Two Illinois men have been convicted in a strip club exploitation case, officials said.
The 71-year-old man was convicted of theft and intimidation charges, and the 68-year-old man pleaded guilty to theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
McClatchy News reached out to the attorneys for both men. The attorney for the 71-year-old man did not wish to comment. The attorney for the 68-year-old man did not immediately respond.
Evidence showed that the two “conspired to regularly demand and collect payments from a Harvey strip club based on threats that the city of Harvey would potentially interfere with the club’s operations if the payments were not made.”
The two men collected thousands of dollars from the strip club each month and handed the money over to the mayor, court records revealed.
The mayor was the brother of the 71-year-old man. They have another brother, who was a city police officer, according to court documents.
In 2003, the mayor approached the owner of the strip club and demanded the owner pay $3,000 a month, officials said.
In exchange, the city would not interfere with the strip club allowing prostitution out of the business, authorities said. For the next five years, the strip club owner paid the mayor $3,000 a month, court records said.
Sometime between 2007 and 2008, the mayor ordered the club owner to increase the payments to $6,000 a month, officials said.
When the owner refused to do so, a city police officer came to the strip club and shut it down, authorities said. The owner reopened the club, and it was shut down again, officials said. The owner reopened it, and the officer came back and shut it down a third time, telling the club manager, “tell your boss to just pay the man,” according to court records.
Finally, the owner agreed to the $6,000 monthly payments, officials said.
When the owner died in 2008, the owner’s child took over the business. At this point, the manager made the monthly payments to the 68-year-old man, then he delivered the payments to the mayor or to the 71-year-old man, officials said.
The payments went on through 2018, according to court documents.
Investigators, at one point, tapped both men’s phones and were able to listen in on conversations between them and others, according to an affidavit. They also said they had recordings of conversations between the club manager and the 68-year-old man.
In 2017, the club manager began to work with authorities. At the direction of law enforcement, the manager continued to make payments to the 68-year-old man, paying him $37,000 between Dec. 8, 2017, and May 3, 2018, according to court documents.
Officials said the 71-year-old man directed and supervised the 68-year-old man in the payment collections.
The 71-year-old man was convicted of five counts, including conspiracy to commit theft and intimidation and causing the use of facilities in interstate commerce to promote theft and intimidation. The 68-year-old man pleaded guilty to theft, officials said. Both are awaiting sentencing.
The then-mayor was not charged in the case.
Harvey is about 25 miles south of Chicago.
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