Mob rat 'Frank Capri' pleads guilty in restaurant scam = 5 years

'Frank Capri' (Frank Gioia Jr.) was sentenced to five years in prison according to his plea agreement.

Frank Gioia Jr, was made and a third-generation soldier of the Lucchese crime family. In 1994 he turned rat after striking a deal with feds. He was released in 1999. As part of his deal, Gioia had his life imprisonment sentence reduced to six years. He went into the federal witness protection program and became Frank Capri. He moved to Arizona and became a conman.

Capri used plans to build up to 20 Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill restaurants to steal millions. Capri took up front fees in exchange for long term leases that weren’t honored.

After the Toby Keith restaurant scam collapsed, Capri orchestrated another - this time using the name of country music act Rascal Flatts. One restaurant opened in Stamford, Connecticut, in Aug 2017. It closed owing $1.2m a year later.

Capri and his companies have been ordered to pay more than $65m. Gioia Jr.'s former associates 'perp walk'

Tawny Costa is the mother of two of Frank Capri's children. She was the moll whose name all the restaurants were registered under.