Police: Gunmen rob all-nude Nanuet club
By Steve Lieberman - The Journal News • July 29, 2008
NANUET - Two armed men forced their way into an all-nude strip club yesterday morning, tied up employees and stole about $10,000 and jewelry, Clarkstown police said yesterday.
The masked men waited outside Stiletto's Gentlemen's Cabaret on Route 59 after the club closed between 3 and 3:30 a.m., police said.
When one of the club's employees went outside to smoke, the two men pointed guns at him and forcibly entered the building at 180 E. Route 59, near the Kohl's strip mall, police said.
The men, pointing their handguns, forced three men and the female bartender to get down on the floor and told them they were looking for money, police said. They tied up two of the men and the woman. They forced the manager to open the safe, police said.
The men took the cash and the manager's Rolex watch and chain, police said.
"This appears to have been planned out," Detective Lt. Charles Delo said. "We believe whoever was responsible has done this type of robbery before."
After the two robbers left the business, one Stiletto's employee managed to get free from the binding and called police at 3:40 a.m.
"It took them a bit of time to get loose," Delo said.
Investigators didn't know whether the robbers drove off or, if they did, what type of car they used.
One robber was described as Hispanic, 25 to 35 years old, about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 200 pounds, wearing dark clothing, black boots, a ski mask and brown gloves. He held a silver handgun, police said.
The second gunman was described as Hispanic, 25 to 35 years old, about 200 pounds and wearing a dark, fleece, hooded sweatshirt and carrying a black automatic handgun, police said.
Detectives were checking for possible surveillance videos from Stiletto and nearby businesses.
Stiletto is between two strip malls and is not visible from Route 59. Patrons have to enter the parking lot to find the building.
Stiletto's is one of two strip clubs left in Clarkstown and one of its owners has a business interest in Lace on Route 303 in West Nyack. A strip club in Monsey, called T&As, closed several years ago.
Delo said he couldn't recall any crime at Stiletto's in many years.
In June 2007, a fire was set to a Nissan pickup truck parked outside the club, which singed the outer walls.
Community leaders have long complained about the strip club in the busy Route 59 corridor.
In 2002, Clarkstown enacted a law regulating adult-entertainment businesses, in part because of complaints from neighbors about Stiletto, Lace and an erotic video store on Route 59 in West Nyack.
The law prohibits adult-entertainment businesses from opening within 1,000 feet of one another or within 1,000 feet of residential zones, religious institutions or schools.
The businesses also would have to be more than 500 feet from other businesses that dispense alcohol.
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