NJ Man with Ties to "The Sopranos" Strip Club Is Alleged Mob Rat

Life imitates art.

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Complex Original

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Authorities say a man with connections to the New Jersey strip club that was used as the Bada Bing on The Sopranos is actually a mob rat.

According to the New York Post, Anthony "Tony Lodi" Cardinalle, 61, got caught up on racketeering and extortion charges after the FBI probed Mafia attempts to take over New York and New Jersey's garbage-hauling business. Though the New York Daily News reports that Cardinalle does not own Satin Dolls, he owns the property on which it rests, while his family owns the actual club.

The parallels to The Sopranos, where the Lodi, N.J. strip club served as the fictional hangout on the HBO series, are remarkable. Furthermore, when Sopranos star James Gandolfini died last June, Satin Dolls honored the late actor by placing a framed picture of him at the bar in the same spot where Tony Soprano sat on the show. 

In an effort to save himself, the Genovese mobster has reportedly turned informant. The Post adds that Cardinalle has been cooperating with authorities since late December in an effort to cut down the maximum sentence of 40 years in prison that he's facing. 

For his cooperation, the FBI is also reportedly willing to overlook Cardinalle's tax evasion charges. How kind of them.

[via New York Post and New York Daily News]

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