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A Murder, a Wire, a Zurich Hotel Room: How the FBI Took Down the Chippendales Founder · FBI Files

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: At the height of its popularity, Chippendale's exotic male dance
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: troupe played to sell out clubs. People across the country
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: shelled out millions to see them. Then one of the
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: founding partners was murdered, and New York City police were
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: left with no leads. When the suspect finally did emerge,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: the chase would take the FBI to another club in
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the hopes of solving the backstage murder.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: In the 1980s, two partners created a nightclub that would
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: bring them wealth and international fame. The male strip club
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: phenomenon promised female patrons fun and excitement, but the bright
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: lights hit a dark side. I'm Jim Kallstrom, former head
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: of the FBI's New York office. The FBI would launch
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a sting operation spanning two continents to bring down a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: man who killed for profit.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: New York City is famous for its show business tradition.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Within a four block radius of Times Square, hundreds of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: offices are rented by producers looking for their next hit.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: One such place was on the 15th floor of a
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: building on West 40th Street. In 1987, it was home
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: to Unicorn Productions. Nick DiNoia was its founder and president. Curiously,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the five-time Emmy Award-winning children's television producer became best known
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: as the producer and vice president of Chippendales, the exotic
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: male dancers. On April 7th, 1987, he was gunned down.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: A colleague heard the shot. He found D'Onoia dead on
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: the floor, and called 911. Emergency vehicles arrived moments later.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: NYPD crime technicians gathered evidence. They recovered a shell casing
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: from a 9mm automatic weapon. Denoya's colleague told homicide detective
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Michael Geddes that a strange man had entered the office
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: just prior to the shooting.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: He said maybe about a half hour ago, 45 minutes ago,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: somebody came into the office and said to him, are
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: you Nick? And he said, no, Nick is in the
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: other office, and he's busy right now.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Without looking up from his work, the associate pointed the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: man to Denoya's office. He never saw the stranger's face.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The witness told detectives that moments later, he noticed the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: same man in the bathroom.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: While he was in the bathroom, he heard this guy
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: leaving the bathroom. And a couple of seconds later, he
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: heard the door to his office open up. And then
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: he heard a gunshot.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The last sound the witness heard was the exit door
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to the stairwell swing open, then close. Detective Geddes traced
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the killer's path, hoping to find something along the way
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that would point to his identity.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: I took down that I thought that the shooter might
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: have taken to see if there was any evidence or anything.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: And I ran down the 15 floors, I believe it was.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: And when I got down to the end, there was
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: two exits. One would lead to the lobby area, one
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: would lead to the freight elevator area. So I exited
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: out of the freight elevator area, then came back in
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: and exited out of the lobby area just to get
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: a feel for the scene.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: On the ground floor, detectives investigated the freight area.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: They dusted for prints, but were unable to lift any
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: that were usable. The freight elevator operator had seen a
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: man run through the door and out to the street.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: He recalled that the suspect wore jeans and had dark hair.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: He also gave us the exit of how the fellow
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: came out of the building as he exited the building
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: on 40th Street, and when he came out, he made
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: a left towards 8th.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Avenue Upstairs, two city detectives arrived with Nick Denoya's brother
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Val from New Jersey to identify the body. The men
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: had been close. Val was devastated by the sight of
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: his murdered brother. Afterwards, Val Denoya came to the precinct
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to help investigators in any way he could. Nick's brother
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: wanted the case solved as soon as possible. Detective Geddes
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: hoped Val knew something that could provide a solid lead.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: Being a detective, one of the hardest things to do
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: is to tell somebody, you know, that, hey, we're not
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: going to be able to solve this case right away
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: unless you know something that can help us. And I
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: explained to him at that time, I said, look, if
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: it was something that happened here in the New York area...
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: maybe it was a business relationship here or a relationship,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: a love relationship or some kind of emotional type of relationship,
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: we have a good shot of solving that crime right away.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: For Val DeNoia, one name came to mind, his brother's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: business partner, Steve Banerjee. Banerjee had known Nick DeNoia since
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the early 80s.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: He wanted business out there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Val told the detective that his brother met him in
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Nick DeNoia had traveled to L.A. hoping to
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: build upon the success he enjoyed in New York. The
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: five-time Emmy award-winning producer fielded many offers, but one man
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: in particular was relentless in his pursuit. Steve Banerjee, the
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: East Indian immigrant and entrepreneur who had dreamt up Chippendale's
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: male exotic dance review. wanted De Noia to fashion a
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: more refined act. Though ladies-only nights in L.A. were extremely popular,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Banerjee wanted a dance troupe worthy enough to draw audiences
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: in New York and Las Vegas. He believed that Nick
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: De Noia was the man who could make that dream
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: come true. Val De Noia said that his brother was
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: reluctant at first, feeling the act was too sleazy. When
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: Banerjee promised him all touring rights and 50% of its proceeds,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: DeNoia accepted the offer. Nick polished the routine and booked
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: the troupe at Club Magique in New York. The newly
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: styled Chippendales' dances became an instant hit. But shortly after
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: his success, Val told the detective that Nick's relationship with
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Banerjee had soured. Banerjee demanded a larger percentage of the
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: touring profits, but Nick refused to give in.
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: They were always constantly arguing, and they were arguing about
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: different ends of the business, and, you know, it's just
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: like regular business partners, you know, but they were having trouble.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: And De Noia was starting to take his troop out,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: and he was going to form a new business.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: In the weeks prior to his death, Nick was negotiating
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: touring deals for a troop he designed to compete directly
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: with Chippendales. Stealing market share from Chippendales could cost Banerjee millions.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Val offered the detectives his brother's financial records. NYPD set
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: up surveillance at Nick DeNoia's funeral since detectives suspected he'd
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: been murdered by someone he knew. Nick's brother would help
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: identify as many mourners as possible. Nick's partner, Steve Banerjee,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: was among those who paid their respects. The following day,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: investigators phoned Banerjee in California to inquire about his relationship
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: with his late partner. For Detective Geddes, the interview had
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a subtler agenda than fact finding.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: We were trying to get what we call a negative interview.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: where if he says, no, I had nothing to do
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: with it, we were great friends and things like that,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: just to try to disprove things that were starting to
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: be said. So if later on it was involved with him,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: we could just tie it all together.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: You know, like I said to you, it's... Banerjee never
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: contradicted what police already knew. He acknowledged that he and
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: DeNoia did not get along. and admitted that he was
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: upset that his partner had formed a new dance troupe.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Banerjee added that on April 7th, the day of the murder,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: he had been in Los Angeles the entire day. That
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: did not rule out the possibility that a hitman had
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: been hired. But detectives had nothing to prove it. The
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: DeNoya family offered a substantial reward for anyone who came
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: forward with information Police received several calls, but none panned out.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: We always felt this fellow, Steve Banerjee, had something to
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: do with it, but nobody could really give us any
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: concrete evidence or even steer us in the direction of
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: where we could tie anybody into what happened.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Lacking any other leads, the freight elevator operator from Denoya's
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: building provided his description of the man he saw run
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: from the stairwell. Do you know what that was? Though
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: he had seen him only briefly, police hoped it would
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: be enough to prompt someone else's memory. Pretty much. Police
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: canvassed the lobby of Denoya's office building well into the evening.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: They asked everyone who worked there if they recognized the sketch.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: None did. The killer had apparently vanished in the middle
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: of a workday. amongst millions of New York City commuters.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: Well, basically the investigation just, you know, it kind of
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: hit a brick wall. And we really weren't going anywhere
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: with it. We had a sketch that was out there.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: There was a reward that was out there. There was a,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: we even put it on television, trying to get some assistance,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: figuring if, you know, the person that did this was
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: from another state that somebody would give us the information.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: But we constantly hit that brick wall and it wasn't
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: going anywhere.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: No new leads surfaced. To New York City police, it
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: looked as if the killer had gotten away with murder.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Four years had passed since Chippendale's choreographer, Nick DeNoya, had
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: been murdered in his Manhattan office. The case remained unsolved. Then,
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: in July 1991, Over 2,500 miles away, Special Agent Dan
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: West at the FBI's Las Vegas field office received a call.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: It was from a man who claimed he had been
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: hired to kill two people for $ 25, 000.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: I immediately wasn't sure whether or not he was just
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: a prank call. It's not unusual for the FBI, especially
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: in Las Vegas, on a weekend to receive prank calls.
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: A lot of alcohol flowing. So I asked him to
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: give me specific details of the alleged planned murder.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: The caller said that a man named Ray Colon had
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: hired him to kill two managers of a male exotic
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: dance troupe touring England. They were competitors of the Chippendales dancers.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: The source said he did not know why Colon wanted
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: the men dead, but for some reason the would-be hitman
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: had decided not to go through with it.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure if the source backed out because of
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: Good Samaritan reasons or because he chickened out. He flew
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: to England and then flew back to the United States
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: almost immediately. I think he flew into Los Angeles and
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: then drove to Las Vegas, basically to hide out.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: The agent told the source to meet him at the
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: office at 5 o'clock the next morning. He needed to
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: somehow confirm the caller's story.
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: Two dancers. He also said that he had worked with
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: the DEA in prior investigations as an informant, and he
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: provided me with the name of a DEA agent in
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Houston who could vouch for him.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: The DEA agent confirmed that he had previously worked with
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the source and insisted that the man was to be trusted.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: After the FBI arranged protection for the intended victims in England,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the informant described the murder plan. Preparations were made a
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: few days earlier at the Los Angeles home of his
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: former landlord, Ray Colon, the man who had hired him.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Colon led the would-be hitmen to his garage, where they
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: met Colon's brother-in-law, who had recently returned from scouting the
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: victims in England. He told the informant that he could
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: find his targets in the town of Blackpool on July 20th,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: when the exotic dancers were scheduled to perform there. Because
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: of England's strict gun laws, smuggling a gun in was
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: out of the question. Instead, Pallone instructed the hitman to
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: kill his victims by fatal injection. He mixed a dose
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: of cyanide powder into a small vial. They figured it
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: could be smuggled past customs in a bottle of eye drops.
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: Many, many times.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: The agent needed something more solid than the statement of
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: one and informant to bring in Ray Colon. He consented
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: to get Colon on tape. The reformed hitman would call
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: Colon and pretend that he was still in England.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: What we were trying to get from the telephone conversations
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: was strong evidence that Colon was a part of the
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: plan to kill the two intended victims, if not the
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: organizer of the plan. We had the information from the source,
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: but we had to verify that through the tape conversations.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Hello?
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: Ray?
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Barry, buddy.
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: Are you sure that damn stuff is going to work?
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: It's pretty rad, buddy.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll work.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Man, I don't want to.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: And if you want to add something to it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: How long is it going to take before they croak
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: and hit down?
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: Was that an immediate if not sooner?
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, right.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: It's probably pulled.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: You can even put a little, if you want, a
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: little drain on there if you want.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Well, it's going to kill him right away then, huh?
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: It was evident from the beginning that Ray Cologne was
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: not only a participant in this murder-for-hire scheme, but that
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: he was actually the director of it. Cologne provided... numerous
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: suggestions to the source on how to best affect the
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: death of these two intended victims.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: What wasn't evident from the recordings was a motive for
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: killing two managers of an exotic male dance troupe.
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: Do you know who hired Colon?
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: During the conversations, Colon had made reference to a third
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: man who was providing money for the double murder. But
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the informant told Agent West that he did not know
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: the man's name Two days later, on Wednesday, July 25th, 1991,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: a federal judge in California was convinced that the FBI
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: had enough probable cause to search Colon's Los Angeles home.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Colon was surprised by the warrant. It limited the agent's
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: search to cyanide, travel records to England, and correspondence that
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: could link Colon and his brother-in-law to the intended murder.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: In the bedroom, they found flyers for the male exotic
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: dance tour in England. They also found two handguns in
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: a drawer. Records indicated they had been legally purchased by
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Ray Cologne. And since the warrant didn't specify weapons, the
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: guns were not seized. In the garage, agents did find
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: something the warrant had specified. A bag filled with cyanide.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: It corroborated their informant's story. Then, one agent found something
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: that would break the case wide open.
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: During the course of the search warrant, we found Colon's
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: address book. Special Agent Andy Stefanik from the Los Angeles
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: office was going through that book, and he noticed the
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: name of Steve Banerjee.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Agent West also discovered that Steve Banerjee, the well-known Los
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Angeles owner of Chippendale's nightclub, had called Colon recently.
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: The toll record showed several conversations, several calls going back
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: and forth between Banerjee and Colon. In addition, that same day,
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: we received the results of interviews from the British police
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: on the intended victims and both indicated that Steve Banerjee
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: was the only person they could possibly think of who
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: would have a motive to kill them or would even
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: want to kill them.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: The two managers of the rival male dance troupe believed
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: that Banerjee wanted them dead. to stop them from competing
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: with Chippendales. This was the same motive that New York
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: authorities suspected was behind the murder of Banerjee's former business partner,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Nick Denoyan. Agents called New York City homicide detective Michael
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Geddes to find out more about the five-year-old Denoya murder.
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: All of a sudden, I got a phone call from
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: the FBI. I really got excited at that point because
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: it was already maybe five years, five and a half
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: years or so. So it looked like we might have
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: the opportunity to give the family their final piece.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: But neither the NYPD nor the FBI had direct evidence
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: against Steve Banerjee. And agents were still unsure if Colon
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: would be able to assist the murder investigation.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: We at that time did not know whether or not
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: Colon was involved in the Nick Denoya murder. The composite
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: picture resembled Colon, but it certainly wasn't a match.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Despite their uncertainty about Colon's role in Denoya's murder, they
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: had strong evidence against him for conspiracy to commit murder.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Faced with stiff jail time, the FBI believed he would talk.
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: Colon knew that he had to take a hit. There
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: was no question about that. He was caught red-handed in
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: the planning of the murder of two individuals. So he
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: had to accept the fact that he was going to
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: go down for some time himself, but that it was
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: going to be a lot less... time in jail if
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: he worked with us.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: On August 2nd, 1991, agents arrested Colon and his brother-in-law
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: for conspiracy to commit murder. Colon's arrest would increase the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: pressure to tell the FBI what he knew about Steve
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Banerjee and the murder of Banerjee's partner, Nick DeNoia. What
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the FBI didn't count on was that Colon's arrest would
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: make Chippendale's owner Steve Banerjee far more elusive. In August 1991,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the FBI arrested Ray Colon and his brother-in-law in Los
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Angeles for conspiracy to commit murder. Their two targets, who
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: escaped unharmed, were managers of a male exotic dance troupe
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: touring England. Agents believed that a third man, Steve Banerjee,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: creator of Chippendales, had hired them to kill the men.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Special Agent Dan West needed more than a hunch to
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: arrest Banerjee. He hoped that Ray Colon would provide something
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: more solid.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: He knew that his best chances of getting the best
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: deal were to cooperate with the FBI. He had indicated
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: to us that we only had a small chance fraction
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: of the story. He took a sheet of paper and
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: he said, right now you have this and I can
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: give you the whole page.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: As agents had suspected, Colon admitted that Steve Banerjee was
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the man who had hired him to carry out the murders.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: He also told agents that the wealthy Chippendales club owner
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: had ordered the murder of his partner, Nick DeNoia, in
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: New York five years before. For consideration of a lighter sentence,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Colon signed a proffer agreeing to help the FBI gather
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: enough evidence to arrest Banerjee. Special Agent Scott Gariola from
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: the FBI's Los Angeles field office learned that Colon's association
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: with Banerjee had begun by chance over a decade earlier.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: Colon had lived and managed an apartment building on the
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: same street where Chippendale's Los Angeles club was. And by
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: being so close in proximity, he would frequent the bar
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: and over the course of time became close friends with Banerjee.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Colon explained that his friend Steve Banerjee had immigrated to
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the U.S. from India in the early 70s. In 1973,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the future millionaire opened a gas station north of the
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles airport. He used the profits to purchase a
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: failing West Los Angeles bar and by 1976 had turned
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: it into the nightclub that became famous as Chippendales. By then,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Colon had parlayed his friendship with Banerjee into employment. The
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: out-of-work musician was happy to perform any job that Banerjee
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: needed done. One service Colon provided was arson. Banerjee wanted
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: his competitors eliminated, Colon confided that Banerjee directed him to
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: burn down nearby competition. A disco in Santa Monica was
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the first target in 1979. Five years later, Colon torched
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: another club. Neither arson attempt had been successful and the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: clubs remained open. Banerjee didn't limit his targets to building
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: According to Colon, Banerjee also ordered him to hire a
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: hitman to kill his partner, Nick DeNoia. Colon added that
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: DeNoia had successfully sued Banerjee to prevent him from touring
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: a second Chippendales dance troupe. The lawsuit, combined with costly
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: merchandising overruns, forced Banerjee to file for bankruptcy. As instructed,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Colon hired a hitman three months earlier. He claimed he
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: remembered only the man's first name, which was Louie. On
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the day of the murder, Colon and Louie flew in
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: from L.A., rented a car, and drove into Manhattan. Colon
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: waited on the street with the engine running until Louie
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: returned from shooting Denoya. The following night, Colon was back
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles. In Chippendale's parking lot, Banerjee paid Colon $ 12, 000 cash,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: the balance of the original $ 25, 000 fee. Colon's story was good,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: but it was only hearsay from a suspected conspirator. He
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: might say anything to serve less jail time. Special Agent
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Gariola first needed to verify the facts Colon had presented.
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: At this point, all we had was somebody in prison
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: telling us, well, it wasn't me, it was somebody else
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: who was behind it. Your initial plan is to corroborate
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: as much as possible what he's telling you. And that's
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: what we did for the first couple of months.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: With Colon's credibility secured, the FBI set out to get
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Banerjee and the hitman who killed his partner. Agents figured
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: the only one Banerjee would trust enough to confess to
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: would be his old friend Ray Colon, but they needed
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: to get Colon close enough.
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: We had Colon released out of the jail where he
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: was being housed under a proposed medical furlough because of
• 27:43
  Speaker 5: his health problems. And we started sending communications to Banerjee
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: via letter, messenger-delivered letters, and cryptic phone calls to try
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: and get Banerjee to respond to him.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Banerjee refused to return calls or letters. He was suspicious
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: of Colon, despite having paid him over $ 200, 000 at various
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: drops around the city to keep Colon loyal since his arrest.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: The FBI came up with another plan to compel Banerjee
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: to respond to Colon.
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: We decided to force the issue and set up a
• 28:19
  Speaker 5: meeting on our own terms. And we had Colon waiting
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: across the street from Chippendales one morning.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: As agents watched, Colon called to Banerjee when he emerged
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: from the club The Chippendales owner was curious as to
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: why Colon was standing outside his establishment. Banerjee spoke to
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: him in whispers, suspecting he may be wired. Agents had
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: no way of knowing what Banerjee might be planning.
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: We took several precautions. If he hired somebody else, Colon,
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: to kill somebody, why wouldn't he hire somebody to kill Colon?
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Hoping to strengthen Banerjee's trust, The released prisoner provided the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: address of a bar where the suspected murderer was to
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: send more money. Banerjee didn't trust Colon, but he couldn't
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: afford to ignore him. He told Colon to pick up
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: his payment the next evening. Agents set up surveillance on
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: the bar. At about 9 o'clock, agents observe Banerjee stopping
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: in front, checking the address, and then driving away. A
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: short time later, a messenger delivered a package. Agents retrieved
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: it from inside.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: When we contacted the messenger company, that had sent the package,
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: the pickup location where the package was received from was
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: a bakery that was right next door to the building
• 30:02
  Speaker 5: where the Chippendales dancers were practicing and rehearsing.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Back in the FBI offices, agents opened the package, not
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: knowing what might be inside. It contained $ 14, 000. I guess
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: we got them all. The payoff meant that Banerjee would
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: continue to keep Ray Colon close to him. But agents
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: didn't know if Banerjee would talk or if the hitman,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: known only as Louie, would ever be found. In the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: summer of 1992, FBI agents continued to surveil Chippendale's club owner,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Steve Banerjee. He was suspected of ordering the murder of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: his partner more than five years earlier. Ray Colon, hired
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: by Banerjee to arrange the murder, had been arrested and
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: was cooperating with agents to capture the wealthy club owner.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Wearing a wire, Colon met the East Indian entrepreneur at
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: a hotel in Santa Monica, hoping to get his confession
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: on tape. Special Agent Scott Gariola and his team were
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: stationed nearby.
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: Banerjee immediately motioned for Colon to join him in the
• 31:27
  Speaker 5: men's room. When the two of them went into the
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: men's room and Banerjee told him to be quiet, not
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: to say a word, he searched Colon about three times,
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: looking for the wire.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Agents worried about what the suspected murderer might do to
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Colon if he found the wire.
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Colon's life depended on the FBI's skills at concealment.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: All right, okay.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Banerjee never found the wire, but it was clear that
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: he did not completely trust his longtime friend, Ray Colon.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Out in the lobby, Banerjee insisted they communicate through notes
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: instead of speaking. Agents recorded only scribbles and whispers. Banerjee
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: wanted to know how much Colon had told the FBI
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: and what they knew about, quote, the deed. Colon knew
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the deed referred to the murder of Banerjee's partner. The
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: former musician denied that he had said anything to federal agents.
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: Once again, we were unsuccessful in getting an audible recording
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: due to the fact that Banerjee basically whispered throughout the
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: whole thing and wrote notes, and when Cologne would raise
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: his voice and try and talk, Banerjee would shush him, basically,
• 32:53
  Speaker 5: by putting his finger to his mouth and saying, no,
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: we can't talk.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Banerjee gathered the notes and returned to the restaurant, this
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: time alone. Despite his doubts about Cologne's loyalty, Banerjee handed
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: him another payment, this time in plain view of agents.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: The package held $ 30, 000, more than twice as much as
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the first. Unfortunately for investigators, there was nothing illegal about
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: giving Colon cash.
• 33:31
  Speaker 5: On its face, it's basically a loan for attorney fees
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: for Colon.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Without the.
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: Story on tape of how Cologne and Banerjee were partners
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: in these crimes, the money basically was not going to
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: be able to do anything for the case.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: After Banerjee's Mercedes was out of sight, agents hoped to
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: retrieve at least a portion of the notes from the meeting.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: In the men's room under the toilet, one agent discovered
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: a scrap of paper. It seemed that Banerjee had flushed
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the rest. Though it held only a small pen mark,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: it would help corroborate Colon's story when it came time
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: to testify at trial. Colon did not remember the full
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: name of the hitman he had hired in 1987, but
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: he did recall that his first name was Louie, and
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: he lived somewhere in East Los Angeles.
• 34:30
  Speaker 5: Colon didn't have a last name for him, didn't have
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: an address. We took him out a couple of times,
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: had him drive us around the area, and he pointed
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: out a house that he thought Louis had lived in.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: Cologne's memory proved correct. The woman who answered the door
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: was Louis' mother. Since she did not know Cologne, she
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: refused to tell him where her son was. Cologne told
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: her that he wanted to provide work for him and
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: handed her his card. In a few days, Cologne received
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: a call.
• 35:11
  Speaker 5: Unfortunately, what we came across was Louie's brother, Andy, and
• 35:16
  Speaker 5: we had to establish a relationship with Andy to try
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: and find out where Louie was. So we had Colon
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: talking to Andy about various things. He needed to hire
• 35:25
  Speaker 5: Louie back for a job, the same job he had
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: completed a few years prior.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: After about a month, Andy finally told Colon that he
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: could find his brother, Roberto Rivera Lopez, in Los Angeles'
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: county prison. Rivera, whose nickname was Louie, was serving time
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: for possession of narcotics and would be out of jail
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: in a few months. As a heroin junkie, he would
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: need fast cash after his release and wanted to know
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: more about Colon's offer.
• 36:02
  Speaker 5: Colon laid the groundwork once again for this new job
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: that he wanted Rivera to help him with. And the
• 36:09
  Speaker 5: plan that we had set in motion was that there
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: was a witness to the homicide in 1987 and that
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: Louie needed to go back and take care of that witness.
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Near the end of 1992, Colon met with the hitman
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: for the first time in five years. With their conversation
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: being monitored, the FBI informant slowly drew Louie Rivera in,
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: detailing a new murder plot. If the FBI ever hoped
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: to get the hitman confessing on tape, it had to
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: be now.
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: His release date on the charge he was incarcerated for was,
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: I believe, January 17th of 93. We were running up
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: against the clock, and one of our concerns was that,
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: you know, we had laid the groundwork for Colon and Rivera,
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: that when Rivera got out, he was supposed to contact
• 37:06
  Speaker 5: Colon to go and kill this witness.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Agent's worries were laid to rest. On Christmas Eve, 1992,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Rivera described his role in the murder of Nick Denoya.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: At 3.30 p.m. on April 7th, 1987, Louis arrived on
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: the 15th floor of Denoya's building disguised as a messenger.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: The place was empty except for one man in the
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: outer office. Moments later, when the office worker entered the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: men's room, Louie exited to kill DeNoia, figuring there'd be
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: no other witnesses to the crime. He found the producer
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: at his desk, pulled out a 9mm semi-automatic, and fired
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: from three feet away. The FBI had it all on tape.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Ray Colon had fulfilled half of his agreement with the
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: FBI to receive sentencing consideration on his charge of conspiracy
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: to commit murder. The other half hinged on his ability
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: to secure a taped confession from the man who had
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: ordered Denoyer's murder, his longtime friend Steve Banerjee. So far,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: more than a year after his arrest, Colon had been
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: unable to do that. By January 1993, the FBI's cooperating witness,
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: Ray Colon, had been unable to convince murder suspect Steve
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: Banerjee to discuss aloud the crimes they had planned together.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: They had met several times, but Banerjee had been too
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: paranoid or too clever to be recorded. At one meeting,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Banerjee suggested he'd help Colon hide out overseas. Special Agent
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: Scott Gariola and his team used Banerjee's suggestion to form
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: a new plan. Perhaps Banerjee could be lured overseas to
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: talk to Colon on foreign soil.
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: I don't think it was too difficult on Banerjee's part
• 39:35
  Speaker 5: to accept the fact that Colon was going to go overseas.
• 39:38
  Speaker 5: I mean, he wanted to be rid of Colon. He
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: knew Colon was the only person that could tie him
• 39:43
  Speaker 5: into these various crimes dating back to 1979.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: Since Colon was still on Banerjee's payroll, agents believed it
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: was likely that he would visit Colon in person to
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: be certain that Colon had what he needed for an
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: extended stay. Banerjee wanted Colon out of his life permanently.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: The FBI selected Rome as their destination since Italy's laws
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: and police force are well adapted to surveillance investigations. Agents
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: made extensive preparations before they arrived.
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: We acquired a phony United States passport for Colon, an
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: alias name which you would expect someone who's on the run,
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: a fugitive in another country, to have some kind of
• 40:35
  Speaker 5: phony documentation. So we acquired that. We also entered Colon
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: into the nationwide crime computer as a fugitive. So in
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: the event Banerjee had some kind of private investigator or
• 40:46
  Speaker 5: someone check the computer, it would show that there was
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: a warrant out for Colon's arrest because he was now
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: a fugitive.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: With the cooperation of the Italian authorities, the FBI secured
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: an apartment for Colon in Rome that was wired for recording.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: When everyone was assembled, Colon placed a call to Banerjee
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: in California. the East Indian murder suspect understood that Colon
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: would use the code name Mr. Underwood when he called.
• 41:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Mr. Underwood. How are you doing, Steve?
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: Fine.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: So when can you come and discuss the particulars?
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: I cannot go to Italy, but I can go to Switzerland.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: Can you come and see me? No, that's impossible. Why
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: can't you go to Italy? I don't know.
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: Huh?
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: There was a problem with Banerjee coming to Rome since
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: he was not a United States citizen. He claimed he
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: was not able to obtain a visa in time to
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: enter Italy, and he wanted initially to meet us up
• 41:54
  Speaker 5: by the Italian-Swiss border.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Banerjee finally agreed to meet Colon in Zurich, Switzerland. The
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: FBI had only a short time to make the new arrangements.
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: It was quite a challenge. to get everything accomplished. Basically,
• 42:16
  Speaker 5: this was a Friday, I believe, and it was basically
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: one day since no one worked on a weekend back
• 42:20
  Speaker 5: in the States. We had to get everything, all the
• 42:22
  Speaker 5: necessary approvals for the travel, the country clearance. We had
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: to get the U.S. Attorney's Office to contact, through a
• 42:29
  Speaker 5: mutual legal assistance treaty, contact their counterparts in Switzerland to
• 42:33
  Speaker 5: get the authority, the legal authority, to do the consensual recordings.
• 42:37
  Speaker 5: It was quite arduous, to say the least.
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: We will take Despite the brief turnaround time, the FBI
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: and Swiss authorities would be ready. The plan was to
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: wire Colon for a meeting in the hotel lobby. Afterwards,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: the informant would suggest continuing the meeting in his hotel room,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: which would be equipped with audio and video devices planted
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: by a special unit of the Swiss police. Two adjoining
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: rooms were booked in a downtown Zurich hotel. One room
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: they wired for picture and sound. The room next door
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: would hold the monitoring equipment. Agents hoped that this time
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: their efforts would finally be rewarded with Banerjee's confession on tape.
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: From the time of his arrival at the Zurich airport
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Steve Banerjee would be under constant police surveillance. The plan
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: was for Colon to call Banerjee and arrange a meeting
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: in another hotel late in the afternoon. As planned, Banerjee
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: arrived first. Undercover agents and Swiss police were stationed throughout
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: the hotel dressed as staff. He waited in the bar
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: where he was expecting Colon's call. On cue, the phone rang.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: Colon was on his way. This was the FBI's best
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: chance to get the recording they had long awaited. To
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: be sure Banerjee's voice was taped clearly, they hid the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: wire inside Colon's outermost layer of clothing, his coat. But
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Colon seemed nervous and removed his coat when he arrived.
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: As a result, investigators could no longer hear the conversation.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: Years of pursuit hung in the balance.
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: Go inside.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: It seemed unlikely that Banerjee would agree to meet Colon
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: again anytime soon.
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: We had ourselves a major problem. So what I initially
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: did was, since I was monitoring the conversation from the outside,
• 45:24
  Speaker 5: I went into the doorway of the restaurant, and hopefully
• 45:30
  Speaker 5: in Colon's line of eyesight, and I took my jacket
• 45:34
  Speaker 5: off a couple of times, hoping he would get the
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: idea to put his jacket on.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Nobody's going to come back yet.
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: But the agent couldn't get Colon's attention. The informant was
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: apparently too nervous to look anywhere except directly at Banerjee.
• 45:54
  Speaker 5: The Swiss police, they came to our rescue. They went
• 45:57
  Speaker 5: in there and they closed the whole restaurant down. They
• 45:59
  Speaker 5: went in and talked to the owner, the manager of
• 46:01
  Speaker 5: the restaurant, said, hey, we got a little problem. We
• 46:03
  Speaker 5: need to shut this restaurant down. Fortunately, there weren't too
• 46:06
  Speaker 5: many customers in there. and basically closed the restaurant down,
• 46:10
  Speaker 5: which forced Cologne and Banerjee to leave the restaurant.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: After moving to a noisier bar in the hotel, Cologne
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: suggested they'd be more comfortable relaxing in the room where
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: Cologne was staying. Cologne arrived first. He was met by
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: a Swiss technician who attempted to strip the wire from
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: his jacket before Banerjee arrived. Colon's device was an unnecessary
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: risk since the room itself was wired.
• 46:44
  Speaker 5: We didn't know what Banerjee was going to do once
• 46:46
  Speaker 5: the two of them were in the hotel. They had
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: gone from a public place to strictly a private place,
• 46:50
  Speaker 5: and we were a little concerned at this point for
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: what Banerjee may have up his sleeve.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: Undercover agents alerted the surveillance team that Banerjee had arrived
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: on Colon's floor. The Swiss tech retrieved the wire and
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: stepped into the adjoining room. Colon barely had time to
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: pour himself a drink before there was a knock on
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: the door. The first thing Banerjee did was check Colon
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: for wires. He found none and began to relax. Cologne
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: poured him a drink. Then his old friend opened up.
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: Banerjee felt comfortable enough to talk about murdering his partner.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: He mentioned the $ 25, 000 he paid to commission the deed.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: He also made comments about the men in England that
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: he ordered killed He even talked to Colon about the
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: arsons he had paid for back in 1979. After five
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: and a half years and 6,000 miles from the crime scene,
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the FBI's perseverance had finally paid off. At last, they
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: had it all on tape, and Colon earned himself an
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: early parole.
• 48:31
  Speaker 5: That was the coup de grace right there.
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: That was it.
• 48:34
  Speaker 5: We got exactly what we needed. We pretty much corroborated
• 48:37
  Speaker 5: Colon down to every I, dotted I, and every T
• 48:41
  Speaker 5: that Colon had told us.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: On September 2nd, 1993, outside his Chippendales Club in Los Angeles,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Steve Banerjee was arrested for racketeering and first-degree murder. Facing
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: life in prison, Banerjee's defense team offered the state's attorneys
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: terms for an agreement Banerjee would plead guilty to the
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: charges and forfeit his interest in Chippendales for consideration in sentencing.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: New York State accepted, suggesting 26 years in a maximum succession. facility.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: But to Banerjee, the punishment was too severe. On the
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: day of his sentencing in October 1994, he was found
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: hanged in his cell. Michael Geddes, the New York City
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: detective who investigated Nick Denoya's murder six years earlier, was
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: glad to see the case closed.
• 49:47
  Speaker 3: Ever since Steve Banerjee was arrested and Colon confessed, what
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: happened is I saw that Val Denoya, the brother, and
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: his wife actually change. You could see the peace in
• 49:57
  Speaker 3: their face. You could see the smile coming back into
• 49:59
  Speaker 3: their life.
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: Steve Banerjee had immigrated to the United States to fulfill
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: his dreams of success. Blinded by his pursuit, he confused
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: power and the accumulation of wealth with the American dream.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you.