Notorious mobsters like Tony Soprano and his friends routinely ran their meetings inside the fictional Bada Bing! bar, but the real-life club Satin Dolls could be seeing its last call soon.
In what very well could be a story line from The Sopranos, New Jersey authorities say Lodi, New Jersey’s Satin Dolls’ liquor license must be sold or transferred and live entertainment must cease, because the business is being run by a convicted racketeer who conspired with the Genovese crime family.
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“Illegal activity was glorified at the ‘Bada Bing’ in the fictional world of Tony Soprano, but it has no place in modern-day New Jersey,” state Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino said in a release announcing the order, NorthJersey.com reports. “It’s time to shut it down.”
Authorities with the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control contend Anthony Cardinalle, whose family owns Satin Dolls, has continued to run the business despite being criminally disqualified from doing so.
Cardinalle pleaded guilty to federal income tax evasion in 1995 for not reporting cash payments from “gentlemen’s clubs” in which he held undisclosed interests, authorities said. He also pleaded guilty in 2013 to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion, after authorities said he participated in a waste-disposal-related scheme by the Genovese crime family in New Jersey and New York.
Satin Dolls and A.J.’s Gentleman’s Club in Secaucus, which the state says is also owned by the Cardinalles, have until Jan. 3 to either sell or transfer their liquor licenses to a third party. Additionally, authorities say live entertainment must stop at both clubs by Dec. 17.
State authorities also said on Thursday that the clubs’ owners failed to account for “large amounts of cash flowing in and out of the businesses,” and that administrative charges alleging criminal solicitation for prostitution and lewd activity had been issued in May.
“The holding of licenses to sell and serve alcohol is contingent upon the owners’ behaving in a reputable manner,” said David P. Rible, director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control. “The Cardinalles, quite simply, have not played by the rules despite many opportunities to correct their behavior, and it’s time to get them out of the alcohol business once and for all.”
Whoever assumes ownership of the Satin Dolls liquor license must gain the approval of Borough Council before it can re-open, Lodi Mayor Emil Carafa said.
It was not clear whether the bar would be allowed to continue as a strip club.
