Five Families of New York City

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

Showing posts with label Gus Curcio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gus Curcio. Show all posts

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Exotic dancers sue man linked to Genovese crime family over low pay

  January 30, 2016    Dapper_Don

Keepers Gentlemen's Club on Woodmont Rd. in Milford, Conn. Six exotic dancers at the strip club will have their claims of unfair pay reviewed by an arbitrator. Photo: Brian A. Pounds / Hearst Connecticut Media / Connecticut Post
Six dancers at a local strip club say they are just looking for a fair shake.
But they claim the owner of Keepers Gentlemen’s Club, former Genovese family crime figure Gus Curcio, is denying them a piece of the action.
In a lawsuit filed in state Superior Court, the dancers, Sugeily Ortiz of Stratford, Crystal Horrocks of New Haven, Zuleyma Bella Lopez of Branford, Jacquelyne Green of Bristol, Dina Danielle Caviello of Wolcott and Yaritza Reyes of New York, claim they are not being paid a living wage.
“Defendants have unjustly and unlawfully enriched themselves at the expense of their employees by denying the named plaintiffs and other similarly situated class members their earned minimum wages, overtime pay and full retention of their gratuities ... and by charging the plaintiffs fees to work and arbitrarily and impermissably subjecting them to various fines in violation of their lawful employment contracts and applicable statutory and common law,” the lawsuit states.
The dancers’ lawyer did not return calls and emails for comment Tuesday. The dancers claim Keepers has annual gross sales of $500,000, that they have worked at least 40 hours a week at the club for several years and have to pay a “house fee” and a separate fee to the disc jockey from each paycheck.
They also argue in their suit they are not paid overtime after working 40 hours in any week, and are fined for breaking any of the club rules.
Lawyer Stephen Bellis, who represents the director and president of Keepers, Joseph Regensburger, argued Tuesday that the dancers are independent contractors and therefore not entitled to the same benefits as employees. He said they signed a contract to that effect.
“The issue in the lawsuit is really about whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor,” said Bellis, who also teaches business law. “This is not anything different than we see in any other business. They get tips and come and go as they want.”
A judge recently agreed to let an independent arbitrator hear the dispute.
“The judge ruled there is an arbitrator clause in their contract, so we will let an arbitrator decide the case,“ Bellis said.
Keepers is the first storefront in a commercial strip on busy Woodmont Road. Much of the inside resembles many of the sports bars in the area, with numerous large-screen TVs mounted on the walls.
But the handful of men bellying up to the bar Tuesday were not paying attention to the TVs. Their eyes were fixed on a young woman, lying on her back on a small stage with her feet in the air.
“I’m just here for a beer, I don’t know anything about that,” said one male patron when asked about the dancers’ lawsuit. He declined to give his name.
Regensburger is a longtime associate of Curcio and runs his businesses, including strip bars, restaurants and a development company. Curcio, of Stratford, has long been linked by federal prosecutors to the Genovese crime family. He has served federal prison time for loan sharking, extortion and obstruction of justice. Both men list a small house on Light Street in Stratford as their address. Neither could be reached for comment.

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Exotic-dancers-suit-over-low-pay-and-tips-goes-6784691.php

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Monday, December 28, 2015

Development company with links to Genovese soldier approved to build apartment building next to Stratford police department

  December 28, 2015    Dapper_Don

A Milford development company associated with convicted mobster Gus Curcio won its appeal Wednesday to put up an apartment building next to the Stratford Police Department.
But while state Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe’s ruling in Bridgeport went in favor of Long Brook Station’s zoning application, he knocked the company’s request down from two free-standing buildings to one, with 45 apartments.
The Long Brook Station development’s principal is listed as Joseph Regensburger, a longtime associate of Curcio. Long Brook’s lawyer, Stephen Bellis, declined to comment on any connection the company has with Curcio.
“I’ve only had contact with Mr. Regensburger,” Bellis said. But as to the ruling he said, “The judge made the appropriate decision, the modified plan addressed all the concerns the town had.”
The case was an unusual one because the plaintiff was the town of Stratford and the defendant was the town’s Zoning Board.
Last spring, town zoners gave the apartment project at 3044 Main St. the go-ahead, and said Town Hall was all wet when it claimed the project would cause drainage issues at police headquarters. Lawyers on both sides agreed that it’s unusual for the town to sue itself.
Police headquarters is a few paces from the stream called Long Brook, and it has had water issues, although town officials say flooding there is infrequent.
In the trial, the Police Department had objected to the apartment building being constructed in its backyard.
Stratford Police Capt. John Popik testified the construction would create flooding problems at department headquarters, and he feared destruction of “evidence for a serious accident,” in the event of flooding.
“Actually, with the improvements my client is making, there will be even less flooding at police headquarters,” Bellis said.
The donnybrook was over the vacant lot on Main Street across the street from the YMCA. For more than a decade, it was where an ornate, but burned-out, two-family home stood.
Recently, the parcel has become a gravel parking lot for U.S. Postal Service employees, but town officials said this is a temporary arrangement.
Next to that property is the Kingdom Hall Of Jehovah’s Witnesses church, whose acre lot is mostly paved for parking as well.
Police headquarters is situated behind and downhill from these properties, off Longbrook Avenue.
The Long Brook development company’s address is 990 Naugatuck Ave., Milford, the now-vacant address of a recycling company owned by Curcio.
The Stratford resident has long been linked by federal prosecutors to the Genovese crime family. He has served federal prison time for loan-sharking, extortion and obstruction of justice.
Lawyers for the town did not immediately return calls for comment.
In May 2014, Long Brook filed an application with the Stratford Planning and Zoning Commission to build 54 two-bedroom apartments in two buildings on the 0.91-acre parcel.
The commission later rejected the application; in February, Long Brook submitted the scaled-down plan, which was approved by the commission over the Police Department’s objection.
The town then appealed the Zoning Board’s decision and Long Brook appealed the rejection of its original plan. The lawsuit was filed March 31.
“The court finds the Town of Stratford’s objections to the approval of the modified plan fail to resonate, and are without merit,” the judge ruled.
The judge also tossed out the town’s insistence that there be an emergency entrance at the rear of the property — an entrance that would have required access from the police department’s own parking lot, and something the town was unwilling to provide.

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Former-mobster-gets-OK-to-build-next-to-police-6717639.php

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