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Ownership of mob-linked club depends on whom you believe

By Rebecca Catalanello, Times Staff Writer
In print: Thursday, August 7, 2008

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TAMPA — Who owns Club Mirage?

It's a question that should be easy to answer. Government documents detail ownership and interests.

But in the world of indicted and accused mobsters, appearances don't always equal truth.

Depending on whom you believe, Mirage, a high-end nightclub on Hillsborough Avenue, was either built with dirty money by associates of the notorious Gambino crime family or it's just a nightclub like any other.

It is either owned and operated by Tricia Cadicamo and her brother, James V. "Jimmy" Cadicamo, whose names appear in state records as principals in the business.

Or, it is the longtime baby of financier John Edward Alite, an alleged Gambino associate awaiting trial in Tampa, who says he recruited James Cadicamo to Tampa to oversee the club before everything went sour between them.

Whatever the case, federal investigators think something isn't right. And its 30-some employees now live in the shadow of threatened government seizure.

Inside its gray walls, Mirage exudes urban opulence, with a Cheers-style bar and circular corner booths upholstered in Goodfellas red. A wall akin to the front of a New York brownstone divides all this from the high-tech, elevated dance floor, where, on Wednesday, it was "Latin Ladies Night."

Indictments handed up Tuesday against six people — including alleged Gambino mob boss John A. "Junior" Gotti — named Mirage as one example of a Gambino investment founded on dirty money.

Authorities arrested James Cadicamo, 33, of Tampa, charging him with racketeering, and conspiracy to murder or beat a man to try to keep him from testifying as a government witness in 2006 mob trial.

If you ask Joseph Fritz, Cadicamo's attorney, his client runs the business in Tampa at the behest of his sister, Tricia, who lives in Howard Beach, N.Y.

But Alite and his attorney beg to differ. In a civil suit filed in Hillsborough court in April, Alite says that in 2000, he advanced then-associate Cam Rowell $500,000 to find a location for a nightclub in Tampa.

Rowell formed U.S. Hospitality of Tampa Bay and opened the club, known then as Club Moet, and later Mirage. Alite's name is not on the incorporation papers.

Rowell resigned a year later and has since died. Records show a man named Michael A. Malone became the registered agent for the U.S. Hospitality in 2001.

Alite's attorney, Keith Goan, said Malone and Cadicamo were "close confidants" of Alite's, and they all grew up together in Queens, N.Y. So when Alite needed someone to run the club, he tapped the two men, but Cadicamo exploited the situation.

At first, Cadicamo sent club profits to Alite per their arrangement, Goan said. But Alite left the United States in 2003, and at some point the money stopped.

Alite claims Cadicamo and his sister, who was named as an officer for U.S. Hospitality in 2002, started keeping all the revenue.

"Mr. Cadicamo was, according to my client, a $300-a-week runner in New York before he came to Florida," Goan said.

Alite was the central character in a 2006 federal case that linked a Tampa valet company to the Gambinos. While owning Prestige Valet Inc., authorities say, Alite led a Tampa crime crew that reported to Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, a Gambino mob captain. Trucchio was sentenced to life in prison last year on racketeering charges.

Cadicamo's newest charges stem from that same 2006 trial. Prosecutors say he plotted to hurt or kill Malone, his former partner, to try to keep him from testifying for the government.

Fritz, Cadicamo's attorney, said Alite's claim to Mirage is absurd and comes from "the clear blue."

"I've seen the corporate books," Fritz said. "Mr. Alite's name doesn't show anywhere."

But to be sure, Goan successfully petitioned the court to have Fritz removed from representing Cadicamo in the civil case. Fritz, he said, has been too close to U.S. Hospitality dating back to 1995.

If the indictment is any indication, the FBI seems to side with Goan on the ownership question.

Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Kevin Graham, Robbyn Mitchell and Colleen Jenkins contributed to this report.