was so fun. So stupid, but so fun. And then they picked me up. Yeah, I was like, oh, he's so big and strong. Oh, he picked me up and was just like... And I was like...

I feel like with male strip clubs, like it's fun. It's just fun. It's silly and it's stupid. We kind of all are under the agreement that like you're not actually going to like sleep with them or anything, but it's just like a fun, fun time. I probably hadn't laughed that hard in so long.

Anyway, this got me thinking. What is the history behind mail strippers? So I went down a rabbit hole and I stumbled upon a scandal that just so happens to be linked to one of the biggest names in mail stripping, Chippendales. Whoa, what could go on there? You won't believe it. Welcome to the dark history of Chippendales. Unch, unch, unch, unch, unch. ♪♪

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here, I believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes, like rarely, it's happy. But either way, it's our dark history.

Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'm always here for you posting new content. And let me know what you guys think. I love hearing from you in the comments section and I read comments at the end of every episode if you didn't know. But other than that, let's get into it. For some reason, female nudity feels way more common than male nudity, right? In pop culture at least, we see women being sexualized and naked all the time. Boobs, right?

Boobs all the time. I did hear though, on the last season of White Lotus, there was a wiener. I might have to check this out. It's very rare. It's a rare occurrence. Do you remember forgetting Sarah Marshall? There was a split second where you saw Dick and I was like, "What?" Pause. Back in the 1950s, it was only men who had bachelor parties. Bachelorette parties? Not a thing yet.

In those days, women would have bridal showers and men would like, you know, have their moment to go out and have a wild night. But by the 70s, feminism was going strong.

Women were feeling a little more liberated. They wanted equality. And of course that meant that we wanted bachelorette parties. We wanted to have fun like the guys were having. I want to go out and be wild. And this story is really about a few guys just being in the right place at the right time. Because they started something over in Los Angeles that overlapped with the rise of porn and female empowerment.

Because, you know, if you're gonna have a bachelorette party just like the guys do, what do you need? Booze, penis straws, and knock, knock, knock, knock. Hello? I'm here to arrest you.

Has that ever happened to you where like someone knocks at the door and they come and they're like, I'm here to arrest the woman who's getting married. Or no, it was just the real cops and it was just a raid and you're like, oh shit. So it's the 60s. Girl power, all the rage. Burning the bras, we're doing it.

Growing our hair legs, we love it. And this is when an Indian man named Shoman Banerjee moves to Los Angeles. Once he got to America, Shoman decided to go by Steve. So that's what we're gonna call him. According to our expert, this was because Steve didn't want people to look at him as an immigrant. You know, he wanted to be seen as an American like everyone else. So Steve found work in business. He actually had a job at Mattel,

I know I was like was he making barbies? What was he doing? And he owned a couple of gas stations. Like he was doing okay. He was a pretty smart businessman here. I freaking roll because we hear this all the freaking time. He wanted to be the number one business guy in America. He wanted to be the richest of rich. The American dream. It's all about being fucking rich and number one. It's like

God, what happened to like simple, realistic dreams? Like I want to fly a kite. When was the last time you flew a kite? What happened to those dreams? Bring them back. Steve decides to get into the nightclub business. And in 1975, he ends up buying a business that was struggling in Los Angeles. It was called Destiny 2. Destiny 2 was not doing well. And also it really wasn't in a great part of Los Angeles. So I

I'm sure why he made this move, you know, but he did. Steve thought that adding a bunch of unique shows would help draw more people to Destiny 2. So pretty soon this club is doing anything and everything you can think of, okay? They've got dinner theater, magic shows,

Ooh, women's mud wrestling. Hot, right? I hate those. You ever see those? It's like women mud wrestling or wrestling in jello. What is that? What's that fantasy?

What is that? I don't, what is that? Turns out the whole mud wrestling thing though, it literally was a mess and it took forever to get the floor of the club clean, you know? So it was like, okay, that's probably not a good idea. It was fun to watch. I liked watching those boobies bounce, but it's too much cleanup. This is when Steve's realizing like, you know, this still isn't the vibe I'm going for, but.

Perfect timing. Steve gets really lucky. He meets a club promoter. His name is Paul Snyder. Not our Paul. This is a different Paul. Paul had just moved to Los Angeles from Canada and just like Steve, he also like really wanted to make a name for himself in America. According to everyone who knew him, Paul was very bold and brash. He was flashy.

He was described as, quote, animated, crazy, obnoxious, end quote. He wore fur coats and big jewel-encrusted necklaces. He was that guy. You see, back when Paul was in Canada, he had seen some male strip shows like popping up at a local gay club, and he thought it was like there's something there. So when he came to America,

he saw what was going on at Steve's club and Paul came to Steve with an idea. He's like, hey, back in Canada, I saw some like shit where like guys were like getting naked and like stripping and stuff. Like what if we did that? But not gay. It would be men dancing for women.

So Paul tells Steve, look, male stripping is going to be like the next big thing. You should have one night at the club dedicated to male stripping for women. Just trust me on this. Steve, he was out of ideas. So he's like, oh, okay, I'm down. Nothing else is working. So in 1979, Steve and Paul put their heads together and decided to rename Destiny 2.

Chippendales. If you're like me, you're like, why'd they name male strippers after a Chippendale?

Yeah? Well, actually, Bailey, you are wrong on that. I guess the name Chippendales actually comes from a style of furniture. Yeah, not even like erotic. And this was the kind of furniture that was in the original club that Steve took over. Now, I guess Chippendale furniture was known for being sturdy and long lasting. You can plop right on it.

And that's as much as I could think. I don't know. They thought this would give their brand a touch of class and sophistication. Chippendales became known as the first ever male strip club catering to a female audience. Well, that's what they claimed. But to be fair, it's completely untrue. Because look,

Fact check, there was actually a place called Sugar Shack. Yeah, they were first. Over in Wisconsin, a place called the Sugar Shack had opened 14 years earlier in 1965. It was run by a former Playboy bunny named Dana Montana. So Dana was a total pioneer in the strip club community. She had male strippers dancing on stage at the Sugar Shack years before Chippendales even existed. So it was like, okay, that's cute, but I've been doing it first.

Just want to give some credit where credit is due. Sugar Shack, Dana, Montana. I see you, girl. Icon. So the Sugar Shack is actually still around to this day, as of right now. It's in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The difference here was that the Sugar Shack remained like a local business. And Chippendales, they didn't want to be a local business. They wanted to take over the world.

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Dark history. Thank you. Right from the start, Chippendales was at the right place at the right time. Los Angeles in the '70s. It's a sex-forward time and porn is on the rise in a very big way. There were movies that were coming out like Deep Throat.

which turned out to be like a huge hit. And during this time in the 70s, it was considered like the golden age of porn. So seeing male strippers was like the perfect combination of something sexy and edgy that was also in a safe, controlled environment for normal people, you know? So nothing too crazy could happen. So once the doors opened to Chippendales, ooh, the ladies just flared up.

Let it in. In the beginning, the dancers had costumes. They had a very distinct costume. They wear those little like wrist cuffs, the collar, the bow tie. It's classic. If you're watching on YouTube, Paul and Rob, their outfits were inspired by the classic Chippendales look.

Love it, you guys. You look so good. The idea for the iconic Chippendale look actually came from Paul Snyder's girlfriend at the time. Her name was Dorothy Stratton. So at the time she was 19 and she was a bunny at the Playboy Mansion. And she even was Playmate of the Year. Apparently, Dorothy suggested the look because it was very similar to like the iconic bunnies.

their look at the Playboy Club. Dorothy, you know, she was a playmate, whatever. So she had a

a connection, okay? And she was able to kind of get permission from Hugh Hefner, who allowed Chippendales to use the Playboy trademarked look. Instead of the hot bunny waitresses over at the Playboy club, the female customers were waited on by hot men at Chippendales. It was like a

What's that called? Like a power switch. Now, in the beginning of Chippendales, they had a very specific look. Yes, the outfits, whatever. But they only hired white dancers. And this was intentional. Steve said he wanted white men who looked like Greek gods. Which, I was like, stupid.

Steve, as an Indian immigrant, wouldn't you want like, you know, wouldn't you want to mix it up a bit or no? Okay. So racist like everyone else, huh? Well, eventually he would hire some black dancers, but apparently it was only one at a time. And the majority of Chippendale's dancers stayed white.

So Paul, the partner, was in charge of scouting. He would go to gyms and beaches all across Los Angeles to look for...

The right guys. And to be fair, Los Angeles is filled with so many hotties. You know, you go down to the beach, that's, he probably found a lot. There was a lot of, a lot of options. Meanwhile, Paul, the partner, was still dating Dorothy Stratton, the playmate of the year. In fact, they ended up getting married in June of 1979. And at this point in Dorothy's career, she was killing it. Like her career was starting to take off.

She had transitioned into acting and was getting some pretty big roles. She was even the muse of a famous director named Peter Bogdanovich. Peter directed big movies like The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon. He also was an actor on The Sopranos. So this director would just love Dorothy's look. I mean,

You know, every artist needs a muse and it was Dorothy for him. And this is when her marriage to Paul, the partner, starts to fall apart because rumor had it that Dorothy and Peter, the director, were seeing each other romantically. I'm sure they were. I mean, if some man tells you, you're my muse, I'd be like, Dorothy starts to distance herself from Paul, the partner.

And this only makes him more jealous and possessive. Dorothy decides she needs to get a divorce. So she starts preparing to file. So Dorothy preparing for a divorce. She had just moved in with her new man, that director guy. This left Paul devastated.

the partner, feeling humiliated and desperate. He was raging. He wanted revenge. So on August 14th, 1980, Paul lured Dorothy to his house saying he was finally ready to talk about finances. That he would be civil. It would be just a conversation, whatever.

He specifically wanted to talk about dividing assets and like all the boring stuff that sucks, you know? Dorothy decided to go because she thought, you know, Paul was finally being reasonable. But what she didn't know was that just a few days before inviting her over, Paul had purchased a 12 gauge shotgun. It's a trap girl. It's a fucking trap girl.

So Dorothy shows up to Paul's house sometime between like noon and 5:00 PM. He somehow got her into the bedroom and then he shut the door and he locked it. Then he allegedly started assaulting her. It escalated and at some point he whipped out the shotgun, forced her onto her knees and fired. So sad. Dorothy died instantly from a shot to the left side of her head. She was only 20 years old.

It's so fucked up. Paul's like, now what? You know? For hours, he was alone in the house with Dorothy's body. We don't know for sure what he was doing, but he was probably doing something fucking weird. I bet you. Cause we've seen it on Murder Mystery.

Probably doing something a little weird. But then after some time, he actually turns the gun on himself and fired. Right away, news spread all over the media. You know, Dorothy was this like gorgeous, blonde, young celebrity. People were shocked. Shocked. She was killed. You know, I mean, it was like, oh, her career was just taking off. Oh no.

You know, it was just, it was everywhere. This wasn't good news for Chippendales. The last thing Steve wanted was a bloody murder-suicide associated with his club. Because remember, Paul was like a partner. Steve's way to address the situation was to just deny that he knew Paul. He's like, I don't know who you're talking about. Never met that guy. That's crazy. It's so weird. I don't know why you keep thinking I know him. Never heard of him.

Nope, low key, Steve was like happy to be the only one in charge again. Apparently, according to Steve, Paul, the partner, had been like a horrible MC and a pretty unreliable business partner. Steve hadn't been happy with him for a while. So as tragic as it was, it seemed like for Steve, he was like,

Yahtzee. But at some point, Steve does realize that he's going to need some help if he wants to keep Chippendales going. And this is where he gets really lucky for the second time. In 1981, Steve hires a TV producer named Nick DeNoia. He brings this guy on...

He's like, I want you to run the show. You see, Nick was like kind of a big deal. He won two Emmy Awards. Yeah. I was like, what for? For a show called Unicorn Tales? Missed that one. But he won awards for it. You know, it was a kid's show on NBC apparently. So, uh,

So they start working together and Nick comes in and takes the Chippendales choreography up a notch. So he starts teaching the Chippendales guys all the moves. You see, before Nick came in, the Chippendales routine was really just them up there kind of just doing their thing and taking clothes off. There wasn't actual steps or numbers or anything, you know? So now the dancing was getting more technical. It was becoming more of a performance.

So yeah, I mean, there was a lot of press around Paul and Dorothy, that awful death, but Chippendales was able to kind of remove themselves from that and they were doing very well. Oh, so well that the demand outgrows Los Angeles. So Nick and Steve decide to take Chippendales on the road.

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Now, even though Steve was the one who hired Nick, they didn't really get along.

Steve and Nick, I guess they were just constantly butting heads. So Steve was kind of in denial about how good Nick was at his job. Honestly, in my personal opinion, I think Steve was jealous that like someone was actually kind of better than him, you know? But meanwhile, Nick hated that Steve was the owner at the end of the day. But you know, sometimes you don't like your boss, whatever. It is what it is. So despite their differences,

you know, Chip and Dale's was doing very well. It had expanded to a swanky new location in New York, and it looked like this was just the beginning. Celebrities started coming to see the show, especially at the club in New York City. Pretty soon, people were asking,

Who was the person behind all this success? We wanna meet him. And somehow Nick gets all the credit for this show. All of a sudden, Nick was on all these talk shows talking about Chippendales, how he started it, like taking all the credit. Well, Steve's sitting at home like, "Oh yeah, you do no credit? You got what you did? You got what you did?"

Getting a little upset. He's feeling a little left out. I mean, yeah, he was still the owner of the business, but Loki, I think Steve wanted

And that's fine, you're allowed to want that. In 1983, Steve and Nick decided that they needed to meet, sit down and actually figure their relationship out because it was clear like things were not working out between the two of them. So they decided to meet up at like a local restaurant. So Nick had a pitch. He was like, "Look, I'll give up all the rights to the show.

but I want 50% of the profits from Chippendales tours. Steve thought this over. He's like, okay, all right. So Steve thought it over. He's like, yeah, I'm down with this.

Look, since they're at a restaurant and not a law office, they decided to write out their contract on a napkin. And this napkin deal becomes a truly infamous moment in business history. Now, there's no pictures of the napkin or even a direct transcript.

But based on accounts from people involved, it said something along the lines of, Nick DeNoia gets the touring rights to Chippendales. 50-50 split. In perpetuity. So the two of them, they both agree to it and they sign it. And yes, fun fact, that napkin, it was legally binding. Napkin or not, I mean, the deal was in writing. Stop.

Steve would learn later on that this actually was a problem. He had no idea what he had just signed over.

So the Chippendales tour was actually a huge moneymaker. Chippendales was going to Philly, Atlantic City, and then they even went overseas too. And everywhere they went, women loved it. The profits on the tour were around $80,000 per week. And this is in 1980s money. So if we...

do some math in today's money, that would be about $235,000 a week in today's money. That's pretty good. We should go on tour. Paul can strip. You can fly. I'll figure out what I'm doing. We'll talk about this afterwards. I got a great napkin deal for you, Joan. So anyways, it's making a lot of money and you know,

Steve is realizing he had signed away 50% of that money to Nick. Forever. Okay? And not just like the current tours. Future tours forever. That's what in perpetuity means. It means forever. And it's a very predatory word. It turns out that Steve didn't even know what the word in perpetuity meant. So.

Steve's mad. He ends up taking Nick to court and he's trying to get rid of that whole napkin deal thing. You know, it's ruining his life. But like I said, it was a legally binding contract. So they went to court, they tried to fight it out. And in the end, Nick won. The contract made him a partner, whether Steve liked it or not. And he would keep getting paid. So after all this, Steve...

He felt like he was losing out on tons of money because of like this stupid damn napkin. And on top of that, Nick DeNoya was like Mr. Popular, getting all the attention. Everyone loved him. And really,

All thanks to Nick, Chippendales was the place to be. In one interview, someone called Nick "Mr. Chippendale." And like, he's loving it. Steve, he's probably at home, like his head's turning red. He has steam coming out of his ears and his nose. He's like, "Ugh." Steve felt like he was being robbed, okay? I mean, after all, he's like, "I'm the one that started it. There would be no Chippendales if it wasn't for me." So.

Steve decides enough was enough. He was gonna do something about it. Steve was planning to get even, so he comes up with a little revenge plan. Step one, he was gonna make his own tour. To him, this would mean that he would have some revenue of his own, you know?

No Nick involved. It's like, okay, sure. That's a great idea. Well, unfortunately for Steve, that's not what the napkin said. On the napkin agreement, he didn't just have to pay Nick for the Chippendales tour, you know, whatever. Nick was entitled to half of every Chippendales tour forever. Well, Steve's kind of panicking. He's like, shh.

To make things worse, it turned out that Steve wasn't paying his taxes. Yeah, and someone caught on. He got some notices saying that he owed back taxes to the government and it wasn't cute. It wasn't like, you know, a hundred bucks or something. It was a lot of money he owed. Steve was trying to come up with some ideas in order to like try and dig him out of this hole. He decides, okay, okay. He's like, idea, idea.

idea. What if I make a sexy calendar of the Chippendales dancers? Calendar? That's not in the agreement, right? So Steve does this, you know, he sets up the shoot, does a little faux shoot, makes all of these calendars, gets them all printed. He spends a lot of money doing this, right? Well,

He had some kind of like little curse going on because the calendars, they all came out wrong. There was a mistake. Yeah, you see when they printed the calendars, they accidentally gave every single month 31 days in a, it's not how it works, you know? So he had to reprint all of them and it costs a ton of money to fix that little oopsie. But then it looks like Steve's bad luck might be over.

because something crazy happens. Really sad too, but kind of good for Steve. In 1987, Nick DeNoya was murdered. You know what drives me nuts? Cowboy butts. But you know what else? We take our health seriously, but like finding a doctor, it's confusing and it feels like such an outdated process. Like why is it easier to track down

your package or like an ex on the internet than it is like finding an in-network dermatologist, you know? Booking doctor's appointments always feel like this annoying, stressful, mysterious process. That is, until I found ZocDoc.

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Why are they called optometrists? You can find them. You just put in your insurance, your location, what you're looking for and bada bing, bada boom, there you go. It's like boop. They filter exactly what you're looking for. Whether that's someone close by or someone with great bedside manner because you can see like reviews and stuff. Very helpful. And you can actually see like real appointment times. Not some vague like, we'll give you a call when we're ready and you're like, I'm ready now. So yeah.

I love ZocDoc. They make it so easy. Stop putting off those doctor appointments and go to ZocDoc.com slash dark history to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's ZocDoc, Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash dark history. ZocDoc.com slash dark history. So it's 1987 and Nick DeNoia was shot in the face and killed. Now out this time,

They had no suspects. Nobody knows who did it. Just a savage murder. Devastating for so many people. But Steve? Steve was like...

Now that, you know, Nick is sadly out of the way, he's like, well, I'm able to buy back the touring rights from Nick's family, which was great timing because the next year in 1988, the Chippendales Club lost its liquor license and fire permit. So now the Chippendales' main focus was touring.

No rent, no real estate to worry about, you know, just moving and grooving. So Steve felt like he could finally make some money and pay off his taxes. So Chippendales had been doing pretty well and operating for quite some time. I mean, it had been over 10 years at this point. And some of the older dancers were ready for like the next step of their career.

So two Chippendale dancers and the MC were planning to branch out and create their own male striptease shows. Now, Steve is kind of catching wind of what this is. What? What's that? What?

What do you want to do? He didn't want former employees suddenly becoming his competition, you know, and they're probably going to do it better. Sorry. So Steve kind of starts to panic, you know, he's like, shit, what can I do? Well, this is when Steve's good luck seems to just run out because in 1993, Steve Banerjee is arrested. Well,

Turns out Steve was accused of conspiring to kill three business associates. Can you guess who they were? Well, of course, it was the two dancers and the MC guy who were planning to go off and start their own business. So he gets arrested. Then Steve gets another charge thrown at him. He was being accused for the murder of Nick DeNoia.

Did you see that coming? I did, because if you're putting the pieces together, it kind of makes sense, right? You're like, hmm, it's kind of, mm-hmm. Well, listen, though. It turns out Steve had hired a hitman. His name...

Ray Colon. And it was Hitman Ray who had actually shot and killed Nick. I guess the first murder went so well when Steve got annoyed at those dancers, he decided to fall back on the same plan that had worked once before. This time, instead of hiring a hitman with a gun, Steve got a little creative, a little chemistry, and he mixed up some cyanide. Then he hired a new hitman

gave him the cyanide and told him use this to murder the two dancers and the MC. Good luck. Here's $5. This new hit man that Steve hired, his name was Strawberry.

Yep. I mean, honestly, like if you're a hit man, I wouldn't want to use an aggressive name. I would want to use something cute. That way people, you know, they won't think you're a hit man if your name's Strawberry. You'll never believe this, but Strawberry got cold feet. What? Strawberry the hit man chickened out? No way. Instead of killing people with the cyanide, Strawberry ended up going to the FBI. Ooh, good for you, Strawberry. You did the right thing.

So the FBI is now involved and they decided to arrange a little sting operation. First, Strawberry called up the original hitman, Ray.

This call was recorded by the FBI, which gave them enough evidence to go ahead and arrest hitman Ray Colon. Hitman Ray sat in jail for seven months before finally realizing, look, the jig was up. Hitman Ray decided,

F that guy Steve, I'm gonna turn on him. But apparently the FBI wanted more than the word of a hit man to take down Steve Banerjee. Steve had plenty of money to hire good lawyers, so the FBI knew that they needed some solid evidence to really close this case. What they needed was a confession.

So the FBI releases Hitman Ray from jail saying that he needed special medical treatment. Now this wasn't a total lie. Apparently Hitman Ray was actually really sick, which is probably why he eventually spoke up. But the FBI, they wanna use Ray for their advantage. And now there's an opportunity here. So the FBI tells Hitman Ray, "Hey, we need you to set up a meeting with Steve."

Okay? Because we gotta get a confession. So Hitman Ray, he reaches out to Steve. Bling bling bling bling bling. Hey, what are you doing? You know? And the two of them set up a meeting. So Steve and Hitman Ray decide to meet up at an IHOP in Santa Monica. I love IHOP. I like a pancake. So before the meeting, Hitman Ray meets up with the FBI.

Now, the FBI sets him up with like a whole wire situation, okay? And they make sure to hide it very carefully, you know? The FBI was expecting Steve to be suspicious. So, you know, they had to be cautious. And I will say the FBI went above and beyond

They got a tailor to sew a secret flap in a pair of boxers. And so Ray could like hide the recorder in there. And I mean, good thing they did because when Steven and Ray met up at IHOP, Steve was suspicious right off the bat. He's like, hey, meet me in the bathroom right now. Let's go. We gotta take a shit.

Wink wink. So the two of them, Steve and Ray, they go into the bathroom. Steve says, "Take off your clothes. Strip down to your underwear. I need to make sure you're not wearing a wire." Hitman Ray takes off his clothes and I'm sure he's like, "Oh fuuuuuck." You know? But luckily because they sewed in the situation in the boxers, Steve didn't see the recorder.

Steve was just paranoid in general and he refused to say pretty much anything out loud. Instead, he wrote all of his answers on post-it notes. Oh yeah. And then he would show it to Hitman Ray. What's your favorite color? And then he would take it, rip it up, put it in the toilet, flush it. I'm sure Hitman Ray was like, God damn it.

You know? Well, this sucked for the FBI because they didn't have anything. Any recording they did get from that meeting was completely useless. So the FBI was like, okay, we need a new plan. So some time goes by, you know? And the FBI is like, okay, Ray, we need you to contact Steve again. At this time, Steve was in Europe, okay? He was traveling, doing work shit. So when can you come to this festival?

So Hitman Ray tells Steve to meet him in a hotel in Switzerland. So he's waiting there, you know, sweating buckets. And then Steve shows up. But what Steve didn't know was that in the room next door was the FBI. And they were there laughing.

listening, ear on the wall, like what is going on, you know? Well, Steve and Hitman Ray, they stayed in the hotel room talking for about three or four hours. And there were even times when Steve was actually wondering if the FBI was listening. I mean, all the way out there in Switzerland, he was still paranoid. Apparently, Steve actually mentioned it several times.

Like, I don't know, the FBI could be listening. I don't know, I don't know. Steve even pointed out that the walls were very thin in the hotel room and the FBI could be next door. Man, if that were me, I'd be like, gig is up, stop.

Sorry. Well, you're right. I would crack. Anyways, so Hitman Ray is a professional and he's like, oh, don't be silly. Oh, calm down. Relax, relax. We need to talk. Eventually Steve relaxes, you know? This time,

the FBI got exactly what they wanted. They got on tape Steve confessing to hiring hitman Ray and even conspiring to murder the three others. Also on that recording, Steve was bragging that he could just run to India if things became too much. You know, like if the law was coming in on him or anything. Steve had like a pilot he was planning to pay $25,000 to fly him to India without a passport.

He had a plan.

- Better than being in jail. - And if all else failed, he said he would commit suicide if he was ever caught. Needless to say, the trip to Switzerland ended up being worth it for the FBI. Steve was quickly arrested on multiple charges, arranging murder, conspiracy, racketeering. He even attempted to burn down a competitor's nightclub. Steve was facing 26 years in prison, which to me, I was like, interesting.

you know, you kind of got this long list of crimes, kind of responsible for killing someone. You think you'd get a little bit more time. When faced with this, Steve decided to take a plea deal. The terms stated that the FBI would drop the conspiracy charges for hiring someone to kill the three Chippendales dancers if he removed himself from the company Chippendales, which is karma happening in real time.

Steve hired Hitman Ray to murder Nick so he can get his 50% back, you know? But now, Steve, you're facing losing now everything. That's what you get. I'm in the basement. You ever get an idea, like a weird amazing, maybe it's kind of like, it's a little out there, but it's an idea and you're like, I should put this on the internet. Well, same. Last week I was like, what if I made a recipe book for all the dishes that have been served in my episodes of Murder Mystery Makeup?

You know, not poisonous, but it was an idea. And that's when it was time to turn to Squarespace. If you don't know, Squarespace is an all-in-one website platform that makes it super easy to build a gorgeous, professional-looking site. Whether you're starting a business, launching a portfolio, selling stuff, or just need a home for all of like the chaos you've been cooking up, you don't even need to know any code. They make it so easy. And let me tell you, the templates...

chef's kiss. Super easy to customize and you don't even need like any design skills. You just need to know how to like copy and paste and you're like, wow, I can do that. Basically, Squarespace makes it so easy to look professional when you're, you know, maybe working in your pajama pants, but no one has to know that.

So what I'm getting at is if you've got something to say, show or sell, bring it to life with Squarespace. Head to squarespace.com/darkhistory for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, just use offer code darkhistory to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. So Steve is sitting in jail and he's waiting for his sentencing but

He just couldn't take it anymore. Or maybe he just told everyone the truth. It was on the tapes. And on October 23rd, 1994, the night before his sentencing, Steve committed suicide. That little bitch. Come on, you did the crime. Face it like a man. Don't be a little bitch.

Bitch. Sorry. He found out a way to hang himself in his jail cell. He was only 48 years old. Yeah, so when he would get out, he'd be what, in his 70s or something? People believe he did this so that his family would be able to keep his stake in Chippendales.

He wanted to make sure that the company went to the family instead of the government. And we don't know this for sure, but if it was Steve's plan, it worked. The ownership of Chippendales went to his wife, Irene. Irene ended up selling the business for 2.5 million, which...

Doesn't sound like a lot. I mean, it's a lot of money. Yes, we can agree. But it doesn't really sound like a lot considering that their tours were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a week in their heyday. But maybe she just wanted it to be over. We don't know. But she sold it. In 2001, the New York location of Chippendales closed. Now this was like their most famous location. The one that all the celebrities were going to and stuff. And it was clear it was the end of an era. An oily, sexy...

greased up muscular era. From start to finish, the Chippendales business was closely tied to the murders of Dorothy, Paul, Nick, Steve, and at least three more attempted murders. Unfortunately, when you're looking at a hot, muscular man all oiled up,

It's not something you really want to think about, you know? Kind of ruins that fun. But that's not even the end of the darkness. Today, it's not completely clear who owns Chippendales. It's very interesting. Apparently, it's a private equity of owners. Hmm, who? I wanted to know. Well, one investor we know for sure is a name you probably actually heard before. One of the investors was Lou Pearl.

Pearlman, the infamous boy band manager from the 90s and early 2000s. Listen, if you don't know who Lou is, go check out, we did a Dark History episode on boy bands and we talk about Lou. And one of my favorite little fun facts about the man was that Lou loved blimps.

He was really into blimps. And honestly, when you look at him, you're like, okay, that checks out. Blimps, that guy, you know? But basically, Lou was notorious for having allegedly assaulted the members of boy bands that he managed. Anywho, Lou, he actually ended up going to jail for a Ponzi scheme that he was running, and then he ended up dying in 2007. R.I.P.

But despite all the death and darkness, the Chippendales brand, I mean, it hasn't died. So after like everything, right? The locations closing, whatever, Chippendales became focused on Las Vegas.

Did you watch our Vegas episode? Where it actually kind of makes sense to be, you know? So they're in Vegas still to this day. And in Vegas, they have been quite successful for over 20 years. The tour, because they still do a tour, has been to six continents and over 25 countries. In September, 2023, Chippendales, they did like a tour stop at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. And like,

and like 5,000 people attended and they sold a bunch of tickets and made a good amount of money. People still love the iconic Chippendales dancers. I mean, yeah, there are other competitors out there too, but Chippendales is like this, it's Chippendales. I like a Thunder Down Under, I won't lie.

A little thunder down under, you know? What's interesting is that after Steve's wife, Irene, sold the company, none of the Banerjee family wanted to be involved with the brand. They did not want to be involved with this darkness. That is until 2020. Steve Banerjee, he had a son. His name was Christian. Christian decided to start his own nail club.

Christian Banner and she told the New York Post, quote, "It wasn't the fact that I wanted to be a stripper. It was my destiny. It wasn't like I saw Magic Mike and wanted to emulate what I've seen. This came from a much deeper place in my soul."

Christian's company offers both male and female strippers. So he, you know, named the business Strippendales. Yeah. He said, quote, I've always had this connection with my dad through Chippendales. I think he'd want to push me in this direction. He'd want to continue his legacy through his son. End quote. I was like, oh, okay, cute. Yeah. But then I did math.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. And I was like, Christian, you were like four or five when your dad died. So what do you mean mutual connection to stripping? Since Chippendales, male dance reviews have exploded. Well, there was a period where it was kind of dying, but we all remember Magic Mike. Magic Mike came through and...

Movie theater seats were ruined, you know? So after Magic Mike came out, I mean, again, there was this wave of interest in male strip shows, you know? Chippendales succeeded in being one of the most recognizable brands in the world. I know a lot of us probably don't remember, but in the 80s, allegedly, Chippendales was...

Okay? It was a crazy phenomenon. Chippendales dancers had cameos in famous TV shows and there was merchandise. You could go to the mall and get like Chippendales related stuff. There were eventually like better calendars. I had one maybe, I don't know. Women then and now are willing to put down cold hard cash to see some dudes looking hot. Okay? Looking hot. And I think that's beautiful.

As long as there's nothing inappropriate going on. But I've been to a male strip club maybe two times now. So not a lot. But every time it's like it's a safe space. Like they're not being inappropriate. They always ask for consent. Like hey can I bump and grind on you? And it's like...

Okay, yeah, you know, I like that they asked. Because I got bumped and grinded on. But I consented. I was like, yes, you can. It's beautiful. And by the looks of it, that's not going to change anytime soon.

Now, since you guys loved our Caesar episode, we're returning to ancient Rome. Oh yeah, we're taking it back to togas, poison, and eunuchs. Picture this: a 16-year-old boy becomes emperor. He starts off promising. He loved the arts, gave some good speeches, seemed like he might do okay.

But then, baby listen, deranged dictator psychopath. Oh, there's family drama. There's murder. He thinks he's a god.

He performs on stage while the empire is literally crumbling. This man truly defined what it means to go off the rails. So join me next episode to talk about the dark history of Nero. Now, I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. Make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying and your comment might even be featured in a future episode. Now, let's read some comments, you guys.

Paul, hit the lights. David Blix left me a comment saying, there are eunuchs today called null. They remove stick and nuts. Twitter showed me and I am scarred. There are some music that cannot be sung properly anymore because no one can recreate the castrati voice. Well, without creating another castrati. Okay, I know what you're saying, but I did get a little hung up on the stick and nuts part of it. It did

It did take me a while to figure out what you were talking about. I think you were talking about the wiener. Is that the stick? And then the nuts. Thank you for pointing out that there's still our Unix today called Null. I am sorry we didn't bring that up in that episode, but I appreciate you letting me know 'cause I'm actually kind of interested. I will definitely check out these sticks and nuts and thank you for watching. I really appreciate it. Honestly, I was surprised by the feedback on the Unix episode. I was like,

some people will care, but it actually like people were really into it. And I was like, hell yeah. I thought it was really cool. It was a really interesting episode. Sad, you know, but like

Wild, right? What'd you think of the episode? Did you like it? Well, thank you for the comment. BunnyChick99 left me a comment saying, "I think I speak for everyone when I say I would really like to hear more commentary from Joan." Joan, you're stealing my limelight and I hate that. Joan, get out of here. What are you talking about? This is my show, not Joan's show. No, but I understand. Like, Joan is pretty funny. It's just like, you guys can't hear her, but like we talk all the time.

People want more from Joan. I understand. I will give her some lines and stop cutting them out of the episode. Love you. Thank you for watching. Joan appreciates it. Billy Flounder. Billy, great name. Billy Flounder, that's such a good name. You gotta do something with that. Billy Flounder, like it's just like a business name. Like you invented something and your name is Billy Flounder. 'Cause it's kind of like founder.

But Flounder, you know? Okay, Billy, sorry. He left us an episode suggestion. The Dark History of Garlic. Billy Flounder. Mr. Flounder, may I call you? Or Billy? How about Bill? William? Listen, I actually really like garlic. I know a lot of people don't, but like, I love it. And honestly, I actually never thought, does it have a dark history? I'm very curious. Billy Flounder.

Thank you so much for this recommendation. I definitely will go down...

I'm on it. You guys are always sending me down some rabbit holes, but I love it. I love it. I love it. And I appreciate it so much. So thank you so much for the suggestion. Well, you guys, thank you so much for watching and I appreciate you so much for engaging. Don't forget to leave a comment because maybe your comment will be featured. Oh, did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes? Yeah, on Thursday.

after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder, mystery, and makeup. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an Audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Natalia Melman Petruzzella, professor of history at The New School. Plus, she actually created a whole podcast about Chippendales, where if you really want to get in the nitty gritty of it all, check it out. It's called Welcome to Your Fantasy.

It's good. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day today. You make good choices. Don't hire a hitman. I'm looking at you, Ghost Adventures girl. And I'll be talking to you guys later. Goodbye. Bye.

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