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Hi! I've got an offer you can't refuse. I’ve spent 3 years investigating how a Mafia soldier is behind the collapse of @TobyKeith and @RascalFlatts restaurant chains. I figured you'll enjoy a thread about how it came together. What have you got to lose? azcentral.com/in-depth/news/…
A warning before we start. The story contains raw and explosive language. This is not your typical news story. It's enough to make your grandma blush.
This started in 2015 with a routine assignment. My editor @kathytulumello asked me what was happening at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. Honestly, I wasn’t really interested. A bunch were closing in Phoenix. Happens all the time, right? No. Not like this.
I got interested fast. Turns out a Phoenix company called Boomtown Entertainment owned Toby Keith restaurants across the country. And it was closing them. At the same Boomtown was closing restaurants, it was promising new ones. Weird, right? Stay with me. azcentral.com/story/money/bu…
Boomtown closed 19 of 20 Toby Keith restaurants in about 18 months; it promised 20 more that never got built. Developers said it was intentional. They accused the owner of taking money meant to pay for construction and walking away. Lawsuits were being filed all over the U.S.
Reporters don’t believe in coincidence – and the restaurant failures formed a pattern. Some stayed open a few weeks before closing. I asked to interview Boomtown’s owner and was invited to the company’s newest restaurant. I was the only person in the building. It was dinnertime.
Didn’t you say something about the Mafia? I’m getting there. Boomtown’s owner wouldn’t meet with me in person. He was a man named Frank Capri. He had a very unusual past. He didn’t seem to exist before 1999. azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
The more questions I asked about Capri, the less I seemed to be able to find out. In family court documents, I found references to the Federal Witness Protection Program and the New York mob.
In one court document, Capri’s own lawyer told a judge that even if Capri were in witness protection he’d have to lie about it, per the program rules. Then he asked the judge to seal the case. That’s what we call a smoking gun.
More digging. I found records that Capri was a former soldier in New York’s notorious Lucchese crime family. His real name was Frank Gioia Jr. He became a “made man” in 1994. The government gave him a new identity after he implicated dozens of mobsters. azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
Knowing v. proving. I had to confirm Capri’s identity. I dug through his past and talked with federal and state prosecutors, Mafia lawyers, past associates, contractors, developers and Mafia historians. Several people identified pictures of Capri as Gioia Jr.
This might be a good time to ‘fess up. I don't work alone. It took a great team of @azcentral editors, producers, digital artists and videographers to make this story come alive. Check out the illustrations by Audrey Tate. And look at the videos by Patrick Breen @pjbreenphoto 
Capri’s exploits raise lots of questions about witness protection. In 2017, @azcentral published a series of stories about Capri and found the program is designed more to protect criminals than the public. azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
Is Rascal Flatts another victim? Turns out Capri wasn’t done after Toby Keith. The band signed a deal with RF Restaurants to build country restaurants around its chart-topping hits. The band didn’t know Capri was behind the company. azcentral.com/story/news/loc…
Capri’s name was not on public documents tied to RF Restaurants. But I found he controlled key aspects of the projects that failed last year. Capri's associate made recordings of phone calls with Capri. They really tell a story.
How did that work? The managers of RF Restaurants are Tawny Costa and Chris Burka. Costa is Capri’s girlfriend. Costa and Burka point fingers at each other. Costa says she was never an owner. Burka says Costa controlled the finances.
Guess what happened? Projects collapsed. The Rascal Flatts restaurants had a similar outcome to Capri’s Toby Keith restaurants. One opened and closed a year later. Projects in seven states failed. Money for construction was gone.
Mobsters have a name for that, don’t they? They do. They call it a “bust out.” It refers to using a company’s line of credit to drain it of assets. There are lots of variations. The scheme is so popular, it was used on an episode of HBO’s The Sopranos.
Why does this keep happening? How does Capri get away with it? It’s a question everybody asks. I don't have an answer. But a case quietly making its way through federal court suggests authorities are paying attention.
That’s all I’ve got. Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into an investigation. Check out the whole story. Questions? Thoughts? Reach out. azcentral.com/in-depth/news/…
