Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Testimony to Begin in Gold Club Trial

Aired May 15, 2001 - 11:03   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Our next story involves mobsters, pro athletes, a strip club owner, and the FBI. It kind of sounds like "The Sopranos," but these are real-life players in a federal racketeering trial here in Atlanta. Testimony is set to begin today in the so-called Gold Club trial. CNN's national investigative correspondent Art Harris gives us a closer look at this intriguing story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To hear his lawyers tell it, Steve Kaplan is a savvy businessman, who by drawing athletes and entertainers turned the Gold Club into perhaps the hottest strip club in the country, a $20 million-a-year money machine.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Art Leach argued Kaplan paid strippers to be prostitutes for high-profile athletes, that Kaplan and others over-billed credit cards, laundered money, bribed police, and skimmed millions for the mob.

Also on trial is this man, Michael DiLeonardo, his nickname Mikey Scars, described by prosecutors as a captain in the Gambino crime family, the bag man who collected protection money from Steve Kaplan. Leach warned jurors to expect graphic testimony from superstar athletes, including basketball player Patrick Ewing and football stars Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson, about having sex with Gold Club strippers. The prosecution is also likely to play this tape:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH PINSON, EX-GOLD CLUB EMPLOYEE: I walked in and Patrick Ewing was getting (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The voice on the tape is an ex-employee and ex-Kaplan girlfriend, who says she saw one stripper performing oral sex on Ewing. She also says on the tape Steve Kaplan knew all about prostitution at the club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PINSON: Steve loved it, reveled in it, thrived on it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: No athlete is charged in any wrongdoing. Leach said Kaplan tricked the players. In court, defense attorneys argued any sex between strippers and athletes was consensual.

In his opening statement, Kaplan lawyer Steve Sadow said the government's case was built on lies. He urged jurors to be skeptical about prosecution witnesses, especially convicted mobsters. Sadow claimed some had traded testimony for a get-out-of-jail-free card.

STEVE SADOW, KAPLAN'S ATTORNEY: They are the scum of the earth. And the only reason they're here is the government has bought and paid for them.

HARRIS: Arguing the Gold Club was on the up and up, defense attorneys pointed to an A-list of clients: off-duty Secret Service agents, Donald Trump, even the king of Sweden.

(on camera): The trial is expected to last at least three months, stretching over a summer that promises to be as hot outside the courtroom as inside.

Art Harris, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com