Former New York City mobster looked to open a Boise restaurant. Here’s what happened
A former New York City mobster behind a never-completed Rascal Flatts restaurant in downtown Boise has been indicted in Arizona on federal fraud charges.
Frank Capri, 52, allegedly obtained millions of dollars through rigged construction contracts and operating fees that were diverted to his personal use. His scheme led to the collapse of two restaurant chains named for country singers, Rascal Flatts and Toby Keith.
Capri, his mother, Debbie Corvo, 68, and another man, Christian Burka, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 28 on 16 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. The arrest was first reported by The Arizona Republic.
Both Capri and Corvo have pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. It does not appear that Burka, who was listed as manager for RF Restaurants, which was developing the Rascal Flatts restaurant in Boise, has been taken into custody, according to the court file.
Last year, the Arizona Republic revealed that Capri was a hidden partner whose name never appeared in documents for the Boise restaurant or other Rascal Flatts or Tody Keith restaurants. The newspaper said Capri is a name he received under the federal Witness Protection Program. His real name is Frank Gioia Jr., and he was once a “made man” in New York City’s Lucchese crime family.
Gioia turned government witness in the 1990s, and his testimony helped convict about 70 mobsters. He was released from prison in 1999 and given his new identity. He moved to Arizona in the 2000s and became a real estate and restaurant developer, the newspaper reported.
Gardner Co., which owns the space in the Grove Plaza where the Rascal Flatts restaurant was set to open, lost about $70,000 on the project, the Idaho Statesman reported last year.
CenterCal, the company that owns The Village at Meridian, was also victimized. Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill was scheduled to open a restaurant at The Village in 2014. The company was evicted before the restaurant could open, and CenterCal obtained a default judgment against Capri’s company.
The Rascal Flatts project in Boise fell apart in August 2018, when Ray Roshto, owner of Ussher Construction in Glendale, Arizona, sent a two-sentence letter to the city of Boise asking the Building Division to cancel the construction permit.
Capri hired Roshto in 2017 to develop Rascal Flatts restaurants in Boise, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Des Moines and St. Louis and a different restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. Roshto told the Idaho Statesman last year that Capri told him to keep Capri’s name off contracts and that Capri would be paid through RF Investments, a company based in Las Vegas.
Only five months before Roshto sent his letter, RF Restaurants, a separate entity, filed for a permit to build the Boise restaurant. Christian Burka and Tawny L. Costa, Capri’s girlfriend, were listed as managers of the company, according to filings with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office.
The indictment said Burka owned 20% of RF Restaurants, with 70% owned by Capri and 10% percent owned by G.M., a person who was not otherwise identified.
The Republic reported that Burka and Costa fronted the restaurants. Capri worked behind the scenes, collecting development fees, overseeing construction schedules, obtaining permits, hiring, firing, and arranging employee payments.
Roshto told the Statesman last year that it became clear quickly that Capri had no interest in building the restaurants. Only one Rascal Flatts restaurant opened, in Stamford, Connecticut. It was open about a year before closing.
The final straw, Roshto told the Statesman, came when he learned RF Restaurants had used his license to begin jobs in Florida, where he was not licensed. He asked that all construction permits associated with his company be revoked.
Last year, Costa told the Republic that Capri manipulated her into putting her name on corporation and business records for the businesses. She was not indicted.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
