MEMPHIS, TN – Ralph Lunati’s troubles with the law run back nearly as far as his connections to the world of adult entertainment.Lunati, these days the owner of strip clubs in Tennessee, California, Florida, South Carolina, and Maine, got his start with swingers clubs, one of which (the “Free Wheeling Socials”) landed him a 60-day jail stint on prostitution and obscenity charges in 1982.
From his roots in the swingers market, Lunati moved on to audiotext before getting into the strip club business with fellow Memphis entrepreneur Steve Cooper. Together, Cooper and Lunati established a string of clubs all over the country, including San Francisco, Cleveland, San Antonio, and – of course – Memphis.
Business was good in those days, by Lunati’s own account.
“Back then we had a lot of people looking for locations for us,” Lunati stated in a deposition taken in June, 2003.
When he parted company with Cooper in the mid 90’s, one of the clubs Lunati retained control over was the Platinum Plus in Memphis – one of two clubs raided by federal and state law enforcement officers on Saturday, December 9th.
The raids at Platinum Plus and the Tunica Caberet (sic) may be the beginning of the end for Lunati; although he was not among those charged with a criminal offense in connection with the raid, civil complaints seeking forfeiture of the clubs have been initiated, and federal search warrants were executed at Lunati’s private residence and office the same night as the club raids, according to a press release issued in the name of multiple agencies, including the Memphis Police, the FBI, the IRS, and both the U.S. Marshal and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.
“When we got to Platinum Plus, the place was going full-bore,” said Memphis Police Department spokesman Sergeant Vince Higgins, according to CommercialAppeal.com. “About 400 patrons were inside and about 100 employees or contract dancers.”
According to the joint government press release, indictments were returned by a federal grand jury charging 11 people with narcotics violations, with two defendants charged with “carrying firearms in relation to drug trafficking crimes.”
One of the defendants, Jason Youngblood (alleged in the indictment to have “managed and controlled Tunica Caberet”), is also charged with making the Tunica property “available for distributing and using narcotics,” according to the joint release.
“These enforcement actions are the result of a two year Memphis Police Department undercover operation, and detailed allegations concerning this investigation are set forth in the affidavits supporting the federal forfeiture complaints and in the state court nuisance petitions,” the release states.
According to the joint release, officers from the Memphis Police department made “made numerous undercover narcotics purchases on the premises of Platinum Plus and Tunica Caberet, and a significant number of these purchases were made during business hours from dancers and other employees of these clubs.”
The narcotics referenced in affidavits related to the case include cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstacy and methamphetamine, which according to the joint press release were purchased at Platinum Plus beginning in February 2005, and continuing through September 2006, while undercover narcotics purchases were made at Tunica Caberet between April 2005 and August 2006.
It is also alleged that Youngblood twice accepted payments from an undercover officer to allow narcotics trafficking to take place inside the club.
In all, 80 counts have been entered against 61 defendants thus far, as a result of what the agencies involved have dubbed “Operation: Last Call.”
“It surprised me,” Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin said, speaking of the activities observed at the clubs. “And I’ve seen everything.”
Will “Operation: Last Call” play out as the true last call for Ralph Lunati as the self-proclaimed “King of Clubs?”
“We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on,” said one of Lunati’s attorneys, Dale Tuttle, according to CommercialAppeal.com. “I suspect Ralph Lunati will cooperate fully with investigators.”
Tuttle said he could not elaborate further on the charges, according to CommercialAppeal.com
Whether or not Lunati is charged with any crimes in connection with the raids, local authorities are hoping to put him out of business in Memphis.
“Under those nuisance actions, we will be seeking permanent closure of the clubs as well as forfeiture of all the personal property equipment furniture and so forth,” said U.S. District Attorney Bill Gibbons, according to WMC-TV of Memphis.
Gibbons also asserted that the clubs involved brought the raids upon themselves by neglecting the alleged criminal activity happening on their premises.
“The criminal acts continued to be conducted with a taunting arrogance toward law enforcement,” Gibbons said.
Regardless of whether the operation proves to be the undoing of Lunati’s strip club empire or just another legal bump in the road, according to Godwin, the Memphis public can expect more enforcement along the lines of “Last Call.”
“We are going to address crime wherever it happens to be,” Godwin said, according to WMC-TV. “If it happens to be at a strip club so be it. We owe the citizens of this community to clean up crime wherever it happens, and if the crime is in the strip club then that’s what we need to clean up.”
At least one local official hopes that Last Call, and subsequent operations like it, could change Memphis’ reputation as home to some of the country’s wildest clubs, or perhaps eliminate the association with such clubs, entirely, according to CommercialAppeal.com.
“When people think of adult entertainment,” said County Commissioner Mike Carpenter, “I want Memphis to be the last place they think of.”
