Strippers Provided To Players
An Atlanta strip club linked to organized crime provided thousands of dollars' worth of strippers and alcohol to NBA stars Patrick Ewing, Dennis Rodman and Charles Oakley, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Daily News of New York quoted unidentified federal sources and investigative records as saying that during five nights at the Gold Club in April 1998, "Patrick Ewing and friends" ran up a bill of $2,233, including a $991 tab in a single night.
Oakley, who left the New York Knicks in June 1998 and now plays for Toronto, was "comped" for $1,313 and $665 on two nights in June 1997, while Rodman paid $411, $516, $786, $895, $926, and $946 in phony money called Gold Bucks during visits from 1995-98, the newspaper said.
Steven Kaplan, owner of the Gold Club, and 14 other defendants were indicted Nov. 4 on charges including prostitution, racketeering, money-laundering, loan-sharking and credit-card fraud. They have pleaded innocent.
The government contends the Gold Club was a virtual brothel that corrupted police, provided dancers as prostitutes for regular clients and skimmed millions from the cash flow to buy protection from the New York-based Gambino organized crime family.
No athletes were named in the indictment and none faces allegations of wrongdoing.
NBA spokesman Brian McIntyre said the league was monitoring developments in the case, but "we have not started any investigation."
NBA players are occasionally advised by the league's security office to stay away from certain establishments where criminal activity is suspected, and the standard player contract forbids behavior that is "materially prejudicial or detrimental" to the league.
"It's a public place. It's like going to the mall," Oakley said. "You go to the mall to shop, you go there to cool out. What's the big deal?
Rodman's agent, Steve Chasman, said the league office had not contacted him or his client regarding the strip club. Ewing did not speak to reporters prior to the Knicks' game against Golden State.
The indictment also said that in April or May 1997, Kaplan and the other defendants transported female dancers from the Gold Club to the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, S.C., so dancers could "perform a lesbian sex show and have sex with members of a professional basketball team."
The indictment did not identify the team, but the Knicks were in Charleston in April 1997 for a playoff training camp. The team has held training camps in Charleston since 1991.
The Daily News said at least several Knicks players were at the sex show.
ccording to the indictment, club employees arranged for dancers to have sex with celebrity clients including unidentified professional basketball players in the club's private rooms, at local hotels or on trips outside Atlanta.
Two Delta Air Lines employees were charged with helping arrange those trips for reduced rates in exchange for club services and other considerations.
Lori Hamamoto, a spokeswoman for the Knicks, said the team would have no comment.
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