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American Morning
Gold Club Trial Continues
Aired June 15, 2001 - 11:11 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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: More testimony in the federal trial of Gold Club owner Steve Kaplan in Atlanta: A former manager this morning called the strip club a den of illegal sex, drug abuse and financial fraud. She said this morning, in the absence of a jury, that threats were made against her and her family.
Jon Lewis is a reporter with WSB radio here in Atlanta. And he's been following the trial since the very beginning so we want to get more information from him. Hi, Jon.
JON LEWIS, WSB RADIO: How are you, Donna?
KELLEY: Real good, thanks. Hope you're the same.
Tell us what testimony happened this week. There was a former girlfriend who had a lot to say.
LEWIS: Well, two former girlfriends, in fact. Debbie Pinson is the former girlfriend of Steve Kaplan, the owner of the club. She testified to credit card fraud and other illegal activity she said happened at the club. The credit card fraud took the form that dancers at the club were told to get patrons drunk. Then, once a patron was inebriated to the point where he could hardly stand up they would take a hand, get a thumbprint on a security card, and that would beat the credit card security systems, and then do anything they want.
And she was saying they were adding zeros to credit card bills, running charges through $2000-$3,000 every 20 minutes. Bills that were supposed to be hundreds of dollars were into the tens of thousands of dollars.
And yesterday, women by the name of Jennifer Romanello, she's the former girlfriend of the general manager of the club. She also talked about the credit card fraud, she talked about sexual escapades involving NBA players at the club, and she also talked about connections with organized crime.
The general manager is a man by the name of Norby Calder. And they had a very stormy relationship. She made allegations of abuse. And she said during their relationship, a span of six years, about a half dozen times he told her that if she were to testify against either Kaplan, Norby Calder or the Gold Club that -- and these were her words -- "I would be whacked and family would disappear." So some very chilling testimony took place yesterday. KELLEY: Emphasize once again, of course, we're in a trial and these are allegations.
LEWIS: All allegations being made.
KELLEY: Yes. Tell us some of the money figures. I was surprised to see some of the money of what the girls could make without prostitution...
LEWIS: That's right.
KELLEY: ... and what the Gold Club was bringing in weekly.
LEWIS: First of all, the weekly -- Steve Kaplan, the owner, was caught on an FBI surveillance tape talking that his club brings in $180,000 to $200,000 a week. And Ziggy Sicignano who is the -- on of the best friends of Steve Kaplan, I guess now a former best friend of Steve Kaplan, also a manager of the club. He testified that on a good night a dancer at the club could make $5,000-$10,000 easily. And some nights dancers were making as much as $30,000 a night in tips and other fees, and that's not counting the allegations of prostitution and all the other things going on. So just basically a cash machine going on at the Gold Club.
KELLEY: And some of the sports stars accused in this too have come out and said, "No, sir, no, no, no, not me."
LEWIS: That's right. And Antonio Davis, in fact, has filed a lawsuit against Ziggy for $50 million for defamation. But there have been some sports stars who have come out. John Starks, who used to play for the New York Knicks, he testified before the grand jury. He admitted that he did frequent the Gold Club, that he was the subject of certain favors. He says that three dancers were sent back to his hotel room here in Atlanta with him. On the orders of the management the Gold Club the dancers were acting as prostitutes.
But Starks said since that time and since his grand jury testimony he was a born again Christian so he felt he had to cleanse his soul and testify. But he admits these things did happen.
KELLEY: All right. Jon Lewis, reporter with WSB radio, thanks for bringing us up to speed. Thank you.
LEWIS: Any time. Thank you.
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