"Billy, please take the time to research the name Mike Rose and his federal indictment from a couple weeks ago. This was a business partner of Rocco Scarfone and the Gold Club that they owned and operated on Guilford College Rd. in Greensboro. Since the indictment, Rocco changed the name of the club to The Playhouse to avoid any connection to Mike Rose being in public view. The location was formerly Harpers for close to twenty years and was owned and operated by Eddie Collins before Scarfone and Rose purchased the business and reopened it as The Gold Club approximately two years ago. I send this in question if the Cone family would want their name tied to a man who owns strip clubs, I would ask the same question of councilman Zack Matheny. Rocco also owns The Playhouse Gentlemans Club in Hickory, NC that was raided for drugs and prostitution approximately a year ago, google can give you insight on that as well. I am sending you this from a false email so it can not be tied back to me, after all we are dealing with an individual with known ties to organized crime."
So I decided to do a little digging and here's what I learned. From the FBI:
"SAN FRANCISCO—Seven persons—Vladimir Handl, Michael Rose, Peter Scalise, David Gaither, Richard Leyland, Edwin Hetherton, and Paul Fink—were arrested after being charged with racketeering, money-laundering, and drug trafficking related crimes, announced United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge David J. Johnson.
According to an indictment that was unsealed yesterday, Handl and Rose were businessmen in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, whose interests included restaurants, nightclubs, and strip clubs in several states. Handl operated and controlled businesses such as VIP Group, LLC, International VH, LLC, and Heat Lounge, LLC, while Rose operated and controlled defendant PML Clubs, Inc., along with Explosive Clubs, Inc., Nightclub and Restaurant Services, LLC, Legacy Entertainment, East Coast Restaurant & Nightclubs, and Micro Management Group, LLC. Rose, through PML Clubs, Inc., operated several strip clubs in South Carolina, Delaware, and New Hampshire under the name “The Gold Club.” Rose, through PML Clubs, Inc., also licensed the use of the name “The Gold Club” to franchisees throughout the United States.
According to the indictment, Handl and Rose, along with their associates, Peter Scalise, and David Gaither, conspired to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering involving money laundering, bank fraud, and drug trafficking. Between 2011 through the present, the defendants knowingly accepted more than $2.3 million that they believed either had been fraudulently diverted from a bankruptcy court proceeding or constituted proceeds from drug trafficking, and then laundered the money through their businesses, including Rose’s Gold Clubs. The indictment further alleges that as part of their laundering scheme, the defendants created fraudulent invoices, contracts, and other business records to make it appear that the money they received and “cleaned” was for legitimate business transactions. The defendants also sought to acquire cocaine to sell."
A screen grab from TheGoldClubNc.com website located at 626 Guilford College Road in Greensboro:
I suspect that website will be gone soon, thus the screen grab. According to the Guilford County Register of Deeds, the address 626 Guilford College Road is owned by a Mr Carl Edward Collins of High Point.
It seems Mr Collins has also been in the sexually oriented business having sued the City of Greensboro as the owner of Christie's Cabaret, Y.K. Enterprises, Inc., Southside Johnnie's, Reesaw, Inc., Chester's Premier Gentlemen's Club, E.K.'s II, Inc., Harper's II, Harper's Exotic Car Wash, Simply Explicit, L.L.C., Treasure Box, Inc. and Xanadu Video and Boutique. Is Eddie Collins involved in any of these crimes? Eddie Collins has been a scumbag for decades having dealt in drugs and prostitution for as long as he's been in business. His party buses are infamous throughout North Carolina but as to any involvement with these latest crimes...
Well your guess is as good as mine.
But what I do find most interesting is how criminal after criminal after criminal ends up having close ties to Greensboro's Rocky Scarfone. More on Vladimir Handl. Interestingly enough, Michael Rose shut down the Gold Club in South Carolina last July. Said he wanted to, "stay out of Horry County's crosshairs going forward."
Peter Scalise? You're going to love this guy. Besides drugs and money laundering his thing is selling stock in companies that don't exist. Companies that make nothing and do nothing except take peoples' money.
And David Gaither? A Myrtle Beach Police Officer who was fired for exposing himself to children on the beach. Money launderers, drug dealers, gangsters, penny stock scammers and perverted cops are all among Rocky Scarfone's business partners.
I already knew about Rocky's problems at Thee Playhouse. I wrote about them in my series, I'm Being Sued By Rocco Scarfone. By the way, Rocky never did sue me. Even after his two-bit lawyer set me the threatening letter he chickened out. Seems the media attention wasn't what he wanted.
The letter writer makes a good point, how does Greensboro's Cone family like having their name attached to a man who operates strip clubs, sells cocaine, hangs out with known perverts and no telling what else? Will the Cones change the spelling of their last name? Again?
That's right, it wasn't always Cone. Will Wibur Ross change his name too?
And why do Councilman Zack Matheny and the rest of the Greensboro City Council still have the time of day for Rocco Scarfone? If I were an elected official I wouldn't want Rocky in the same city with me, much less having hundreds of documents, e-mails, media reports and blog posts that tie Scarfone to City Council.
It's interesting that Rocky and the Cones are really doing the same thing. Instead of working to make their name good they just make up a new name. In Rocky's case he's changing The Gold Club to Thee Playhouse Greensboro.
Notice the address is the same.
Got any doubt's about Mr Scarfone's ownership of Thee Playhouse Franchise? Send him an e-mail and ask him?
Anyone remember the late Bill Snoffer? His family owned a small mattress and upholstery company on North Church St. Bill was well known for teaching Kung Fu, operating a security service at concerts at the Greensboro Coliseum and for being the go-to guy for Greensboro's cocaine trade. Bill was a local boy who like so many got caught up in things that were bigger than he could handle. When Bill was busted he never told anyone where he got the cocaine, did his time and died a tragic death that some of us think suspect when he crashed his car into a tree.
I first met Bill Snoffer in 1973 when I was just 17 years old, Bill was 20. We were both kids in northeast Greensboro. Bill wasn't yet selling cocaine then. Rocky Scarfone met Bill a few years later. You see, Rocky has been here in Greensboro a lot longer than most people realize. Born in New York City, grew up near Boone and spent a lot of his early years throughout the Piedmont. Just saying.
I guess I need to update my list of businesses tied to Rocky Scarfone.
