Club operator hires reputed mob figure

The chairman and CEO of Rick's Cabaret International, Eric Langan, said Wednesday he has hired reputed Bonanno crime family soldier Vincent Faraci to help manage his Las Vegas topless club.

Neither Faraci's reputation with federal law enforcement nor his two prior criminal convictions dissuaded Langan from bringing him into the fold of the publicly traded company.

"We're aware of his background," Langan said. "He's been cleared by the sheriff's department to work in Las Vegas."

Industry sources report Faraci enjoys a work card and recently worked at the Eden strip club. He was one of 15 local men to plead guilty in 2006 to criminal charges related to a protracted FBI and Las Vegas police investigation of Rick Rizzolo's Crazy Horse Too topless cabaret on Industrial Road.

Throughout the investigation, Faraci was described as a member of the Bonanno crime family. But when it came time for him to receive a 10-month sentence from U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, Faraci's attorney David Chesnoff successfully argued for his client to not be labeled as mob-connected. Faraci's sentence called for five months of incarceration and five months under house arrest.

Langan, profiled last year in Forbes magazine as operator of one of America's 200 Best Small Companies, said the trouble Faraci found himself in at the Crazy Horse Too could not happen at Rick's Cabaret because of the club's superior internal control system.

"He worked at the same place 21 years," Langan said. "He had some tax issues there. It's not an issue with us. We pay our people with paychecks and issue W-2s, not cash, like Rick did at the Crazy Horse.

"He was involved with an owner who set up a system that the IRS didn't like. We're a publicly traded company. Vinny doesn't even touch cash in our business."

Rick's Cabaret International trades on the NASDAQ. The Houston-based company operates 19 clubs in 13 cities, including the Las Vegas location at 3355 Procyon St.