Robert D'Apice pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy to participate in an enterprise engaged in racketeering. Illustration by David Stroud.

A federal judge heard 16 defendants admit their guilt Wednesday as part of a group plea agreement involving current and former employees of the Crazy Horse Too Gentlemen's Club.

The package deal will become final this afternoon if club owner Rick Rizzolo and his corporation, The Power Co., enter guilty pleas as scheduled. Rizzolo already has signed off on the agreement.

In court Wednesday, attorney Lisa Rasmussen described the plea negotiations as "agonizing" and "heart-wrenching."

"It has been a difficult process, particularly for these people who work together and have done so for years," Rasmussen said.

The attorney represents 41-year-old Darren Bruy, one of 14 men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, a felony. According to their plea agreements, they conspired to underreport the cash income they received from dancers' earnings at the end of each shift.

Also involved in Wednesday's proceedings was shift manager Robert D'Apice, 51, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to participate in an enterprise engaged in racketeering activity, and cocktail waitress Paula McBride, 28, who pleaded guilty to making a false statement before a grand jury. Both charges are felonies.

D'Apice and McBride were arrested last year after being indicted by a grand jury. All the other defendants in the case have waived the right to have a grand jury review the allegations against them.

The indictment against D'Apice focused on allegations that he and others at the Crazy Horse used force to compel customers to pay disputed charges.

According to the defendant's plea agreement, he sought on at least two occasions "to extort payment from patrons through explicit or implicit threats of violence, and through actual use of force and physical violence against patrons." No specific incident is included in the plea agreement.

But the indictment against D'Apice cited the September 2001 incident in which Kansas City tourist Kirk Henry was paralyzed from the chest down. In a lawsuit, Henry alleges that D'Apice broke his neck outside the club.

D'Apice's plea agreement includes the following statement: "Although defendant denies causing permanent and life-threatening injury to any patron of the Crazy Horse Too, defendant concedes that the government could present evidence sufficient to establish for the purposes of sentencing by a preponderance of the evidence that at least one extortion caused such injury."

Attorney Michael Cristalli, who represents D'Apice, said his client's plea bargain calls for a prison term in the range of 37 to 46 months. U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson is scheduled to sentence the defendant Oct. 17.

Rizzolo has agreed to pay Henry $10 million as part of his plea agreement.

During a grand jury hearing in August 2002, McBride was questioned about the events leading up to Henry's injury. She denied seeing D'Apice follow Henry as he walked out of the Crazy Horse.

"Did you know that testimony was false?" Dawson asked at McBride's plea hearing.

"Yes," she replied.

Dawson held hearings throughout the day Wednesday for the 16 defendants who entered guilty pleas. A plea hearing for Rizzolo is scheduled for this afternoon before U.S. District Judge Philip Pro.

Rizzolo has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. In addition to paying Henry, Rizzolo has agreed to pay $5 million in fines and forfeiture and $1.7 million to settle his tax liability.

Attorney Tony Sgro, who represents Rizzolo, said his client has agreed to sell the Crazy Horse within the next year to pay off his debts.

Sgro said Rizzolo admitted by signing his plea agreement that "he afforded an opportunity to his employees to receive cash and report that income inaccurately."

The attorney said authorities have been investigating Rizzolo since at least 1995, when they began using wiretaps to gather information about him.

In February 2003, dozens of law enforcement officers raided his club at 2476 Industrial Road. Authorities closed the business while they conducted an 11-hour search of its premises and nearby storage units.

Sgro said authorities also searched the club in late 2001.

Attorney John Spilotro, who represents former shift manager Rocco "Rocky" Lombardo, said his client had accepted the government's plea offer to avoid the potential of facing racketeering charges and the stress of preparing for a trial.

Spilotro said Lombardo, the 66-year-old brother of reputed Chicago mob boss Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, is retired and in poor health.

Also pleading guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to defraud the United States were Albert Rapuano, John Drace, Vincent Faraci, Scott Speroni, Steven Crespi, Ralph "Skip" Pope, James Stresing, Michael Lomonaco, Michael Muscato, Robert Ubriaco, Steve Alberts and Joseph Melfi.

According to the plea agreements, the Crazy Horse required strippers to pay 15 percent of their earnings to the business for the privilege of dancing for patrons at the topless club.

That money was divided "into portions or shares that were then distributed among certain of the Crazy Horse Too's male employees," the documents state. "The club's floormen, bouncers, bartenders and the shift managers themselves all received a share of the currency collected from the dancers."

As part of the conspiracy, according to the documents, Crazy Horse management and other employees agreed from 2000 to 2003 to underreport the cash income received at the end of each shift.

"What they've done is being done in every service industry in this town," Spilotro said outside court Wednesday.