Pod Insights Scamfluencers The Cipriani Family: Bribes and Bellinis | 193 About this episode For nearly a century the Cipriani family has served celebrities, royalty, and cultural icons. Since opening their first restaurant in Venice in 1931, they’ve helped shape fine dining and invent dishes that became global classics. But as the Cipriani empire expanded, so did the scandals – including union busting, tax evasion, and alleged mob connections. Turns out the Cipriani recipe for success included a lot more than just glitz, glamor, and champagne.
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0:00 Sarah Hagi? Audible subscribers can listen to all our episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.
0:14 Scaachi Koul? Sarah, are you a restaurant person? Like, when you visit New York, do you try to eat at all the trendy places in the city?
0:22 Sarah Hagi? You know what? I feel very overwhelmed by trendiness in general. So I feel like I kind of just go where people tell me to. But I do like a great meal.
0:33 Scaachi Koul? OK, well, what do you know about Cipriani?
0:37 Sarah Hagi? I know it by name. I know it's like, kind of, a fancy, tacky place for the rich and famous. Am I correct?
0:45 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, I don't think that's wrong. Well, Sarah, you're super lucky because today, we actually have a table at Cipriani, the best one in the house, and it's all on me. So pour yourself a $27 glass of red wine and tuck into your Chilean sea bass while I tell you the real history of this international restaurant dynasty. It's August 1987, and Giuseppe Cipriani is nervously pacing his Manhattan apartment, phone in hand. Giuseppe is a dashing 22-year-old and the manager of Harry Cipriani, the acclaimed New York City restaurant.
1:26 Scaachi Koul? He's urgently trying to reach his father and co-manager, Arigo. The Cipriani's aren't just any restaurateurs. Giuseppe's grandfather founded the legendary Italian watering hole, Harry's Bar, in Venice, Italy. Harry's has become a cultural institution where history, literature, art, and Venetian cuisine all come together. And for more than 50 years, it's been a favorite destination for elites and intellectuals from all around the world. The family opened their second restaurant, Harry Cipriani, two years ago as an almost exact replica of the Venetian original. It was an immediate hit, and it allowed the Cipriani's to bring their family legacy across the Atlantic. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of a luxe hotel on 5th Avenue overlooking
2:11 Scaachi Koul? Central Park, but not for long. Because today, Giuseppe is calling his father to tell him that they've just been kicked out as managers.
2:21 Scaachi Koul? As Giuseppe is explaining everything to his dad, a truck pulls up outside of the Fifth Avenue hotspot. Men in suits get out. They've been sent by the restaurant's investors. They quickly line up to block the back office telephones, the elevators, the kitchen, and the doors. Confused staffers call Giuseppe and tell him to get down here, stat. When Giuseppe finally arrives at the restaurant, he's surprised to find men obstructing the entrance. A shoving match ensues, and the men prevent him from entering. New York Magazine later calls this, quote, "first hostile takeover of a kitchen in the annals of cuisine."
2:58 Sarah Hagi? You know, you gotta wonder how that ends up happening with a restaurant. It's not that serious.
3:05 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, like, it's not war. They're so serious in food.
3:08 Sarah Hagi? It's a restaurant. Relax.
3:11 Scaachi Koul? Well, inside, the men seize credit card machines and box-up menus. The eponymous Harry Cipriani sign is acid-washed from the front door and replaced with a new name: Tino Fontana. But this blow to the Cipriani's won't keep them down for long. In fact, they're more inspired than ever to show that they are the name for exclusive fine dining in New York City and the world. The Cipriani's have built their legacy on charm, spectacle, and confidence, the kind that can make almost anything seem possible. But as their empire grows, that same mix of glamour and audacity will lead them into a world of lawsuits, tax schemes, and a high-profile showdown over the famed Rainbow Room that no amount of fine dining can disguise.
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5:33 Scaachi Koul? From Wondery, I'm Saachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagee. And this is Scamfluencers.
5:46 Scaachi Koul? For nearly a century, the Cipriani family has served celebrities, royalty, and cultural icons. It all began in 1931 with Harry's Bar in Venice, where Giuseppe Sr. revolutionized fine dining and invented classics we still eat today. By the 2000s, the Cipriani name was splashed across restaurants, private clubs, and even hotels, from Italy to New York to Dubai. But in their quest to expand, Giuseppe's descendants discover that in New York City, charm and legacy only get you so far. The Cipriani name will go from associations with hobnobbing elites to union busting, tax evasion, and working with the mob. There's no lengths the family won't go because, after all, they know. It's all in the name.
6:31 Scaachi Koul? This is the Cipriani family, bribes, and bellinis.
6:39 Scaachi Koul? Before we dive into the Cipriani family scandals, we need to go back to the 20th century, to the man who started it all. Giuseppe senior was born in Verona, Italy in 1900. To pull the family out of poverty, his father moved his wife and eight children to Germany when Giuseppe was a toddler. His father worked as a bricklayer while his mother opened their rented home to boarders. She'd offer a room plus something extra, a liter of beer for each day they stayed. Giuseppe and his siblings learned a lot from their mother's hospitality. She struck a delicate balance between being a kind host and not letting herself be pushed around. Giuseppe's family can't afford to send him to secondary school. So when he's 12 years old, he takes a job in a watch factory,
7:23 Scaachi Koul? where he develops a love of precision and order. Two years later, in 1914, the First World War begins. So he and his family return to Verona. Thanks to the war, adult men have left the workforce to fight. So even though he's only 14 years old, Giuseppe easily finds a job as a pastry chef. He applies the same precision he learned at the watch factory to make thousands of pastries a day. He falls in love with making people happy and seeing customers enjoy his work. It reminds him of the way his mother took care of their boarders in Germany, and he's determined to chase this feeling forever. By 18, Giuseppe is traveling across Italy and France, working in hotels and learning everything he can about hospitality and kitchens.
8:06 Scaachi Koul? Over the next eight years, one lesson becomes clear to him: take care of the customer first and foremost. In his eyes, it's less about impressing the clientele and more about genuinely loving them. When Giuseppe is 26, he marries a woman named Giulietta, who he met while waiting tables. They settle in Venice and harry ten's bar at the Hotel Europa, where he's rarely without his white suit jacket and black tie. Sarah, take a look at this picture of Giuseppe in his happy place, behind the bar.
8:37 Sarah Hagi? So this is a black and white photo of him behind a bar. There's like the old school seltzer-y thing in front of him. And he looks happy, you know? He's wearing his white coat, black tie. He looks like he's happy to serve.
8:50 Scaachi Koul? Medicine man, you know? Well, three years later, in the summer of 1929, Giuseppe meets someone who completely changes his life: Harry Pickering, a wealthy young scion from Boston. Harry's a regular at Giuseppe's bar, even though he came to Italy to treat his alcoholism. Over the next two months, Giuseppe and Harry strike up a friendship. But one day, Giuseppe notices that Harry isn't drinking as much. When he asks why, Harry tells him he had a fight with his aunt, who he'd been traveling with. She left him stranded in Italy with very little money. Giuseppe offers to help. So Harry tells him what he needs: money to pay for his hotel, his ship ride home, his tab, and one last dry martini.
9:34 Scaachi Koul? So Giuseppe gives him 10,000 lira, nearly five grand in today's money. It's a big sum for a bartender, but Giuseppe is all about hospitality. And he trusts Harry will return the favor someday.
9:48 Sarah Hagi? I really believe that if you're lending someone money, you have to go into that knowing that you might not ever get it back.
9:56 Scaachi Koul? Yeah.
9:57 Sarah Hagi? And I do feel like Giuseppe is never going to get this back.
10:00 Scaachi Koul? OK, well, Sarah, surprisingly, their handshake agreement pays off. Two years later, Harry returns to Venice on a cold February morning. He repays the loan, plus an additional 40,000 lira. And he's got an idea for what to do with the extra cash. He and Giuseppe should open a bar together. Harry's bar opens on May 13, 1931. It's the beginning of what will become a future hospitality empire. And it marks the last time success in the Cipriani family will ever feel simple.
10:35 Scaachi Koul? In the fall of 1950, one of Giuseppe's favorite customers enters Harry's for lunch, the Venetian countess Amalia Nani Mosinigo. She floats to her table in a high-necked black dress with her hair pinned up in a bun. Amalia waves Giuseppe over and tells him that her doctors have placed her on a strict diet. For the next few weeks, she can't eat cooked meat. She asks if he can dream up a meal that fits her new diet and is delicious. He marches into the kitchen, and 15 minutes later, Amalia and the world are introduced to Beef Carpaccio.
11:10 Sarah Hagi? It is really crazy to think about Beef Carpaccio being introduced to the world because I feel like it's just one of those things that has always been around. Especially now, I don't think you can go to like a nice restaurant without seeing a carpaccio on the menu.
11:24 Scaachi Koul? I know, especially in New York restaurant, right?
11:27 Sarah Hagi? Yeah.
11:28 Scaachi Koul? Well, Giuseppe named the dish after the Venetian artist Vitore Carpaccio. Apparently, he was inspired by the painter's use of vibrant reds and whites. The dish consists of paper-thin slices of raw filet mignon drizzled with a lemony, mayonnaise-based sauce. But that's not Giuseppe's only culinary creation. He also created a popular brunch cocktail, the Bellini. Sarah, have you ever had a Bellini?
11:54 Sarah Hagi? You know I don't drink. When would I have had a Bellini?
11:56 Scaachi Koul? But even a non-alcoholic Bellini, have you ever had one?
12:00 Sarah Hagi? You know what? I worked at Bath and Body Works, and there was a Bellini candle that, you know, I just, I can't really smell Bellini anymore, you know?
12:11 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, I mean, that's basically what it's like to drink one. A Bellini is a sweet, fizzy drink made with prosecco and white peach puree. Giuseppe came up with the drink in 1948 after being inspired by another Venetian painter, Giovanni Bellini.
12:26 Scaachi Koul? Harry's Bar was an immediate success. And in 1932, Giuseppe and Giulietta welcomed a son named Arigo, or Harry in English. Life is pretty sweet until World War II begins. When Germans occupy Venice, Harry's Bar is briefly taken over by fascists and used as a mess hall for Mussolini's navy. After the war, the bar becomes a meeting spot for the rich and famous. International luminaries are amongst the bar's regulars: Orson Welles, Truman Capote, and Maria Callas. And, most notably, Ernest Hemingway, who spends many evenings at his little corner table filling pages of his notebooks. Harry's Bar is actually written into one of his novels. Sarah, can you read this excerpt
13:09 Scaachi Koul? from "Across the River and Into the Trees"?
13:12 Sarah Hagi? Yes, it says, "Contessa is not at home, my Colonel," he said. "They believe you might find her at Harry's. You find everything on Earth at Harry's." "Yes, my Colonel, except possibly happiness." "I'll damn well find happiness too," the Colonel assured him. "Happiness, as you know, is a movable feast." It's kind of exciting thinking about this, like, if I was around at this time, because clearly, these are world-famous people, very influential. But, you know, these people just have no idea how much longer this will stay in history.
13:45 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, it's just a bar.
13:46 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, it's just a bar, and now it's in a book, and we're talking about it how many years later?
13:51 Scaachi Koul? On our podcast, on our digital radio product.
13:55 Sarah Hagi? It's a full-circle moment for Hemingway, really.
13:59 Scaachi Koul? Well, in 1957, nearly 30 years after Harry's Bar opened, Giuseppe decides to retire. He hands the family business to his son, Arigo. Arigo is now 25 years old, with a receding hairline and a pension for double-breasted suits. Giuseppe is pleasantly surprised to see that his son is a natural manager. Every night, Arigo calls his father to give him a progress report, assuring him that Harry's is thriving, just as he left it. One of the regulars at the bar during this time is Rupert Guinness, a British aristocrat and the head of the Guinness Beer Family. Rupert's a big investor. So that winter, when he hears Giuseppe talking about his dream of building a hotel on a piece of land he purchased on the island of Judeca, he decides to help.
14:44 Scaachi Koul? The Hotel Cipriani opens in 1958, and it embodies the same luxury and simple comforts Giuseppe is known for. This sparks a years-long business partnership between the two men and another hotel. In 1962, Rupert opens the Hotel Villa Cipriani in a solo Italy and hires Giuseppe to manage it. But when Rupert dies five years later, so does the gentleman's agreement he had with Giuseppe. Despite their nine-year partnership, the Guinness heirs reneg on their father's handshake deal by blocking any monetary split of the joint ventures. It's a crushing blow to Giuseppe. Because he didn't put up any money to open the hotels, he's forced to sell his shares.
15:25 Sarah Hagi? That must be so disappointing, where like, things are just going so well for you, and you think, of course, this will always work. It's working for everyone. The Guinness family is one of their word. And then for it to just fall through is terrible, really.
15:40 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, it's pretty devastating. Well, Giuseppe dies in 1980 at 80 years old. And five years later, the Cipriani's get an unexpected opportunity, a chance to open a restaurant in New York City. The New York dining scene is notoriously high-risk, but beautiful diamonds are formed under intense pressure, and the Cipriani's are ready to sparkle.
16:03 Scaachi Koul? It's May 1985 in Venice. Arigo, now 53 years old, is sitting in his home office overlooking the Adriatic Sea. His days are packed with running Harry's Bar and raising his son Giuseppe Jr., who we will call Junior for the rest of the story. Unlike his enterprising father, Arigo tends to go with the flow, until a phone call changes everything. On the line is Lord Charles Forte, the owner of Trust House Forte, a British hotel and catering group. Charles is 77 years old with a graying mustache. He's an Italian hotelier and a restaurateur based in London, and he has a proposition for Arigo. Would the Cipriani's like to join him as he expands his company to the US? Charles pitches his idea,
16:48 Scaachi Koul? a Harry's Bar-style restaurant in the lobby of a swanky 5th Avenue hotel. Trust House Forte is trying to take over management of the hotel, and they think the illustrious Harry name could help seal the deal. Charles flies Arigo to New York to see the space, and when Arigo lays eyes on the location near Central Park, he's sold. It's exactly what his father would have wanted. Plans are drawn up to recreate Harry's in New York, but Arigo refuses to call it Harry's Bar. He wants to name it The Copy. It's a wing to the restaurants that borrowed the Cipriani name, but can't recreate its magic. After some back and forth, they finally agree on Harry Cipriani. And when it opens on November, it's an instant hit. Just like Harry's Bar,
17:33 Scaachi Koul? Harry Cipriani becomes a magnet for celebrities and socialites. Once things are running smoothly, Arigo returns to Harry's in Venice, leaving the now 20-year-old junior behind to run their American restaurant. I'm sure this 20-year-old will be able to run this restaurant.
17:49 Sarah Hagi? That is a crazy responsibility. A 20-year-old, even a super-mature one who's grown up in the industry and knows all the stories and everything. That is a huge, huge risk, especially considering what has happened to the family with bad business deals.
18:05 Scaachi Koul? He's not even old enough to drink in New York.
18:07 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, but this was the past.
18:10 Scaachi Koul? You're right. Nobody was checking.
18:11 Sarah Hagi? No one was checking.
18:13 Scaachi Koul? Well, as the Cipriani name gains more traction, Arigo and Junior are constantly fielding proposals to open another New York location. But out of loyalty, Arigo declines them. He wants to keep working with Charles. So Arigo expects Charles to be thrilled when he approaches him with the idea for a new restaurant, this one inspired by his father's iconic creation, The Bellini. But Sarah, this is where the peachy prosecco gets sticky. The Fortes decide not to join Arigo in opening Bellini. So Arigo does something his father never did. He opens the restaurant on his own. When the Fortes find out, they accuse Arigo of breaching their informal business agreement by opening Bellini without their consent. It turns out, the Fortes have been frustrated with Arigo for some time.
18:58 Scaachi Koul? Despite the buzzy crowds, Harry Cipriani isn't profitable, partly due to Arigo's hefty management fee of $450,000. So in August of 1987, they decide to remove Arigo and Junior from Harry's. This is the moment where we met Junior at the beginning of the story. The Cipriani's can only watch as the rebranded Tino Fontana Restaurant takes over their space. But losing a restaurant is only the beginning. For the Cipriani's, bigger battles are looming. And this time, the fight won't be with angry investors. It'll be with someone far scarier: a New York Times food critic.
19:38 Scaachi Koul? It's a September afternoon in 1987, and Brian Miller is strolling into Bellini's for lunch, along with two of his colleagues. Brian is in his 30s with well-groomed hair and tortoiseshell glasses. He's the restaurant critic for The New York Times. On their way to the table, Junior intercepts them and declares, "The cooks will not cook for you." Last year, Brian wrote a review of Harry Cipriani. He gave the restaurant zero stars and called the food "fair." The ratings stung, but it was the review itself that really angered the family. Sarah, can you read what Brian wrote?
20:13 Sarah Hagi? With delight. I love a good pan. He writes, "Ernest Hemingway might feel ill at ease if he were to wander into the New York clone of his beloved Harry's Bar in Venice. Harry Cipriani benefits from the hot dogs taste better at the ballpark syndrome. In a less electrified setting, I suspect some of the mundane dishes here might not elicit such smiles from patrons. This is not the Harry's Bar of literary fame." Ooh, that is so cutting, especially if you open a restaurant and your entire legacy is hospitality and food. It's like, this is not it. It doesn't have the charm. This sucks.
20:54 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, it's pretty brutal. But the Cipriani's seem to have learned one lesson from the forte's betrayal: Fight fire with fire. So, Arigo retaliated by buying ad space in The Times and publishing an open letter titled, "Dear Food Editor." It was clearly aimed at Brian, and the ad ripped into him and ended with, quote, "I do hope that you will postpone writing about my restaurant for a long time." Brian eventually responded, but not with a review. He got the scoop on the Cipriani's being kicked out of the restaurant and shared the dirty details on the front page of The New York Times.
21:30 Sarah Hagi? You really gotta hand it to Brian. I mean, what more could he say other than these people got kicked out of their own freaking restaurant?
21:38 Scaachi Koul? That's journalism, baby. Even though Brian has been denied service at Bellini, he's not deterred. Over the next three weeks, he returns to Bellini twice in disguise. And we don't know what he wore, but he manages to sample nearly 30 different dishes. And he is not impressed. Sarah, are you ready to read another pan?
21:58 Sarah Hagi? Oh, yes. Brian writes that, "At Bellini, the pricey cafe food ranges from the dismal to the acceptable. Services boreish and slapdash. Bellini has all the charm of a family restaurant in a shopping mall." And then he goes on to add that, "One of the house specials should be served with a television set, for it is a dead ringer for a TV dinner. Overcooked noodles in a lava-like gratinade cheese sauce." I mean, it's crazy because this is tale as old as time. How many "Italian restaurants" are there that try and trade off the old world vibe for kind of crappy food that does taste like microwaved dinner?
22:39 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, seen it 1,000 times. Well, after other food critics pan the restaurant, Arigo revamps the menu and service. And in September 1990, Brian checks out Bellini again. And he's pleasantly surprised to find that the food and service have improved, although he notes it's still a pricey dining experience. While Arigo may have reached a detente with New York City's most savage critic, a new challenge is already waiting for him, bringing his original New York restaurant back from the brink. It's 1990, and Arigo is speaking with the investors who once ousted him. They have a desperate plea. Will he come back and reopen Harry Cipriani? After they kicked Arigo and Junior out, the investors installed a new manager
23:25 Scaachi Koul? for the bargain price of $100,000. But the new restaurant was never able to match Harry Cipriani's dazzle or profits. Guests were confused by the changes, with designer Diane von Furstenberg complaining about her risotto, saying, "The rice isn't the same." Other guests felt similarly. According to Arigo, Tino Fontana was doing only 15 covers a day, while Harry's had previously been doing 300. Arigo is a truly petty king. So when he gets the call from the investors, he declines the offer. But Junior, who's now a hot-headed 25-year-old, won't let him. He tells his father, quote, "If you don't go back, I'm going to kill you."
24:07 Sarah Hagi? I feel like Arigo really comes from a place of pride and heritage and defending his family name, while Junior is kind of like, "We're in business. Just get this done. Like, we can't think about that anymore."
24:20 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, and Junior is starting to take more and more control. After Harry Cipriani reopens in 1991, Junior urges Arigo to be more aggressive. He often tells his dad, quote, "Our strength is our name." And he says that if they want to grow, they need to start forcing people to play by their rules. While Arigo remains focused on the food and hospitality, his son chases Celebrity, determined to fill the restaurant with glitterati. Junior's fixation with Celebrity propels him to become a social icon. A critic told The New York Post, quote, "They were star fuckers, and when anyone with star power came to the door, everybody fell to their knees." But even with Celebrity regulars, Junior becomes the real star of the show.
25:04 Scaachi Koul? And his obsession with the spotlight will soon teach him that Bellinis and Buzz can't protect you when the law catches up.
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26:26 Scaachi Koul? It's spring in 1996, and 31-year-old Giuseppe Junior is ready to make his mark on New York City. The recently opened Chipriani Downtown is the third family eatery in the city, and it's his. Junior put his personal spin on it. It's more casual, more youthful. It showcases abstract art by Brooklyn artists while still serving Harry's Bar classics. And once again, it's a hit. Over the past decade, Junior got married and had two sons. But the marriage didn't last because Junior can't slow down. He even took time off from the restaurants to race Formula 3000 cars. But he didn't see a future in the world of fire-resistant suits and motor oil, so he returned to the family business. When he's 34 years old,
27:11 Scaachi Koul? Junior becomes the head of Chipriani International. But he still wants more. He impulsively buys 55 Wall Street and New York's financial district. Its grand banquet setting inspires him to open another restaurant with a 140-room Chipriani Hotel upstairs. Arigo warns him that this might be too much too fast, but Junior's confident that he can make it work.
27:35 Sarah Hagi? I just feel like people are so risky when it comes to business. And I feel like I have no idea if it will work out or not. Probably will, knowing how lucky these people get.
27:45 Scaachi Koul? Well, at first, Junior is right. Big names pack the new property, and before long, it's another smash hit for the Cipriani empire. With money pouring in, Junior sees endless opportunities for his family name. But to feed his ambition, he decides to start doing business a little differently. This is where the Cipriani lore gets a little tricky. In the late 90s, Arigo established Cipriani SA, an Italian hotel and leisure company based in Luxembourg. The company owns and operates restaurants and clubs around the world, including Harry's Bar in Venice. But most importantly, it controls the rights to the Cipriani name and their trademark properties. In the US, however, there's a separate Cipriani brand, Cipriani USA.
28:29 Scaachi Koul? It's a subsidiary of Cipriani SA, run by Junior. The company pays a percentage of its sales to the parent company for the right to use the Cipriani name. But somehow, the reported payments are never actually made. So Cipriani USA's income is higher than it reports on its tax returns. With this tax dodge and the Cipriani brand growing in popularity, Junior is ready to expand again. And then, opportunity comes calling, a chance to take over a legendary midtown landmark called The Rainbow Room. Junior's about to chase the rainbow hard, but this dream gig will quickly become a nightmare.
29:13 Scaachi Koul? It's just before Christmas, 1998, and Peter Ward is fielding calls at the local sex union hall. Peter's 40 years old, clean-cut and handsome with a cleft chin. He's the business manager of the union, which represents workers in the hospitality and service industries. His phone has been blowing up all morning with calls from former union employees of The Rainbow Room. 250 of them have been fired by the club's new management, Junior. The labor war started a few weeks ago when Junior took over the venue, located on the 65th floor of Rockefeller Center. The building's owners were excited for the Cipriani name to bring some much-needed buzz to the venerable Rainbow Room. Junior reimagined the space and made it more exclusive. While the Rainbow Room used to be open to the public,
29:58 Scaachi Koul? it's now only accessible three days out of the month. The rest of the time, it operates as a private club. Real estate developers wonder how Junior will afford the $3 million a year lease. But he's confident he'll succeed. He'll just replace the Local 6 union workers with non-union employees. By his estimates, a union contract will eat up half of his revenue and strangle his business. At the Local 6, Peter makes a plan to take on the Cipriani's. Sarah, can you read what he said in January 1999?
30:28 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, he says, "We'll have a picket line in front of the Rainbow Room for 100 years if that's what it takes."
30:35 Scaachi Koul? Oh, okay. So this is like full-on war at this point. Yeah, it's union busting. It's gross. Well, Junior's reputation takes a hit, and he is hemorrhaging money. So he offers a deal. He'll sign a union contract at the Rainbow Room if the union agrees to slash the wages and benefits at Harry Cipriani in half. Peter's response? A big, fat no. Frustrated, Junior makes a deal with the Local 810 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. They're suspected of taking bribes in return for sweetheart contracts. If he signs with them, he thinks he can force the Local 6 union to stop picketing his restaurants. But Peter doesn't back down. And out of solidarity, union-compliant companies like General Motors and HBO
31:20 Scaachi Koul? cancel their events at Cipriani restaurants. These cancellations cost Junior tens of thousands of dollars. And in May 1999, the Cipriani sue the union and file for bankruptcy protection. Even with the bad press, the picket lines, and the union fury, Junior manages to keep the Rainbow Room, Harry Cipriani, and the catering hall on 42nd Street open. But his celebrity patrons are starting to take notice. Regulars like Paul Newman, JFK Junior, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Martin Scorsese refuse to cross the lines. Julia Roberts, however, waltzes right along through. And now that the union has come between Junior and his celebrity pals, well, that's a bridge too far.
32:04 Sarah Hagi? Yeah. Once something becomes public that way, it can kind of tarnish someone's name as being a union buster and crossing a picket line. It's like, that is, you know, the line a lot of people just can't cross.
32:15 Scaachi Koul? Yeah.
32:16 Sarah Hagi? When it's just so obvious and public that way.
32:19 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, I can't get away with it. Well, in mid-August, the Cipriani's abruptly dismiss their labor lawyers and start meaningful negotiations with the restaurant workers' union. By the end of the month, Junior tentatively approves a six-year contract with the local Six Union. The labor war may be ending, but the Cipriani's reputation has taken a serious hit. And they're about to learn just how many scandals it takes before an empire starts to crack.
32:47 Scaachi Koul? It's 2002, and Junior's in the backseat of a private car on his way to his newest restaurant opening, the Cipriani Dolce at Grand Central. By 2004, the Cipriani's have nine locations across New York, Europe, and Asia. But his ambitions are still growing, so he turns his attention to luxury real estate. His battle with the union seems to have soured Junior on the everyman. He's now focused on catering too and working with the uber wealthy. He buys out his partner at 55 Wall Street, where there's already a Cipriani restaurant and hotel. He converts the hotel rooms into condominiums and calls them the Cipriani Club Residences. Then, he decides to go after Pier 57, a prime stretch of waterfront real estate
33:31 Scaachi Koul? on the Hudson River. After an intense 18-month battle with rival developers, Junior wins a bid to redevelop the pier in 2005. But a rival investor named Roland Betts isn't happy about Junior's winning bid. Roland's the guy behind Chelsea Piers. He's a major player in New York with ties to George W. Bush and other powerful politicians.
33:54 Scaachi Koul? It's not clear if Roland had a hand in what happened next, but a few months after Junior wins the bid, skeletons from his past suddenly come to light. Remember the union protests back in 1999? Well, to help fight them off, Junior turned to a mafia turncoat named Michael D. Leonardo. In his 2004 testimony against the Gambino crime family, Michael admits that Junior, quote, "wanted to know if they could keep the unions off his back." With mounting bad press, Junior starts feeling the pressure, so he withdraws his bid for Pier 57. But this retreat only creates more problems for him and his family, and it's only a matter of time before his name comes up in a second mob trial.
34:39 Scaachi Koul? It's November 2005, and Robert Morgenthau is sitting in his office in Lower Manhattan. At 86 years old, with thinning white hair and over four decades of public service, the city's district attorney has seen it all. But the letter on his desk still catches his attention. It's anonymous, and it accuses the Cipriani family of running a massive tax evasion scheme. Robert's already familiar with the Cipriani name. Six years ago, his boss, the New York State's Attorney General, brought charges against them for sex-based discrimination. But this letter paints a more serious picture, alleging that since the late 90s, the Cipriani have been underreporting earnings and dodging millions of dollars in tax payments.
35:21 Sarah Hagi? I mean, it's crazy when they think their biggest problems are celebrities and who gets into the restaurant, how much money they're making, meanwhile, doing some crazy tax dodging.
35:34 Scaachi Koul? I know. And by July of 2007, Robert has enough evidence to go after Junior and Arigo. On the morning of the arraignment, the two men step outside the courthouse and smile for the paparazzi. After nearly a century of hosting the world's elites, the Cipriani have now become the headline. And this time, charm and champagne won't be enough to get them off the hook.
36:02 Speaker 07 Journalist Tristan Redman goes where no son-in-law should ever go. Deep into his wife's family history, digging up the cold case of who murdered her great-grandmother. Because, I should mention, he thinks the murderer might actually be the beloved family patriarch. For the best binge-watch series like Ghost Story, listen to the Audible True Crime Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
36:22 Speaker 08 A trucker merges onto the I-10 in New Orleans. He checks his mirrors. The lane is clear. And then, boom, impact. A pickup truck, seemingly out of nowhere, scrapes down the side of his 18-wheeler, multiple passengers inside. One man flees the scene, and the driver of the pickup, he doesn't seem all that upset. It didn't feel like a regular accident, because it wasn't. Across the city, truckers are getting sideswiped, all on the same stretch of the same freeway. And behind many of the cases is one person, a Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury lawyer named Vanessa Moda. This podcast is a story about fake accidents that lead to real consequences, and a scheme that ends in betrayal and murder.
37:07 Speaker 08 Listen to Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
37:24 Speaker 09 And I feel like a legend.
37:29 Scaachi Koul? In July 2007, Arigo and Junior are officially charged with tax evasion. They stand accused of hiding $3.5 million in state and city taxes over a period of six years beginning in 1998. While Junior's been charged with a misdemeanor, Arigo is facing a felony tax charge because his company, Cipriani S.A., was the head of the scheme. Arigo is now 75 years old, and he and Junior both plead guilty. To avoid jail time, they take a plea deal and agree to pay $10 million in restitution and penalties. In addition to the fine, Arigo is sentenced to conditional discharge for three years, which means he's free to return home to Italy. Junior gets sentenced to three years probation and also leaves New York.
38:14 Scaachi Koul? But as a condition of the plea deal, Robert gives the men a big win. He allows them to keep their liquor licenses.
38:21 Sarah Hagi? Well, this is really not that bad, and it's especially not bad because if they lost their liquor licenses, they just couldn't exist at all as restaurants. Like, that is the most important thing for them, right?
38:34 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, that's true. But even though they will be able to keep the empire they've built, reports are beginning to surface about vendors and contractors suing for unpaid bills. Arigo says they've been told that if they return to America, they would be locked up. So Arigo stays in Venice, while Junior eventually moves to Uruguay. He tells Vanity Fair he's living abroad so he can expand their customer base in new countries, but maybe it's because Uruguay imposes no wealth or inheritance taxes. The Cipriani seem to have dodged a bullet, even though they're now officially felons. Their New York restaurants are all still running and pulling in a profit. But that changes in 2008, when the economic crisis hits the city.
39:17 Scaachi Koul? New Yorkers start cutting fine dining out of their budgets, and even though they were allowed to keep their liquor licenses, they're about to face a fight on that front, too. A Cipriani restaurant is nothing without a bolini, and after all their losses, this one threatens to hit the hardest. In May of 2008, Daniel Boyle is preparing to confiscate some liquor licenses. He's the chairman of the New York State Liquor Authority, and today, he's targeting all of the Cipriani properties in New York. Daniel is a former police chief and a rough-talking stickler for the rules. Felons are barred from holding New York State liquor licenses, so even though the Manhattan DA said it was OK, Daniel doesn't think the Cipriani should get special treatment.
40:00 Scaachi Koul? So he launches an investigation to determine if the Cipriani conviction proves they lack the moral character needed for a license.
40:08 Sarah Hagi? You know, I do feel like they were probably given that exemption because it would be beneficial for the Manhattan DA somehow. But I feel like this new guy is kind of like, I don't care, I'm gonna get them finally, like, no more exemptions or, like, special circumstances, right?
40:23 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, exactly. And as Daniel moves to strip all nine Cipriani liquor licenses, he's approached by a top aide to New York Governor David Patterson. The aide tries to intimidate him into accepting a half a million dollar settlement in lieu of yanking the licenses. It just so happens the Cipriani are close friends with Governor Patterson. Weird coincidence, right? Daniel refuses, but he's outvoted by fellow liquor board members in favor of the Cipriani. In the end, the Cipriani pay the settlement fee and retain their licenses. But a few months later, the Cipriani are finally dealt a blow that they can't buy their way out of. In January 2009, they lose their lease on the Rainbow Room for failing to pay millions
41:08 Scaachi Koul? in rent, and they have to be out in a matter of days. Turns out, exclusivity isn't always the answer. Once Junior barred the public from visiting in favor of making the space more elite, it was no longer the high-end tourist attraction it had been for more than 90 years.
41:24 Sarah Hagi? Yeah, I mean, it's hard sometimes for businesses to be like, we're exclusive, but also we need to make money and have a lot of different kinds of people show up. And I see how, you know, by 2009, with all this controversy and everything going on with them, people are just kind of like, I don't really care.
41:42 Scaachi Koul? Yeah. If Junior had just stuck to what the Cipriani were known for, maybe things would have turned out differently. But his ambitious plans and obsession with wealth and celebrity betrayed the legacy his grandfather built: a simple Venetian bar where everybody could feel like a somebody.
42:01 Scaachi Koul? Despite the behind the scenes drama and legal trouble, the Cipriani name is still booming. Most customers either don't know or don't seem to care about their past scandals. So while Arigo is living out his golden years in Italy, his grandsons continue to carry on the family's legacy. In 2021, one of them opened Casa Cipriani, a select members only club and hotel in Lower Manhattan. Membership costs a cool four grand a year. According to the New York Post, it's one of Taylor Swift's favorite places to eat. As of 2025, Junior is still living in Uruguay. He's quadrupled down on real estate for the super wealthy, developing luxury condos in West Palm and Miami, clubs in Madrid and Tokyo, and restaurants in Dubai.
42:45 Scaachi Koul? He's currently in the midst of building Uruguay's most sophisticated resort development, which will of course bear the Cipriani name. Above all else, he's dedicated his career to making sure the rich and famous have spaces to mingle away from the common people. The Cipriani name may have endured, but nothing is as powerful as exclusivity.
43:07 Scaachi Koul? Sarah, did this make you want to go have some beef carpaccio with a bellini? Perhaps at a restaurant where you are seen to be seen?
43:16 Sarah Hagi? I would want nothing more. It is really crazy to think of this family's legacy and the stuff they kind of made popular and invented. And this grandson coming from a name and being named after his incredible grandfather. And I just think it could really get to someone's head when that's kind of all they know and all that's important to them. And like many episodes and many stories, the fraud wasn't really necessary, but they did it.
43:45 Scaachi Koul? Yeah, they did it. It was so needless. People really liked the product. They liked the restaurant. They liked the vibe. Like, they could have really done this a little more straightforward.
43:55 Sarah Hagi? Oh, big time.
43:56 Scaachi Koul? Or maybe it is a story about like, how expensive and impossible it is to turn a profit in a New York City restaurant.
44:02 Sarah Hagi? Well, I think people who own restaurants, and especially those who maybe don't want a ton of investors. Even if they are super popular and influential, it is so hard to make money.
44:15 Scaachi Koul? Yeah.
44:15 Sarah Hagi? That, you know, you just, you kind of have to do all these things you really don't want to do. Do you have to scam necessarily? I don't think so. And also, like, people who are important at exclusive restaurants are also often quite cheap and expect a lot of free shit. So I do wonder how that business model works out, where it's like, oh, more people are gonna want to come if so-and-so shows up, but also that person probably has a crazy tab because they expect things for free. It just seems so rough. I don't know how people open restaurants. I just don't.
44:46 Scaachi Koul? This also feels like a story that's like very much about men who are trying to keep up like their father's legacies. And it's not enough for them to do as well, or maybe just a little less.
44:59 Sarah Hagi? Yeah.
44:59 Scaachi Koul? They have to do more, and so they find ways to lie into it.
45:03 Sarah Hagi? I do think there are a lot of people who overvalue legacy in terms of like how the real world works, where it almost turns into an entitlement. Like, yes, it is incredibly impressive what this family has managed to do, but the world continues. And maybe it's not enough to have come up with Carpaccio.
45:22 Scaachi Koul? It is really an interesting story about like the first generation builds, the second spends, and the third squanders it, because it is like all the heirs kept fucking up these deals.
45:31 Sarah Hagi? Oh, for sure.
45:32 Scaachi Koul? They didn't have the old-school trust that their grandfathers did.
45:35 Sarah Hagi? Yes, of course. And it's like, I do think it is that kind of like old-world mentality of importance and legacy, and like, this is all we have, all we have is our name. But it's like, again, it's business. And it's a cutthroat world.
45:51 Scaachi Koul? Sarah, I want you to know that I would always do fraud under your name proudly.
45:55 Sarah Hagi? Um, I wouldn't for you.
45:58 Scaachi Koul? Oh.
45:58 Sarah Hagi? Necessarily.
45:59 Scaachi Koul? No, I mean, I would do the fraud so everybody was like, oh, the Sarah Haggie fraud. I'd be like, yeah, that.
46:03 Sarah Hagi? Okay.
46:04 Scaachi Koul? Yeah.
46:05 Sarah Hagi? Sure.
46:05 Scaachi Koul? The Sarah Haggie Ponzi scheme.
46:07 Sarah Hagi? I'll take that.
46:08 Scaachi Koul? Do you think if I keep saying these words, they'll like start tracking like the Google AI results, and then people will think that you did one? Sarah Haggie Ponzi scheme. Sarah Haggie mark-to-market investing scheme. Sarah Haggie Enron. Sarah Haggie Enron. Sarah Haggie Enron. Is it working?
46:23 Sarah Hagi? Yep, yep, it's gonna happen, it's gonna work.
46:31 Scaachi Koul? Follow Scamfluencers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free by joining Audible.
46:42 Scaachi Koul? This is the Cipriani family, bribes and bellinis. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Haggie. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at [email protected] . We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were The Trouble with Harry's by Mark Seal and Vanity Fair, Harry's Bar, The Life and Times of the Legendary Venice Landmark by Arigo Cipriani, and reporting by The New York Times. Tiff Williams wrote this episode. Additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Haggie. Olivia Bryley is our story editor. Fact checking by Colleen Newman. Sound design by James Morgan. Additional audio assistance provided by Augustine Lim. Our music supervisor is Scoff Velazquez for Freeze on Sync.
47:27 Scaachi Koul? Our managing producer is Desi Blaylock. Janine Cornolo and Stephanie Johns are our development producers. Our associate producer is Charlotte Miller. Our senior producers are Sarah Enni and Ginny Bloom. Our executive producers are Jenny Lauer Beckman and Marshall Louie. For Wondery.
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