Eat Fresh: Subway by Day, Strip Club by Night
First, he started a rent-a-stripper business over the Internet. That ended in handcuffs in 2001 after he supplied a stripper to a high school party, according to the New York Post.
Agnello then tried a different approach. He opened a Subway fast-food restaurant in 2007. The franchise shut it down for having Al Capone posters in the store and employees not wearing proper uniforms, according to the Post.
But divine inspiration was near at hand. The 48-year-old businessman decided to combine his two failed business into one. He opened "Cousin Vinny's Way," which, according to his flyer, promised $5 foot-long subs, a free fountain drink and "six hours of nonstop, hard-core, live action from some of the most beautiful young ladies who have ever chosen to take their clothes off in public."
Right.
Neighbors were outraged. But to Agnello, sex and subs sounded like an excellent business model.
"During the day, it is an extraordinary 'Subway-style submarine sandwich shop' offering the highest-quality meats," he wrote in e-mails and fliers promoting his shop, according to the Post. "At 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, this seemingly harmless sub shop becomes the wildly exotic and explicit, all-nude private club 'Cousin Vinny's Little Secret.'"
But Doctor's Associates Inc., the company that owns Subway, didn't find "Cousin Vinny's Little Secret" amusing.
They slapped Angelo with a lawsuit for improperly using Subway-branded paper on his sandwhiches, bags and menus, the New York Post reported.
Angelo could be forced to pay $100,000 in damages.
He has since posted a public apology on the wall of the stripper sub shop, the paper reports.