Queens Attorney Who Stole $600K From Slave Theater Sale Faces Jail, Prosecutors Say

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A Queens attorney who stole almost $600,000 from a late judge’s estate and the sale of the recently demolished Slave Theater faces up to three years in prison, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Frank Racano, 54, of Howard Beach, has been sentenced to one to three years in prison for siphoning funds from the estate of Judge John Phillips — the founder of Bedford Stuyvesant’s Slave Theater — to pay off personal debts, the acting Brooklyn district attorney announced.

Phillips, known as the "kung fu" judge of New York City's civil court for the black belt he held, died unmarried and childless in February 2008. Because he did not leave a will, Samuel Boykin, a nephew by marriage, was assigned to be the estate's executor, prosecutors said.

Boykin hired Racano in 2010 to arrange manage the estate holdings and two years later the Slave Theater was sold for $2.2 million, according to prosecutors.

The buyer wrote three checks — a down payment of $220,000 and two checks to cover the sale, taxes and expenses totaling $517,399.65 — and made each of them out to “Frank Racano, as attorney,” prosecutors said.

Racano deposited the checks into his trust account but quickly began pulling the money out again — in two years, Racano cashed more than 300 checks in amounts as small as $45 and as large as $7,5000, according to prosecutors.

Racano had managed to empty the account completely by May 2015, prosecutors said.

Racano was charged with grand larceny in 2016, pleaded guilty in January, and was sentenced in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Thursday, prosecutors said.

Racano now faces up to three years in state prison and has been ordered to return the $587,160.56 he stole from the late judge’s estate, prosecutors said.

“This defendant disregarded his duty to his client, stealing nearly all of the proceeds due to the estate of the beloved Hon. Judge Phillips,” said Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.

“He’s now been held accountable for his brazen theft and shameful conduct.”

The Slave Theater, a beloved neighborhood venue that honored black culture from 1984 to 1998, has been demolished, Curbed New York reported in March, and all that remains at 1215 Fulton Street is an empty lot.

Image via Shutterstock.