The Floating World News & Events Blog » Blog Archive » Former Owner Of La Boheme Gentlemen’s Club In Denver Played By The Feds

Former Owner Of La Boheme Gentlemen’s Club In Denver Played By The Feds

August 13th, 2009, By Terri Redor
Posted in From The Editor, Opinion |

From Terri:

I’ve known Lance for years as the owner of La Boheme. It sounds as if the Feds have set him right up for the weapons charges, asking him to “hold” some items for them. The MDMA charges are very serious - if they can back them up.

I just hope for Glenn Beck’s sake that Lance isn’t a ‘birther’. If the Feds release any emails to the public about “killing the Kenyan” or “just blowing shit up where Democrats hang out”, Lance might be in some real trouble. Damn, and I was convinced that watering the tree of liberty was something we all need to do every day.

Back in the good old days (long past, fortunately for me), I would have loved to know if Lance was holding. I might have actually gone to visit the club.

From ABC 7 News In Denver:

DENVER — Authorities raided the house of an actor and former owner of a Denver strip club, finding high explosives, including suspected C4, illegal weapons and a kilo of heroin, court records show.Lance C. Migliaccio, 46, is in federal custody after Migliaccio gave ecstasy and a 40mm round to a confidential informant in exchange for silencers, a machine gun and other weapons, federal court records say.A search warrant executed on Migliaccio’s Highlands Ranch house Aug. 4 found suspected C4 explosive, detonation cord, 40mm high explosive rounds, 40mm buckshot rounds, a kilo of heroin and 1000 tablets of ecstasy, court records show.

Neighbors told the CALL7 Investigators that agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Drug Enforcement Adminstration were at the home for 10 hours searching for items and conducting tests on some of what was found.

“This case poses an increased risk of harm to the community than the average case involving a firearm, due to the nature of the weapons seized from the defendant, devices that could lead to mass destruction,” the U.S. attorney’s office wrote in a filing this week to argue that Migliaccio be kept in custody.An audio recording of Migliaccio’s hearing in federal court this week was obtained by 7NEWS.During the hearing, a federal agent explained that Migliaccio was arrested following a sting using a confidential informant.

“They were planning to basically trade a machine gun and two silencers that the ATF provided the confidential informant to trade off for a 40mm high-explosive round and a quantity of MDMA (Ecstasy),” said the agent.The agent explained to the judge that the 40mm round is basically fired from, “In layman’s terms, a grenade launcher.”

He also explained the explosive power of the detonation cord and told the judge, “If you took a detonation cord and strung it from New York to San Francisco and ignited it, it would only take 13 minutes to burn across the continental U.S., so it’s very highly explosive.

”Despite weapons authorities said they found, the magistrate judge wrote that Migliaccio is not a danger to the community and Migliaccio’s attorney argued he has no violent criminal history and that Migliaccio was storing the weapons and ammunition for the confidential informant who is a former gun shop owner.

CALL7 Investigators spoke with a former business associate of Migliaccio’s who did not want his name released, but told 7NEWS he was shocked by the accusations and that Migliaccio was a “Great dad, a great friend and I never saw him doing anything illegal.”

“The government has not established the seriousness of the danger to any person or the community that would be posed by the Defendant’s release,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Hegarty wrote, setting a $50,000 bond.Hegarty said Migliaccio would be held until Monday to allow the U.S. Attorney’s office to appeal the bond.The U.S. attorney argued in documents that Migliaccio is facing a minimum mandatory of 40 years if indicted and convicted on the weapons and drug charges and that makes him a flight risk.

“The record shows that prior to his arrest, the defendant has been distributing large quantities of Ecstasy for over two years,” prosecutors’ filing say. “This fact alone invokes the statutory presumption that the defendant poses a substantial danger to the community. However, the analysis of the danger the defendant poses to the community dramatically changed on the day of his arrest” after police found the explosives.

Migliaccio has been indicted on four counts of possessing ecstacy for distribution, but has not be charged with the weapons and explosives violations.

Migliaccio had was one of the founders of La Boheme, and had connections to P.T. Club and other strip bars. According to sources, he is no longer associated with these businesses.

Migliaccio also appeared in television and film.

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