Dark History - 173: Stripper Wars: Chippendales’ Glamour, Greed & MURDER?!

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

Hi friends, happy Wednesday!  For some reason, female nudity feels *way* more common than male nudity. In pop culture at least, we’re way more used to seeing women being naked and sexualised.  Think how many times you see titties on tv. And then think about how everyone loses their minds when there’s a penis on HBO or White Lotus. It’s rare!  Back in the 1950s, it was only men who had bachelor parties. Bachelorette parties? Not a thing. In those days, women would have bridal showers. And men got to have their wild night out.  But by the 70s, feminism was going strong. Women were feeling a little more liberated. They wanted equality, and that meant that we wanted bachelorette parties, baby. Like, we want exactly what the guys are having.  And this story is really about a few guys being in the right place at the right time. Because they started something over in Los Angeles that overlapped with the rise of porn, *and* female empowerment. Because what do you need for the perfect bachelorette party? Booze, penis straws and… strippers. Hot, naked, dancing men. I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History. I sometimes talk about my Good Reads in the show. So here's the link if you want to check it out. IDK. lol: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/139701263-bailey ________ FOLLOW ME AROUND Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian* RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail] Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail: Bailey Sarian 4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300 Burbank, CA 91505 ________ This podcast is Executive Produced by: Bailey Sarian & Kevin Grosch and Joey Scavuzzo from Made In Network Head Writer: Allyson Philobos Writer: Katie Burris Additional Writing: Jessica Charles Research provided by: Coleen Smith Special thank you to our Historical Consultant: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - Professor of History at The New School and host of the podcast ‘Welcome To Your Fantasy’. Director: Brian Jaggers Edited by: Julien Perez Additional Editing: Maria Norris Post Supervisor: Kelly Hardin  Production Management: Ross Woodruff Hair: Angel Gonzalez Makeup: Nikki La Rose ________ So take advantage of this exclusive offer: For a limited time get 40% off your first box PLUS get a free item in every box for life. Go to https://www.hungryroot.com/darkhistory and use code darkhistory. Shop SKIMS Ultimate Bra Collection and more at https://www.SKIMS.com. After you place your order, be sure to let them know I sent you! Select "podcast" in the survey and be sure to select my show in the dropdown menu that follows. Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to https://www.zocdoc.com/darkhistory to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. Head to https://www.squarespace.com/darkhistory for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, just use OFFER CODE DARK HISTORY to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain.

Hello everyone and welcome to our episode on Chip and Dale's. Oh did you think we were doing an episode on Chip and Dale the cartoon? Yeah no we're talking about Streetverse Joan come on. How did you miss the memo? I said dress slutty. Okay look we're all on different pages here because Paul over here is just as bad. He's wearing a shirt from Alvin and the Chipmunks. What happened here? This was a miss. Okay, start over.

Okay, we're back, and everyone is finally in their proper costumes, except for Joan. She's just naked. Paul is dressed like a stripper, and he even brought his little friend, Rob. Hi, Rob. Woo, I love that full head of hair.

You guys look great. You're such a cute couple. Okay, so I've mentioned this a handful of times. I went to Vegas. I think it was last year. It might have been the year before. Everything's a blur. And, you know, I went to a little meal strip club situation with some of my friends and my ass got pulled on stage. Ooh, ooh! Look, I brought some video evidence. I'm not gonna show you the full video, but just so you can see.

So that's me on stage, okay? I got called up there. Making love, all night long! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! It's every evening. Okay, that's not the good clip.

Let me show them I'm getting dry humped. Okay, maybe I shouldn't show this clip actually. Okay, I wanted to show you guys a clip but as I'm realizing, probably not appropriate but I got pulled up on stage. Let's zoom out. Okay, it was so much fun though. All these guys were on stage, all oiled up, the lights, the performance, the theater. It was so fun.

And then I got called on stage and I was like, okay, I'm just gonna do it. I'm gonna do it, you guys. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. So I go up there and then I realized, cause there was three of us up there and each one was getting dry Humpt and I was like, uh-oh. I'm next and listen if I'm gonna get dry humped on stage. I'm gonna perform

Okay, and let me just say I was fully clothed. They were fully clothed I was getting dry humped, but I was like, you know getting all into it It was so fun. So stupid, but so fun. And then they picked me up. Yeah, I was like, oh, he's so big and strong. Oh, he picked me up and we're just like, and I was like, oh, I feel like with Mael Strip clubs, like it's fun.

It's just fun, it's silly, and it's stupid. We kind of all are under the agreement that like, you're not actually gonna like, sleep with them or anything, but it's just like a fun, fun time. I probably hadn't laughed that hard in so long. Anyway, this got me thinking, what is the history behind male strippers?

So I went down a rabbit hole and I stumbled upon a scandal that just so happens to be linked to one of the biggest names in male stripping, Chippendales. Oh, what could go on there? You won't believe it. Welcome to the dark history of Chippendales. Nch, nch, nch, nch, nch. Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today.

My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here I believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes like rarely it's happy, but either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'm always here for you posting new content. And let me know what you guys think. I love hearing from you in the comments section,

and I read comments at the end of every episode if you didn't know. But other than that, let's get into it. For some reason, female nudity feels way more common than male nudity, right? In pop culture, at least, we see women being sexualized and naked all the time. Boobs, right? Boobs all the time. I did hear, though, on the last season of White Lotus, there was a wiener. I might have to check this out. It's very rare. It's a rare occurrence.

Do you remember forgetting Sarah Marshall? There was a split second where you saw Dick and I was like, what? Pause. Back in the 1950s, it was only men who had bachelor parties. Bachelorette parties? Not a thing yet. In those days, women would have bridal showers and men would like, you know, have their moment to go out and have a wild night. But by the 70s, feminism was going strong. Women were feeling a little more liberated. They wanted equality and of course that meant that we wanted bachelorette parties. We wanted to have fun like the guys were having. I'm gonna go out and be wild. And this story is really about a few guys just being in the right place at the right time.

Because they started something over in Los Angeles that overlapped with the rise of porn and female empowerment. Because, you know, if you're gonna have a bachelorette party just like the guys do, what do you need? Booze, penis straws, and knock knock knock knock hello I'm here to arrest you. Oomch oomch oomch oomch oomch oomch. Has that ever happened to you where like someone knocks at the door and they come in they're like I'm here to arrest the woman who's getting married or no it's just the real cops and it was just a raid and you're like, oh shit. So it's the 60s, girl power, all the rage. Burning the bras, we're doing it. Growing our hair legs, we love it.

And this is when an Indian man named Shoman Banerjee moves to Los Angeles. Once he got to America, Shoman decided to go by Steve. So that's what we're gonna call him. According to our expert, this was because Steve didn't want people to look at him as an immigrant. You know, he wanted to be seen as an American, like everyone else.

So Steve found work in business. He actually had a job at Mattel. I know, I was like, was he making Barbies? What was he doing? And he owned a couple of gas stations. Like he was doing okay. He owned a couple of gas stations. Like, he was doing okay. He was a pretty smart businessman here. I freaking roll because we hear this all the freaking time. He wanted to be the number one business guy in America. He wanted to be the

richest of rich. The American dream. It's all about being fucking rich and number one. It's like, God, what happened to like, simple realistic dreams? Like, I wanna fly a kite. When was the last time you flew a kite? What happened to those dreams? Bring them back. Steve decides to get into the nightclub business.

And in 1975, he ends up buying a business that was struggling in Los Angeles. It was called Destiny 2. Destiny 2 was not doing well and also it really wasn't in a great part of Los Angeles. So I'm sure why he made this move, you know? But he did. Steve thought that adding a bunch of unique shows would help draw more people to Destiny 2. So pretty soon this club is doing anything and everything you can think of, okay? They've got dinner theater, magic shows, uh, ooh, women's mud wrestling. Hot, right? I hate those. You ever see those? It's like woman mud wrestling

or wrestling in jello. What is that? What's that fantasy? What is that? I don't, what is that? Turns out the whole mud wrestling thing though, it literally was a mess and it took forever to get the floor of the club clean, you know? So it was like okay that's probably not a good idea. It was fun to watch. I liked watching those boobies bounce but it's too much cleanup. This is when Steve's realizing like, you know, this still isn't the vibe I'm going for. But perfect timing. Steve gets really lucky. He meets a club promoter. His name is Paul Snyder.

Not our Paul, this is a different Paul. Paul had just moved to Los Angeles from Canada and just like Steve, he also like really wanted to make a name for himself in America. According to everyone who knew him, Paul was very bold and brash. He was flashy. He was described as quote animated, crazy, obnoxious, end quote. He wore fur coats and big jewel-encrusted necklaces. He was that guy. You see, back when Paul was in Canada, he had seen some male strip shows popping up

at a local gay club and he thought it was like there's something there. So when he came to America, he saw what was going on at Steve's club and Paul came to Steve with an idea. He's like, hey, back in Canada, I saw some like shit where we were like, guys were like getting naked and what, and like stripping and stuff. Like, what if we did that?

But not gay. It would be men dancing for women. So Paul tells Steve, look, male stripping is gonna be like the next big thing. You should have one night at the club, dedicated to male stripping for women. Just trust me on this. Steve, he was out of ideas.

So he's like, oh, okay, I'm down. Nothing else is working. So in 1979, Steve and Paul put their heads together and decided to rename Destiny 2. Chippendales. If you're like me, you're like, why'd they name male strippers after a Chippendale? You know?

Well, actually, Bailey, you are wrong on that. I guess the name Chippendales actually comes from a style of furniture. Yeah, not even like erotic. And this was the kind of furniture that was in the original club that Steve took over. Now, I guess Chippendale furniture was known for being sturdy and long lasting.

You can plop right on it. And that's as much as I can think, I don't know. They thought this would give their brand a touch of class and sophistication. Chippendales became known as the first ever male strip club catering to a female audience. Well, that's what they claimed. But to be fair, it's completely untrue.

Because look, fact check, there was actually a place called Sugar Shack. Yeah, they were first. Over in Wisconsin, a place called the Sugar Shack had opened 14 years earlier in 1965. It was run by a former Playboy bunny named Dana Montana. So Dana was a total pioneer in the strip club community. She had male strippers dancing on stage at the Sugar Shack

years before Chip and Dale's even existed. So it was like, okay, that's cute, but I've been doing it first. Just wanna give some credit where credit is due, Sugar Shack, Dana Montana, I see you girl, icon. So the Sugar Shack is actually still around to this day as of right now. It's in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The difference here was that the sugar shack remained

like a local business and Chip and Dale's, they didn't want to be a local business. They wanted to take over the world. Hi, it's me Bailey coming from my basement. It's kind of giving Blair Witch a little bit, but I'm here to do an ad Do you ever find yourself opening the fridge and just standing there staring? Blank at a sad bag of spinach wondering hey

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Thank you. Right from the start, Chippendales was at the right place at the right time. Los Angeles in the 70s. It's a sex forward time and porn is on the rise in a very big way. There were movies that were coming out like Deep Throat, which turned out to be like a huge hit. And during this time in the 70s,

it was considered like the golden age of porn. So seeing male strippers was like the perfect combination of something sexy and edgy that was also in a safe, controlled environment for normal people, you know? So nothing too crazy could happen. So once the doors opened to Chip and Dale's, ooh, the ladies just flooded in. In the beginning, the dancers had costumes.

They had a very distinct costume. They wear those little like wrist cuffs, the collar, the bow tie, it's classic. If you're watching on YouTube, Paul and Rob, their outfits were inspired by the classic Chippendales look. Love it, you guys. You look so good. The idea for the iconic Chippendale look actually came from Paul Snyder's girlfriend at the time. Her name was Dorothy Stratton. So at the time she was 19 and she was a bunny at the Playboy Mansion and she even was Playmate of the Year. Apparently Dorothy suggested

the look because it was very similar to like the iconic bunnies their look at the Playboy Club. Dorothy you know she was a playmate whatever whatever. So she had a connection, okay? And she was able to kind of get permission from Hugh Hefner who allowed Chip and Dale's to use the Playboy trademarked look. Instead of the hot bunny waitresses over at the Playboy club, the female customers were waited on

by hot men at Chippendales. It was like a, what's that called? Like a power switch. Now, in the beginning of Chippendales, they had a very specific look. Yes, the outfits, whatever, but they only hired white dancers. And this was intentional.

Steve said he wanted white men who looked like Greek gods, which I was like, Steve, as an Indian immigrant, wouldn't you want like, you know, wouldn't you want to mix it up a bit or no? Okay, so race is like everyone else, huh? Well, eventually he would hire some black dancers, but apparently it was only one at a time. And the majority of Chippendales dancers stayed white.

So Paul, the partner, was in charge of scouting. He would go to gyms and beaches all across Los Angeles to look for the right guys. And to be fair, Los Angeles is filled with so many hotties. You know, you go down to the beach, that's, he probably found a lot. There was a lot of options. Meanwhile, Paul, the partner,

was still dating Dorothy Stratton, the playmate of the year. In fact, they ended up getting married in June of 1979. And at this point in Dorothy's career, she was killing it. Like her career was starting to take off. She had transitioned into acting and was getting some pretty big roles. She was even the muse of a famous director

named Peter Bogdanovich. Peter directed big movies like The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon. He also was an actor on The Sopranos. So this director would just love Dorothy's look. I mean, you know, every artist needs a muse and it was Dorothy for him. And this is when her marriage to Paul, the partner, starts to fall apart because rumor had it that Dorothy and Peter, the director, were seeing each other romantically. I'm sure they were. I mean if some man tells you, you're my muse, I'd be like, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh uh, Dorothy starts to distance herself from Paul, the partner, and this only makes him more jealous and possessive. Dorothy decides

she needs to get a divorce. So she starts preparing to file. So Dorothy preparing for a divorce. She had just moved in with her new man, that director guy. This left Paul, the partner, feeling humiliated and desperate. He was raging, he wanted revenge. So on August 14th, 1980, Paul lured Dorothy to his house, saying he was finally ready to talk about finances. That he would be civil, it would be just a conversation, whatever. He specifically wanted to talk about dividing assets

and like all the boring stuff that sucks, you know? Dorothy decided to go because she thought, you know, Paul was finally being reasonable. But what she didn't know was that just a few days before inviting her over, Paul had purchased a 12 gauge shotgun. It's a trap girl. It's a trap girl. So Dorothy shows up to Paul's house sometime between like noon and 5 p.m. He somehow got her into the bedroom and then he shut the door and he locked it. Then he allegedly started assaulting her.

It escalated and at some point he whipped out the shotgun, forced her onto her knees and fired. So sad. Dorothy died instantly from a shot to the left side of her head. forced her onto her knees and fired. So sad. Dorothy died instantly from a shot to the left side of her head. She was only 20 years old. So fucked up.

Paul's like, now what? You know? For hours, he was alone in the house with Dorothy's body. We don't know for sure what he was doing, but he was probably doing something fucking weird. I bet you. Cause we've seen it on murder mystery. Probably doing doing something fucking weird. I bet you, because we've seen it on Murder Mystery. Probably doing something a little weird.

But then after some time, he actually turns the gun on himself and fired. Right away, news spread all over the media. You know, Dorothy was this like gorgeous, blonde, young celebrity. People were shocked, shocked. She was killed. You know, I mean, it was like, oh, her career was just taking off. Oh, no. You know, it was just, it was everywhere. This wasn't

good news for Chippendales. The last thing Steve wanted was a bloody murder-suicide associated with his club. Because remember, Paul was like a partner. Steve's way to address the situation was to just deny that he knew Paul. He's like, I don't know who you're talking about. Never met that guy. It's crazy. It's so weird. I don't know why you keep thinking I know him. Never heard of him. Nope. Low key, Steve was like happy to be the only one in charge again. Apparently, according to Steve, Paul, the partner, had been like a horrible MC and a pretty unreliable business partner. Steve hadn't been happy with him for a while. So as tragic as it was, it seemed like for Steve he was like, yahtzee. But at some point,

Steve does realize that he's gonna need some help if he wants to keep Chippendales going. And this is where he gets really lucky for the second time. In 1981, Steve hires a TV producer named Nick DeNoia. He brings this guy on, he's like, "'I want you to run the show.'" You see, Nick was like kind of a big deal. He won two Emmy Awards. Yeah, I was like, what for?

For a show called Unicorn Tales? Missed that one. But he won awards for it. You know, it was a kids show on NBC apparently. So they start working together and Nick comes in and takes the Chippendales choreography up a notch. So he starts teaching the Chippendales guys all the moves.

You see, before Nick came in, the Chippendales guys all the moves. You see, before Nick came in, the Chippendales routine was really just like them up there kind of just doing their thing and taking clothes off. Like there wasn't actual like steps or like numbers or anything, you know? So now the dancing was getting more technical. It was becoming more of a performance. So yeah, I mean, there was a lot of press around Paul and Dorothy, that awful death, but Chippendales was able to kind of remove themselves from that, and they were doing very well. Oh, so well that the demand outgrows Los Angeles. So Nick and Steve decide to take Chip and Dale's on the road.

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Now, even though Steve was the one who hired Nick, they didn't really get along. Steve and Nick, I guess they were just constantly butting heads. So Steve was kind of in denial about how good Nick was at his job. Honestly, in my personal opinion, I think Steve was jealous that someone was actually

kind of better than him, you know? But meanwhile, Nick hated that Steve was the owner at the end of the day. But sometimes you don't like your boss, whatever. It is what it is. So despite their differences, Chippendales was doing very well. It had expanded to a swanky new location in New York,

and it looked like this was just the beginning. Celebrities started coming to see the show, especially at the club in New York, and it looked like this was just the beginning. Celebrities started coming to see the show, especially at the club in New York City. Pretty soon, people were asking, who was the person behind all this success? We wanna meet him. And somehow, Nick gets all the credit for this show. All of a sudden, Nick was on all these talk shows

talking about Chippendales, how he started it, well, like taking all the credit. Well, Steve's sitting at home like, Oh yeah, you doing your credit? You got what you're doing? You got what you're doing? You know, just getting a little upset. He's feeling a little left out.

I mean, yeah, he was still the owner of the business. But Loki, I think Steve wanted the fame. And that's fine, you're allowed to want that. In 1983, Steve and Nick decided that they needed to meet, sit down and actually figure their relationship out because it was clear like things were not working out between the two of them. So they decided to meet up at like a local restaurant. So Nick had a pitch.

He was like, look, I'll give up all the rights to the show, but I want 50% of the profits from Chippendale's tours. Steve thought this over. He's like, okay, all right. So Steve thought it over. He's like, yeah, I'm down with this. Look, since they're at a restaurant and not a law office, they decided to write out their contract on a napkin. And this napkin deal becomes a truly infamous moment in business history. Now there's no pictures of the napkin or even a direct transcript, but based on accounts

from people involved, it said something along the lines of, "'Nick DeNoia gets the touring rights to Chippendales. 50-50 split in perpetuity.'" So the two of them, they both agree to it and they sign it. And yes, fun fact, that napkin, it was legally binding. Napkin or not, I mean, the deal was in writing. Steve would learn later on that this actually was a problem.

He had no idea what he had just signed over. So the Chippendales tour was actually a huge moneymaker. Chippendales was going to Philly, Atlantic City, and then they even went overseas too. And everywhere they went, women loved it. The profits on the tour were around $80,000 per week. And this is in 1980s money. So if we do some math in today's money,

that would be about $235,000 a week in today's money. That's pretty good. We should go on tour. Paul can strip. You can fly. I'll figure out what I'm doing. We'll talk about this afterwards. I got a great napkin deal for you, Joan.

So anyways, it's making a lot of money. And you know, Steve is realizing he had signed away 50% of that money to Nick forever. Okay? And not just like the current tours, future tours forever. That's what in-perpetuity means. It means forever. And it's a very predatory word. It turns out that Steve didn't even know what the word in perpetuity meant. So Steve's mad. He ends up taking Nick to court and he's trying to get rid of that whole napkin deal thing. You know, it's ruining his life. But like I said,

it was a legally binding contract. So they went to court, they try to fight it out, and in the end, Nick won. The contract made him a partner, whether Steve liked it or not, and he would keep getting paid. So after all this, Steve pissed, okay? He felt like he was losing out on tons of money

because of like this stupid damn napkin. And on top of that, Nick De Noia was like Mr. Popular, getting all the attention, everyone loved him. And really, all things to Nick, Chippendales was the place to be. In one interview, someone called Nick Mr. Chippendale. And like, he's loving it. Steve, he's probably at home, like his head's turning red, it's, he has steam coming out of his ears and his nose. And he's like, he's loving it. Steve, he's probably at home, like his head's turning red.

It's, he has steam coming out of his ears and his nose. And he's like, ah! Steve felt like he was being robbed, okay? I mean, after all, he, he's like, I'm the one that started it. There would be no Chippendales if it wasn't for me. So, Steve decides, enough was enough. He was gonna do something about it.

Steve was planning to get even, so he comes up with a little revenge plan. Step one, he was gonna make his own tour. To him, this would mean that he would have some revenue of his own, you know? No Nick involved. It's like, okay, sure, that's a great idea. Well, unfortunately for Steve

that's not what the napkin said. On the napkin agreement he didn't just have to pay Nick for the Chippendales tour, you know, whatever. Nick was entitled to half of every Chippendales tour forever. Well, Steve's kind of panicking. He's like, shit. To make things worse, it turned out that Steve wasn't paying his taxes. Yeah, and someone caught on. He got some notices saying that he owed back taxes to the government and it wasn't cute.

It wasn't like, you know, a hundred bucks or something. It was a lot of money he owed. Steve is trying to come up with some ideas in order to like try and dig him out of this hole. He decides, okay, okay. He's like, idea, idea. What if I make a sexy calendar of the Chippendales dancers?

Calendar, that's not in the agreement, right? So Steve does this, you know, he sets up the shoot, does a little faux shoot, makes all of these calendars, gets them all printed. He spends a lot of money doing this, right? Well, he had some kind of like little curse going on because the calendars, they all came out wrong. There was a mistake.

Yeah, you see, when they printed the calendars, they accidentally gave every single month 31 days in a... it's not how it works, you know? So he had to reprint all of them and it cost a ton of money to fix that little oopsie. But then it looks like Steve's bad luck might be over. Because something crazy happens. Really sad too. But kinda good for Steve. In 1987, Nick DeNoia was murdered. You know what drives me nuts?

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They filter exactly what you're looking for. Whether that's someone close by or someone with great bedside manner, because you can see reviews and stuff, very helpful. And you can actually see real appointment times. Not some vague like we'll give you a go and we're ready and you're like I'm ready now. So yeah I love ZocDoc. They make it so easy find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's ZocDoc, Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash dark history. ZocDoc.com slash dark history.

So it's 1987 and Nick De Noia was shot in the face and killed. Now out this time, they had no suspects. Nobody knows who did it. Just a savage murder, devastating for so many people. But Steve, Steve was like, yes. Now that you know Nick is sadly out of the way, he's like well I'm able to buy back the touring rights from Nick's family, which was great timing because the next year in 1988, the Chippendales Club lost its liquor license and fire permit. So now the Chippendales main focus was touring. No rent, no real estate to worry about, you know, just moving and grooving. So Steve felt like he could finally make some money and pay off

his taxes. So Chippendales had been doing pretty well and operating for quite some time. I mean, it had been over 10 years at this point and some of the older dancers were ready for like the next step of their career. So two Chippendale dancers and the emcee were planning to branch out and create their own male strip tease shows. Now, Steve is kind of catching wind of what this is. What? What's that? What do you want to do?

He didn't want former employees suddenly becoming his competition, you know, and they're probably going to do it better. Sorry. So, Steve kind of starts to panic you know he's like shit what can I do well this is when Steve's good luck seems to just run out because in 1993 Steve Berge is arrested well turns out Steve was accused of conspiring to kill three business associates. Can you guess who they were?

Well, of course, it was the two dancers and the MC guy who were planning to go off and start their own business. So he gets arrested. Then Steve gets another charge thrown at him. He was being accused for the murder of Nick DeNoia. Ah, did you see that coming? I did, because if you're putting the pieces together,

it kind of makes sense, right? You're like, hmm, it's kind of, mm-hmm. Well, listen though, it turns out Steve had hired a hitman. His name, Ray Colon. And it was hitman Ray who had actually shot and killed Nick. I guess the first murder went so well when Steve got annoyed at those dancers, he decided to fall back on the same plan

that had worked once before. This time, instead of hiring a Hitman with a gun, Steve got a little creative, a little chemistry, and he mixed up some cyanide. Then he hired a new Hitman, gave him the cyanide, and told him use this to murder the two dancers and the emcee. Good luck. Here's five dollars. This new hitman that Steve hired, his name was Strawberry. Yep. I mean honestly, like, if you're a hitmanman I wouldn't want to use an aggressive name. I would want to use something cute. That way people you know they won't think you're a

hitman if your name's Strawberry. You'll never believe this but Strawberry got cold feet. What? Strawberry the Hitman? Chickened out? No way! Instead of killing people with the cyanide, Strawberry ended up going to the FBI. Ooh, good for you Strawberry, you did the right thing. So the FBI is now involved and they decided to arrange a little sting operation. First, Strawberry called up the original hitman, Ray. called up the original hitman, Ray. Ray? Yeah. Barry, buddy.

Are you sure that damn stuff is gonna work? It's pretty red, buddy. Yeah, it'll work. All I was gonna take before they croak and hit down. Is that an immediate hit not center? Yeah, right. This call was recorded by the FBI, which gave them enough evidence to go ahead

and arrest hitman Ray Colon. Hitman Ray sat in jail for seven months before finally realizing... Look, the jig was up. Hitman Ray decided, F that guy Steve, I'm gonna turn on him. But apparently, the FBI wanted more than the word of a hitman to take down Steve Banerjee. Steve had plenty of money to hire good lawyers, so the FBI knew that they needed some solid evidence

to really close this case. What they needed was a confession. So the FBI releases Hitman Ray from jail, saying that he needed special medical treatment. Now, this wasn't a total lie. Apparently Hitman Ray was actually really sick, which is probably why he eventually spoke up. But the FBI, they want to use Ray for their advantage.

And now there's an opportunity here. So the FBI tells Hitman Ray, hey we need you to set up a meeting with Steve, okay? Because we gotta get a confession. So Hitman Ray, he reaches out to Steve, bing bing bing bing bing. Hey, what are you doing? You know? And the two of them set up a meeting. So Steve and Hitman Ray decide to meet up at an IHOP in Santa Monica.

I love IHOP. I like a pancake. So before the meeting, Hitman Ray meets up with the FBI. Now the FBI sets him up with like a whole wire situation, okay? And they make sure to hide it very carefully, you know? The FBI was expecting Steve to be suspicious so, you know, they had to be So, you know, they had to be cautious. And I will say, the FBI went above and beyond. They got a tailor to sew a secret flap in a pair of boxers. And so Ray could like hide the recorder in there.

And I mean, good thing they did because when Steven and Ray met up at IHOP, Steve was suspicious right off the bat. He's like, hey, meet me in the bathroom right now. Let's go. We gotta take a shit. Wink, wink. So the two of them, Steve and Ray,

they go into the bathroom. Steve says, take off your clothes. Strip down to your underwear. I need to make sure you're not wearing a wire. Hitman Ray takes off his clothes and I'm sure he's like, oh, fuck, you know. But luckily, because they sewed in the situation in the boxers, Steve didn't see the recorder. But Steve was just paranoid in general and he refused to say pretty much anything out loud. Instead, he wrote all of his answers on Post-it notes.

Oh yeah. And then he would show it to Hitman Ray. What's your favorite color? And then he would take it, rip it up, put it in the toilet, flush it. I'm sure Hitman Ray was like, God damn it. You know? Well, this sucked for the FBI

because they didn't have anything. Any recording they did get from that meeting was completely useless. So the FBI was like, okay, we need a new plan. So some time goes by, you know? And the FBI is like, okay, Ray, we need you to contact Steve again. At this time, Steve was in Europe, okay?

He was traveling, doing work shit. So when can you come to this festival? I can't go there, but I can book a tour. Can I come inside? So Hitman Ray tells Steve to meet him in a hotel in Switzerland. So he's waiting there, you know, sweating buckets, and then Steve shows up. But what Steve didn't know was that in the room next door was the FBI.

And they were there listening, ear on the wall, like, what is going on, you know? Well, Steve and Hitman Ray, they stayed in the hotel room talking for about three or four hours. And there were even times when Steve was actually wondering if the FBI was listening. I mean all the way out there in Switzerland, he was still paranoid. Apparently, Steve actually mentioned it several times.

Like I don't know, the FBI could be listening. I don't know, I don't know. Steve even pointed out that the walls were very thin in the hotel room and the FBI could be next door. Man, if that were me, I would be like, yeah, gig is up, sorry. You're right. I would crack.

Anyways, so Hitman Ray is a professional and he's like, oh, don't be silly. Oh, calm down. Relax, relax. We need to talk. Eventually Steve relaxes, you know? This time, the FBI got exactly what they wanted. They got on tape Steve confessing to hiring hitman Ray

and even conspiring to murder the three others. Also on that recording, Steve was bragging that he could just run to India if things became too much. You know, like if the law was coming in on him or anything. Steve had like a pilot, he was planning to pay $25,000 to fly him to India without a passport. Like, he had a plan. I was going there. I had my area picked up. Beautiful, you know, economy. I'm overlooking the ocean.

Cars, chauffeur, you know. You know, I live in that area. It's kind of tough to live with poor people, but, you know, what can you do? Get used to it. You went from the United States to a millionaire and you couldn't go back to India. And if all else failed, he said he would commit suicide if he was ever caught. Needless to say, the trip to Switzerland ended up being worth it for the FBI. Steve was quickly arrested on multiple charges, arranging murder, conspiracy,

racketeering. He even attempted to burn down a competitor's nightclub. Steve was facing 26 years in prison. Which to me, I was like, interesting, uh, you know, you kind of got this long list of crimes, kind of responsible for someone, you'd think you'd get a little bit more time. When faced with this, Steve decided to take a plea deal. The terms stated that the FBI would drop the conspiracy charges for hiring someone to kill the three Chippendales dancers if he removed himself from the company Chippendales. Which is karma happening in real time.

Steve hired Hitman Ray to murder Nick so he can get his 50% back, you know? But now, Steve, you're facing losing now everything. That's what you get. I'm in the basement. You ever get an idea, like a weird, amazing, maybe it's kind of like, it's a little out there, but it's an idea and you're like,

I should put this on the internet. Well, same. Last week I was like, what if I made a recipe book for all the dishes that have been served in my episodes of Murder Mystery Makeup? You know, not poisonous, but it was an idea. And that's when it was time to turn to Squarespace. If you don't know, Squarespace is an all-in-one website platform that makes it super easy

to build a gorgeous, professional-looking site. Whether you're starting a business, launching a portfolio, selling stuff, or just need a home for all of the chaos you've been cooking up, you don't even need to know any code. They make it so easy. And let me tell you, the templates, chef's kiss. Super easy to customize, and you don't even need like any design skills. You just need to know how to like copy and paste.

And you're like, wow, I can do that. Basically, Squarespace makes it so easy to look professional when you're, you know, maybe working in your pajama pants, but no one has to know that. So what I'm getting at is if you got something to say, show or sell, bring it to life with Squarespace. Head to squarespace.com slash dark history for a free trial and when you're ready to launch,

just use offer code dark history to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. So Steve is sitting in jail and he's waiting for his sentencing, but he just couldn't take it anymore. Or maybe he just told everyone the truth. It was on the tapes. And on October 23rd, 1994, the night before his sentencing, Steve committed suicide. That little bitch. Come on! You did the crime, face it like a man.

Don't be a little bitch. Bitch, sorry. He found out a way to hang himself in his jail cell. He was only 48 years old. Yeah, so when he would get out, he would be what, in his 70s or something? People believe he did this so that his family would be able to keep his stake in Chippendales.

He wanted to make sure that the company went to the family instead of the government. And we don't know this for sure, but if it was Steve's plan, it worked. The ownership of Chippendales went to his wife, Irene. Irene ended up selling the business for 2.5 million, which doesn't sound like a lot. I mean, it's a lot of money, yes, we can agree, but it doesn't really sound like a lot considering that their tours were making hundreds of thousands of dollars a week in their heyday.

But maybe she just wanted it to be over. We don't know, but she sold it. In 2001, the New York location of Chip and Dale's closed. Now this was like their most famous location, the one that all the celebrities were going to and stuff. And it was clear, it was the end of an era, an oily, sexy, greased up muscular era. From start to finish, the Chippendales business

was closely tied to the murders of Dorothy, Paul, Nick, tied to the murders of Dorothy, Paul, Nick, Steve, and at least three more attempted murders. Unfortunately, when you're looking at a hot muscular man all oiled up, it's all something you really want to think about, you know? What kind of ruins that fun? But that's not even the end of the darkness. Today, it's not completely clear who owns Chippendales. It's very interesting. Apparently it's a private equity of owners. Hmm, who I wanted to know. Well, one investor we know for sure is a name you probably actually heard before. One of the investors was Lou Perlman, the infamous boy band manager from the 90s and early 2000s.

Listen, if you don't know who Lou is, go check out, we did a dark history episode on boy bands. And we talk about Lou. And one of my favorite little fun facts about the man was that Lou loved blimps. He was really into blimps. And honestly, when you look at him, you're like, okay, that was really into blimps. And honestly when you look at him, you're like, okay, that checks out. Blimps, that guy. You know? But basically,

Lou was notorious for having allegedly assaulted the members of boy bands that he managed. Anywho, Lou, he actually ended up going to jail for a Ponzi scheme that he was running and then he ended up dying in 2007. RIP. But despite all the death and darkness, the Chip and Dale's brand, I mean, it hasn't died. So after like everything, right? The locations closing, whatever, Chip and Dale's became focused on Las Vegas. Ah, did you watch our Vegas episode?

Where it actually kind of makes sense to be, you know? So they're in Vegas still to this day. And in Vegas, they have been quite successful for over 20 years. The tour, because they still do a tour, has been to six continents and over 25 countries. In September, 2023, Chippendales, they did like a tour stop at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic

City and like 5,000 people attended and they sold a bunch of tickets and made a good amount of money. People still love the iconic Chippendales dancers. I mean, yeah, there are other competitors out there too, but Chippendales is like this... it's Chippendales. I like a Thunder Down Under, I won't lie. A little Thunder Down Under, you know? What's interesting is that after Steve's wife Irene sold the company, none of the Banerjee family wanted to be involved with the brand. They did not want to be involved with this darkness.

That is until 2020. Steve Banerjee, he had a son, his name was Christian. Christian decided to start his own male club. Christian Banerjee told the New York Post, quote, it wasn't the fact that I wanted to be a stripper, it was my destiny. It wasn't like I saw Magic Mike and wanted to emulate what I've seen.

This came from a much deeper place in my soul." Christian's company offers both male and female strippers. So he named the business Stripandails. He said, quote, I've always had this connection with my dad through Chippendales. I think he'd want to push me in this direction. He'd want to continue his legacy through his son." I was like, oh, okay, cute, yeah. But then I did math.

Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. And I was like, Christian, you were like four or five when your dad died. So what do you mean mutual connection to stripping? Since Chip and Dale's male dance reviews have exploded. Well, there was a period where it was kind of dying, but we all remember Magic Mike. Magic Mike came through and movie theater seats

were ruined, you know? So after Magic Mike came out, I mean, again, there was this wave of interest in male strip shows, you know? Chip and Dale succeeded in being one of the most recognizable brands in the world. I know a lot of us probably don't remember, but in the eighties, allegedly, Chippendale's was it, okay?

It was a crazy phenomenon. Chippendale's dancers had cameos in famous TV shows, and there was merchandise. You could go to the mall and get like Chippendales related stuff. There were eventually like better calendars. I had one maybe, I don't know. Women then and now are willing to put down cold hard cash

to see some dudes looking hot, okay, looking hot. And I think that's beautiful. As long as there's nothing inappropriate going on. But I've been to a male strip club maybe two times now. So not a lot, but every time it's like, it's a safe space. Like they're not being inappropriate. They always ask for consent. Like, hey, can I bump and grind on you?

And it's like, okay, yeah, you know? But I like that they asked because I got bumped and grinded on, can I bump and grind on you? And it's like, okay, yeah, you know, but I liked that they asked because I got bumped and grinded on, but I consented. I was like, yes, you can, it's beautiful. And by the looks of it, that's not going to change anytime soon. Now, since you guys loved our Caesar episode, we're returning to ancient Rome.

Oh yeah, we're taking it back to Toga's poison and eunuchs. Picture this, a 16 year old boy becomes emperor. He starts off promising. He loved the arts, gave some good speeches, seemed like he might do okay. But then, baby listen, deranged dictator psychopath. Oh, there's family drama, there's murder. He thinks he's a god. He performs on stage while the empire is literally crumbling.

This man truly defined what it means to go off the rails. So join me next episode to talk about the dark history of Nero. Now, I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. Make sure to leave a comment below so I can see what you guys are saying, and your comment might even be featured in a future episode. Now let's read some comments you guys.

Paul, hit the lights. Nch, nch, nch, nch, nch, nch, nch. David Blix left me a comment saying, there are eunuchs today called gnoll. They remove stick and nuts. Twitters showed me and I am scarred. There are some music that cannot be sung properly anymore because no one can recreate the castrati voice without creating another castrati.

Okay, I know what you're saying, but I did get a little hung up on the stick and nuts part of it. It did take me a while to figure out what you're talking about. I think you're talking about the wiener? Is that the stick? And then the nuts. Thank you for pointing out that there still are UNIX today called Null.

I am sorry we didn't bring that up in that episode, but I appreciate you letting me know because I'm actually kind of interested. I will definitely check out these sticks and nuts. And thank you for watching. I really appreciate it. Honestly, I was surprised by the feedback on the UNix episode.

I was like, maybe some people will care. But it actually, like people were really into it. And I was like, hell yeah. I thought it was really cool. It was a really interesting episode. Sad, you know, but like wild, right? What'd you think of the episode? Did you like it?

Well, thank you for the comment. BunnyChick99 left me a comment saying, I think I speak for everyone when I say I would really like to hear more commentary from Joan. Joan, you're stealing my limelight and I hate that. Joan, get out of here. What are you talking about? This is my show, not Joan's show.

No, but I understand, like Joan is pretty funny. It's just like, you guys can't hear her, but like we talk all the time. People want more from Joan, pretty funny. It's just like you guys can't hear her but like we talk all the time. People want more from Joan. I understand. I will give her some lines and stop cutting them out of the episode. Love you. Thank you for watching. Joan appreciates it. Billy Flounder? Billy. Great name. Billy Flounder? That's such a good name. You gotta do something with that. name Billy Flounder that's such a good name you gotta do something with that Billy Flounder like it's just like a business name like you invented something and your name is Billy Flounder cuz it's kind of like founder

but flounder you know okay Billy sorry he left us an episode suggestion the dark history of garlic Billy Flounder Mr. Flounder may call you or Billy. How about Bill? William? Listen, I actually really like garlic and a lot people don't but like I love it and honestly I actually never thought does it have a dark history? I'm very curious. Billy Founder, thank you so much for this recommendation. I definitely will go down. I'm on it. You guys are always sending me down some rabbit holes but I love it. I love it. I love it and I appreciate it so much. So thank you so much for the suggestion. Well you guys, thank you so much for watching and I appreciate

you so much for engaging. Don't forget to leave a comment because maybe your comment will be featured. Oh, did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes? Yeah, on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. And hey, if you don't know, dark history is an audio boom original, a special thank you to our expert, Natalia Melman Petrazella, professor of history at the new school. Plus she actually created a whole podcast about

Chippendales where if you really want to get in the nitty-gritty of it all, check it out. It's called Welcome to Your Fantasy. It's good. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day today. You make good choices. Don't hire a hitman. I'm looking at you, ghost adventures girl. And I'll be talking to you guys later. Goodbye. Hehehehe.