Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Turncoat Lucchese soldier sentenced to 5 years in prison for running scams with new identity


Frank Gioia Jr./Frank Capri

Frank Capri, a former mobster turned government witness turned developer who scammed The Banks with a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill-branded restaurant, was sentenced last week to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Capri — whose real name is Frank Gioia, Jr. — was a former soldier for the Lucchese Crime Family in New York and was released from prison in 1999 after agreeing to testify against other members of the crime syndicate. He then went on to open companies under his newly government-acquired name, Frank Capri.

Capri's scheme, which began in 2011 and continued through 2015 in Cincinnati and around the country, involved inflating revenue projections for his restaurants to convince developers to hand over tenant improvement funds for the properties. Capri's company would then reduce actual construction costs — including creating fake contractors, acting as their own contractor, creating false documents, submitting fake invoices — to pocket the difference between the developer's outlay and their costs.

Twenty to 40 franchises were sold to developers, but most never opened after lengthy, intentional construction delays. Capri had a handful of companies, including Boomtown Entertainment and CRGE Cincinnati, which failed to pay taxes, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax liens and faced some $30 million in lawsuits. (That number had climbed to $65 million in judgments by 2017.)

The Feds say between 2011 and 2015, Capri collected some $12.9 million for Toby Keith restaurants that never sold a thing. Meanwhile, Capri transferred millions from his company bank accounts to his personal one, spent at least $2.7 million of the illegal funds on jewelry alone, and underreported his income to the IRS by more than $3 million over the course of three years.

Cincinnati did get a Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill, which opened its doors in 2012 at The Banks. But it faced a slew of lawsuits and other issues.

In 2013, Toby Keith’s was embroiled in a lawsuit with The Banks after the restaurant refused to pay rent for several months. The restaurant said The Banks violated the terms of its agreement to make Toby Keith’s the only “Country-themed” restaurant in the complex when it allowed Tin Roof to open. This caused a temporary restaurant closure.

That case settled but the restaurant shuttered completely in July 2015 after continuing not to pay rent. After, former employees filed a lawsuit claiming the bar’s management purposely concealed the fact that the bar was closing and issued paychecks that later bounced.

According to a Cincinnati Enquirer, "The now-defunct restaurant left behind a trail of debt, including a judgment against the restaurant operator for more than $38,000 in unpaid sales taxes awarded to the State of Ohio in 2014."

Capri deployed a similar scheme with Rascal Flatts-branded bars and restaurants around the country — in many cases, deploying it on the same developers he had just bilked. Cleveland was one of those cases when it was announced in 2016 the city would be opening a Rascal Flatts Bar and Grill.

Because Capri hid his ties to the new company so well, few were any the wiser, and Capri managed to collect more than $5 million in tenant improvement funds from developers for another batch of restaurants that once again never opened.

The developers of the Cleveland Rascal Flatts restaurant eventually found out they were dealing with Capri again when a man named Ray Rostho, who owned an Arizona construction company and who was hired by Capri to front the Rascal Flatts project in Cleveland and elsewhere, told them at one point that they really ought to just talk to Frank Capri if they had concerns, because it was his project.

"I said, 'You're going to have to call Frank Capri,'" Roshto told the Arizona Republic. "He was totally surprised. He shouted out, 'Frank Capri!' Then he said it again: 'Frank Capri.' And I said, 'Yeah.'"

Capri was indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2020 on 16 charges. He pleaded guilty to two of them last August.

https://www.citybeat.com/news/former-mobster-who-scammed-the-banks-with-toby-keith-restaurant-sentenced-to-five-years-in-prison-12737646?fbclid=IwAR2O1CptjztrN69ssfaJ2aibxp9s9dlkoAlLMs8TKob7budLzU2jN4wvQkM



24 comments:

  1. I just read on Gangland that this Lying Rat Punk is saying he's broke I can't believe the court's are believing that meanwhile his Rat family is vacationing in Italy it's all bullshit.

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  2. Good now this Bum is a pariah wherever he lives POS

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  3. This Rat Scumbag was double dangerous because he would have done anything to be a part of that life and then when the shit hits the fan he’ll turn on the guys he’s with. He’s just no good he’s where he belongs in jail.

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    1. Yeah your right he was always an insecure POS

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  4. Scumbag Rat got exposed when he got pinched 25 years ago for drugs he folded like a tent and of course like any Rat he had to justify why he Ratted so he said the mob was going to kill his father. Fat Rat couldn’t do the time he was always a fraud.

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  5. Yeah he was facing life but copped out to 7 years. I know guys that were away with him in 1994 he wouldn’t come out of his cell because he was scared. Fucking Mutt.

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  6. What a Blow Hard he is. A real Windbag

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  7. Let's get this straight this Rat never shot a bouncer when he was 18 years old, he never mad a million dollars in drug money, he never had a shootout with Columbians that is all bullshit coming from him. He's a lying, manipulating, Rat and that's what he always be.

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  8. Scumbag Rat 🐀 talks about his shootouts the only thing that Yellow Punk shot was himself in the foot. Rat Punk

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  9. Your a disgrace. How do you live with yourself you no good piece of shit.

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  10. Scumbag was always a user he would always use people and manipulate people to get away with stuff. He even got a break by doing only 3 years for something most people with have got 20 years because he's a Rat Scumbag Piece of Shit.

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  11. This Rat conned everybody first it was the mob then the government then it was investors while he was WITSEC. I always knew he was full of shit. He always made up stories Fucking Bullshitter. You Should Rot in Hell. You Low Life RAT!

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  12. Scum hole RAT 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐀

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  13. This Rat was so insecure growing up always trying to prove he was a tough guy. We all knew he was a fraud and a lot of us said he would become what he became a Stool Pigeon Yellow Rat Dog.

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  14. Whoever wrote the last comment was 💯 right.

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  15. I don't understand it this Piece of Shit puts 80 guys in prison, goes into the Witness Protection Program and robs 65 million dollars and only gets 3 years. Its basically like he had a license to that. It's not right but it still don't take away that he's a Lying Rat Low Life Piece of Shit.

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  16. Anybody who believes this Rat ratted because they were going to kill his father is delusional. Remember Rats were born not made. This Rat had a plan from day 1 he was going to Rat when the shit hit the fan. Happy New Year You Rat Scumbag.

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  17. A man takes responsibility's for there actions only a Coward tries to get out of what they do like this Low Life Rat Scumbag.

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  18. Stool Pigeon Rat is hiding in Arizona with the rest of the Rats. All these Rats go to Arizona or Florida

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  19. I just read that this Stool Pigeon Rat Thief Scumbag is selling cars. What a fucking joke Who the Fuck would buy a car from this No Good Swindling Rat. You would need your head examined.

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  20. Perfect job for this Rat Salesman are Bullshitters and there is no one bigger than this Crooked Rat Piece of Shit.

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  21. Fucking Rat put 80 guys in prison and ruined their families because he was a Yellow Coward that couldn't do 7 years in jail. What a SCUMBAG.

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  22. This Rat is a total fraud from his fake name all the way down to his bullshit stories.

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  23. He says he ratted because the mob was going to kill his father. Let say that is true no way 80 guys wanted to kill his father maybe 2 out of the 80 but he still Ratted on everybody because he's a No Good Yellow Rat Coward that couldn't do 7 years. Most guys Rat because they are facing life or big time this scumhole couldn't do 7 years he would have been home in 5 years. What a Coward

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