'Sopranos' Strip Club Loses Liquor License: AG

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The state has stripped the liquor licenses of two North Jersey gentlemen's clubs, including the Bada Bing, which appeared in HBO's "The Sopranos."

The two clubs, Satin Dolls, a.k.a. Bada Bing from "The Sopranos," and A.J.'s Gentlemen's Club in Secaucus have until Jan. 3 at 2 a.m. to sell or transfer the licenses to a third party or they will be suspended indefinitely.

The clubs may continue to offer live entertainment until Dec. 17 at 2 a.m.; if any live entertainment occurs after that, and through Jan. 3, the suspensions will go into effect immediately.

The clubs' owners, the Cardinalle family, could face disciplinary charges if entertainment is offered past that date.

The clubs and their owners have been investigated by the state Attorney General's Office Division of Alcohol Beverage Control for six years. During that time, members of the Cardinalle family tried to continue to own the liquor licenses and run the businesses, Attorney General Christopher Porrino stated.

“The Cardinalles may have wanted to keep the business in the family, but that’s not how it works. Their continued flouting of Alcoholic Beverage Control laws cannot and will not be tolerated,” said Attorney General Porrino. “Illegal activity was glorified at the ‘Bada Bing’ in the fictional world of Tony Soprano, but it has no place in modern-day New Jersey. It’s time to shut it down.”

A consent order from 2011 required that Anthony Cardinalle's wife Luceen turn the licenses to her daughter Loren. The family was ordered to pay $1.25 million in penalties as a compromise in lieu of losing the licenses. Loren Cardinalle was ordered to transfer the licenses to a third party by Dec. 31, 2015.

Loren Cardinale asked for permission to continue to hold the licenses and extensions were granted, Porrino said.

Anthony Cardinalle was charged by a federal indictment in 2013 with participating in a conspiracy with the Genovese crime family and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges later that year.

Anthony Cardinalle was the contact person for the Satin Dolls license and when Lodi police were called to the club on an attempted burglary report, he was the person dealing with the matter, Porrino said.

The state is investigating charges for criminal solicitation of prostitution and lewd activity in May.

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The Satin Dolls gentlemen's club in Lodi./By Wally Gobetz, used with permission via Creative Commons license